In December 2008, in the middle of making some bracelets for Christmas presents, Bidibidi was visited by a a relative who was needing some help. Velma had no money to buy medicine for her sick husband. After sparing some cash, Bidibidi asked her relative if she would want to try making button bracelets to help augment their family income. Velma went home with a kit of materials to make three bracelets. That time, F.A.R.M. was just starting. Not as an enterprise but a mere hobby. After three weeks, Velma came back with the bracelets. They were impressive.
Nico
Velma taught her two daughters Nico and Jam, and a son, Jed to make the bracelets. Nico has not been to college then. She made most of the bracelets as she was not attending school. Jam was in highschool then, so she could only make during weekends. Jed would also make during the weekends, but would hide from friends because he did not want to be teased by his peers. Velma's youngest daughter, Charm would help in sorting and cleaning the buttons.
Jam and Nico
When F.A.R.M. started as a business early this year, the whole family would earn P12,000 ($250) from doing the F.A.R.M. bracelets. The sick father did not have to work, because the income that was coming in could already meet most of their needs. Though life for them was still hard, it surely was getting better by the day.
Jam and younger sister Charm
Bidibidi later offered to send Nico to college as full scholar. She is now taking up a 4-year agricultural tourism course at a state college in Camarines Sur. Jam has finished high school and opted to work for F.A.R.M. full time. Her income, averaging P300 ($6.5) a day and P9,000 ($188) goes to Jed's education. He is in 4th year high school.
Jam would not withdraw her daily salary so she could save money. The other week, she got P500 ($11) from her savings to give her sister Nico extra allowance for her field trip in school.
Charm
Meanwhile, Velma and her youngest Charm continue to do the cleaning and sorting of the buttons. Recently, Bidibidi asked Velma to try doing another F.A.R.M. product, the French barrettes. The samples she came up with were of fine quality. With orders starting to come in, it would mean more income for the family. Velma's eldest son works in Manila and also sends some money for her husband's medical needs. She used to work as a teacher in Cambodia but had to come home to attend to her husband who suffered from stroke. The husband also used to teach in a private school in Camarines Sur.
No matter how difficult life was to them, Velma and her beautiful family survived and continue to survive the trials. When love and faith are in the center of a family, everything else falls into place. That is the whole point of the story. F.A.R.M. simply played a cameo role.
"If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, the fulfillment of your fall."
Read other inspiring F.A.R.M. stories:
No comments:
Post a Comment