Lanao del Norte – 33-year-old Ms. Jobaira P. Daluma knows how frustrating it could be when you play the role of a mother to five children and with a job that can hardly suffice the daily needs of the family.

Her children aged 14,10, 9, 8, and 4 and with a husband who also could not provide much are relying on her meager income.

As a beauty product dealer, and with a monthly income of P600.00 to 900.00, Jobaira’s faith could sometimes waver at the predicament her family faces. She could hardly bring her children to school and provide food on the table three times a day.  Every day she would try and find her “suki” friends whom she hoped will buy her products so she can provide a humbling supper for her hungry children at home.

With no opportunities of a job that would allow her to leave her children during the day, she was forced to settle for mere selling of beauty products which to her do not have a promising income.

But in 2009, she received news that she was qualified to receive cash grants from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, a conditional cash transfer scheme of the national government that will help provide her children’s education and health needs.

With the monthly stipend of P1,400, she was then able to send her children to school and check her children’s health needs through health center visits and provision of nutritious foods.

After hearing that the national government also offers sustainable livelihood that could help her family economically, she then joined to become a member of a Self-Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K) Association which can receive as much as P300,000 for its members’ small scale businesses.

As she received her first seed capital from the Sustainable Livelihood Program last March 2012, she was then able to open her very first store that sells ready-to-wear and beauty products and have purchased a photocopier machine for photocopying services. Each day, she would open her little store which to her is her hope of making things possible for her family to have enough food on the table.

Eventually, she found herself relieved because of the assistance that she received from the national government through PantawidPamilya and Sustainable Livelihood. Not only can she send her children to school now and provide them with nutritious foods, she can also stretch her monthly income which has now been increased to P2,000.00 to P3,000.00.

“I found peace within myself knowing that I am now able to provide enough for my children’s needs and can now provide just about enough for my family,” she says. “What I may now be earning may not be much for others, but it is enough for me to know and be assured that my family can have a brighter and healthy future ahead.”

Written by Charmaine P. Tadlas, Regional Information Officer, DSWD