I Visited the Villar Livelihood Foundation on its 20th Anniversary

Last week, I went to Las Piñas City to visit the Villar Livelihood Foundation, primarily to see and examine what they are doing. It is good to know that this advocacy is already on its 20th year Anniversary.  Former Congresswoman Cynthia Villar told us that countries like Europe inspired them in pursuing this advocacy. The Foundation`s livelihood programs are models for helping the entire community.

We, the bloggers, had an exciting trip to the manual weaving livelihood project where they produce blankets, as well as to the waste management recycling and environment protection facility.  We also went to the rehabilitated Zapote Las Piñas River, which is a  historical place during wars.

See this Video Testimonial by a Single Mom whose husband is in jail. She is a beneficiary of the Livelihood Project of the Villar Foundation.

We also went to the Coconut Weaving Center, where they produce coconut coils. These coils are used to make Coconut Nets, which are useful against soil erosion, by applying them on a 45-degree slope. We later went to the Water Lilies Craft. The water lilies are used to create a living, as in the production of baskets, and many more artistic things. We also learned how to protect the environment by means of recycling, organic fertilizer, solid waste management, river restoration, and environmental protection.

I like its advocacy and I hope our Leaders can do this to every barangay in the Philippines. "The Villar Foundation is a non-stock, non-profit organization, which aims to support projects geared toward helping our less fortunate countrymen break free from the clutches of poverty."  I barely see these projects in other cities and towns. Public officials, and people in general, should prioritize this kind of living and livelihood advocacy. What I mean is that, people must be busy working to reduce crime and poverty.

This is how they make money from waste Coconut Shell which is our garbage.  Some of the coconut street vendors just go directly to them and give their waste materials. So this project not only helps these people and the environment, but also the market.

From a waste material, it is then processed to become a useful material. The process is as follows: The coconut husk is refined in Decorticating Machine, producing Fibers and Dust. Families are now ready to twine the Fibers.  Each week a family produces 3 rolls on average (1Meter x 50 meters net). The foundation will buy the nets for 1000 pesos per roll and sell it for 2000 to contractors and government. The rest of the portion of profit will go to the maintenance and needs of the coconut weaving center.

The good thing about this is that many families can benefit from this kind of livelihood project, because they can work with their children, as their homes are just walking distance from the center. So they save on transportation fees and work uniforms, as well as relieve them from the problem of yayas.

You see this kid? She's the expert in twining as I can see she's just like playing, but she`s also helping her parents earn a living in the process. This is not considered as child labor because the parents are present while they are both working.

Now we go to the Handloom Weaving Center. This kind of livelihood answers the call of relief operations like flood, fire and calamities. The Villar foundation donates some of the finished blankets to various victims and survivors. Instead of buying blankets, they just manufacture them, thereby giving jobs to the people.

This is the Manual Handloom Blanket Weaving. The project functions 24/7 and the families are able to choose their length of work, because they are paid according to the products they finish. It is the same practice as with the coconut project above.

Now lets go to Solid Waste Management. The Barangay Captain showed us how they make fertilizer out of household wastes. They segregate the waste and mix it with the dust from coconut, as well as with the chemical called Tricodema.

Kitchen wastes are good food for plants. They grind them into a machine and mix them with coconut husk and Tricoderma. The result is Vermicompost, which is a worm manure mixed with the soil to make it more nutrient for plants.

This organic fertilizer can be sold for 30 peso per kilo. This shows that there are many ways to make money out of waste materials. Think about the money that you can make from these waste problems by turning them into fertilizer and Junk Shop lifeblood.

Another way to recycle plastic is that they mix it with cement and sand...  Believe me, they do this to make hollow blocks. Now I can see that this is much stronger and better than the usual hollow block. As lifespan of plastics sometimes last for more than 100 years.  10kg of plastic mixed with 1 sack of cement and 20kg of sand, equals a super iron man avenger hollow blocks.

 

At the Las Piñas - Zapote River, the Public officials told us how they can maximize the river`s resources like the water lilies and bamboo's for livelihood. Think about the Las Piñas Bamboo Organ, the Water Lilies Festival, which made Las Piñas rich and well known.

See the process of how to make baskets with dried water Hyacinths, thereby transforming them into beautiful arts, decorations, furniture's, and even Christmas symbols. It was once branded as breeding ground of mosquitoes and insects, and it used to cause clogging of the waterways.  Now these problems are being turned into profitable solutions.

Now we realize that these usual problems, ranging from unemployment to poverty, and on to the problems of waste matters, can be turned into golden of opportunities. If only barangay's all over the Philippines would follow the ideal advocacy and training like this, our country for sure will move forward.

While having lunch we ask Congresswoman Villar; what inspires you to do this even though you are a very successful businessperson in the country? She replied, “It’s the time to share our blessings. The way we do it that's why we made the status of life we enjoy right now. So it is more on giving back, teaching people things that we know as partof the advocacy.”