New boats become symbol of new day

BENEFICIARIES, fishermen who lost their boats to Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” pose with the new boats they received under the Peter Project 2 program. CARLA P. GOMEZ/INQUIRER VISAYAS

Fisherman Hermie Yusay had never looked beyond his day-to-day concern to feed his children from the pittance he would earn from work. A boat would rock him to change his outlook and plan for his dependents.

Yusay, 44, is among the 29 poor fishermen from the coastal village of Gargato in Hinigaran town, Negros Occidental province, who received free motorized bancas under the   Peter Project 1 of Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC).

The program aims to give away fishing vessels to small fishermen.

“I know what it is like not to have money to feed my family. But the fishermen who were victims of ‘Yolanda’ lost everything,” he said, referring to the supertyphoon that ravaged neighboring provinces in the Visayas over a month ago.

“They are in a far worse situation than I was,” he added.

Christ’s disciple

With his own banca, Yusay now earns as much as P650 a day, a far cry from the P50 he received as a fisherman’s helper.

NVC president Millie Kilayko said she and the other volunteers named their campaign “The Peter Project,” after the fisherman who later became a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Kilayko said the group launched Peter Project 2 to raise funds for motorized bancas after thousands of fishermen lost theirs to Yolanda 10 days before. So far,  NVC had received donations to acquire 500 bancas, which cost P20,000 each, for beneficiaries mostly on northern Panay Island.

“It is important that they have the means to get back on their feet again,” Yusay said. “My message to them is they should not lose hope. There are people who care for them and are doing their best to help.”

When NVC volunteers went to Barangay Gargato in February, Yusay was late for the meeting with potential beneficiaries of two bancas as he was fishing then. His 12-year-old son, Eric, attended on his behalf and took the volunteers to the family’s small shack.

Family meal

Eric had to prepare lunch for his brother, Christian, 10, and sister, April Rose, 4. Their mother left them a long time ago.

The meal was only rice cooked in their stove, fueled by Styrofoam material he had found as garbage. The children drank from tin cans someone threw away as trash.

Kilayko recalled the first time he met Yusay. When she asked him about his dreams, he gave her a blank stare and uttered: “I have no dreams.”

That the fisherman lost even his capacity to dream pushed NVC to seriously expand The Peter Project beyond providing two boats. Before the supertyphoon, the project had 40 beneficiaries in the villages of Gargato and Bocona in Ilog town.

“We designed The Peter Project to become more than just a boat-awarding facility. We crafted a comprehensive agreement with the fisherman, engaged and trained some of the wives in livelihood and enrolled their children in NVC’s nutrition program, Kilayko said.

On November 18, she posted The Peter Project 2 on her Facebook account and asked people to help NVC build boats for fishermen who lost theirs to Yolanda. Since then,  NVC has received donations for 500 boats from various parts of the world.

Donors

Some families gave up gift-giving, others canceled office Christmas parties, some sold bracelets, cookies, chorizos  and other items, and children broke piggy banks to contribute to the project.

Ninety percent of the donations sent through PayPal on the NVC website (https://www.nvcfoundation-ph.org/projects/the-peter-project) came from people the group did not know, Kilayko said.

“The warm and generous response of people for Peter Project 2 has become to us a living showcase of the magnanimity of the human spirit,” she said.

She also referred to the volunteers who worked on the boats—students, doctors, bankers, teachers, artists, a balikbayan and Army reservists.

Artist Dennis Ascalon jazzed up the boat of his team with paintings of fish, making it far more expensive than its original cost of P20,000. Interior designer Manon Hernaez and Natia Esteban painted sea creatures; the Jacinto family, sun and stripes; balikbayan Viky Torre, a cross; and the reservists, peace signs.

Members of doctor Ceres Baldevia’s family and Titat Benedicto’s team put thumb marks and hand prints on their boats.

“In our language, the symbol and shape of love is no longer a heart. The symbol and shape of love is a boat. And on it, it is written: The Peter Project 2,” Kilayko said.

On Saturday, Yusay said he would want to see his children finish college. “I can dream now because I have the means to try to make it a reality,” he added.