Two months ago Jonatan, our livelihood trainer, went to Talahiban to teach the villagers there how to make liquid soap. One of the villagers is now reaping the profits of this training.
Nanay Remy, a widow, used to go to the mountains to collect fallen coconuts, from which she would make copra, the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut. She used to earn 50-70 pesos ($1.10-1.60) a day doing this. With the liquid soap she is now earning an additional 80-100 pesos a day. This has made it easier for her to support herself and her daughter, Mary Jane, a second-year high-school student and a clarinetist in the Goducate orchestra. Previously there used to be times when Mary Jane could not afford transport to school and had to make the 3 km journey on foot.
Nanay Remy believes that education for Mary Jane is vital to help them to survive. She was unable to give her older children, who now have their own families, a formal education.
