Pantawid gives a helping hand

An English subject, best friends and fairy tales are just some of the things thatb 12-year-old Patcini Marie Visamos of barangay Nangka, Boljoon, Cebu, like.

But what she really likes to do best is draw on paper everything she sees.

Raised by a single mom with a strong faith in God, Patcini is liked by her teachers and classmates for her gentle nature and loved by her family for who she is.

While she was born without hands and feet, it has not stopped her from doing household chores such as sweeping the floor and folding the laundry.

She also goes to school every day, enduring the long ride either on a motorcycle or in someone else’s back.

The scrapes she got from falling off a motorcycle for hire (habal-habal) is nothing compared to the feeling of success she felt every time she would make it to school.

Her determination paid off when she received a special academic award on her graduation day at Nangka Elementary School.

“I was considering of quitting school at first because unlike my other siblings who walked to school, I had to ride a motorcycle and it was too expensive.

Through the assistance of Pantawid Pamilya, I was able to continue my study,” Patcini said in Cebuano.

Despite her disabilities, Patcini never felt embarrassed because the people in her barangay spared her from the ridicule and mockery.

“Daghan man mutabang namu, kadtong nalagpot ko sa habal-habal kay dangug ang dalan, pag-abot sa eskwelahan gi-tabangan ko ug limpyo sa akong mga maestra ug klasmeyt. Kun wala na miy ika-plete o di ba walay mubala nako, magtinabangay pud among mga silingan, especially my mother’s cluster group in Pantawid Pamilya ma-abot lang ko sa eskwelahan. Mao nga naningkamot gyud ko kay mao raman niy pa-agi nga makapakita ko sa akong pasalamat sa mga taw ug sa Pantawid Pamilya (Many people have been helping us, especially when I fell off a motorcycle due to a slippery road. I was dirty when I arrived in school but my classmates and teachers helped clean me up. Also when I do not have money to pay the fare or nobody would carry me on their back, our neighbors took turns helping me out especially my mother’s group in Pantawid Pamilya in order for me to go to school. That is why I try my best because this is the only way to say “thank you” to my neighbors and Pantawid Pamilya).”

Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is a poverty reduction strategy of the national government implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The program gives conditional cash grant of P500 per month for health and P300 per child for a maximum of three children to extremely poor households.