Rafi helps poor housewives earn

Eleven years ago,  some of them  lived in huts. Today, they have  their own modest dream homes.

Fifty-two-year-old Susana Tangle from barangay Mainit, Naga City, said her her small business as a vegetable dealer was   the key to her financial stability.

Tangle is one of the 15,000 member-clients of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (Rafi) Micro Finance Program who have benefited from their financial services for the past 11 years.

“I’ve always wanted to start my own business, but I didn’t t have the capital to start,” she said in Cebuano.

When Rafi’s Micro Finance Program was launched 11 years ago, Tangle was among the first beneficiaries. She was granted a P7,000 loan.

She invested in delivering fresh vegetables from the farm  to the wet market. From this venture she was able to  send her eight children to school.

Tangle said the income of her husband as a carpenter was not steady so they relied on the vegetable  business.

With hard work, she said, they were able to  build a  concrete residence and move out of their  shabby hut.

“Kung ganahan ka mo asenso, mu asenso man gyud ka,” she said. (If you really want to progress,  you can achieve it.)

Val Gatchalian, executive assistant of the Rafi Micro Finance Program, said Rafi wanted to  help housewives find  an additional source of livelihood for  the family especially in impoverished areas.

“We provide financial services to the communities, which are organized through center meetings,” Gatchalian said in an interview.

Around 4,000 member- clients of the Micro Finance Program from the municipalities of Cebu, Bohol and Leyte yesterday filled the University of San Carlos gymnasium in Cebu City   to attend their general assembly.

The program encourages micro-entrepreneurship in the community and financial independence.

Gatchalian said Rafi provides financial assistance that  member-clients pay  back every week through their center meetings.

They are also required to set aside savings of at least P50, which they hand over to  the center.

“Aside from sustaining a business, we also teach them how to save,” she said.

Gatchalian said the funds are used by  members to pay for  their children’s education, medical bills and other emergency expenses.

Members  also have  life insurance with coverage up to  P50,000.

Most of the beneficiaries invested in sari-sari stores, hog raising, farming, and buying and selling vegetables.

The program has  16 branches in the Visayas with nine branches from Cebu including Cebu City, Liloan, Bogo, Argao, Balamban and Naga.