NGO promotes microfinancing for OFWs in Mainit

I stumbled over a blog entry about Matin-ao (Mainit's largest barangay in terms of population). The blogger is Genevieve (http://gendegen.blogspot.com), a Filipina working for a US-based research organization called IPA (Innovations for Poverty Action) -- they conduct randomized control trial experiments (http://www.poverty-action.org).

Gen gave me her permission to feature her posts in Pidjanga. I also learned that she went to Matin-ao in July-August last year with Unlad Kabayan (http://www.unladkabayan.org), an NGO that focuses on microenterprise development and savings groups for OFWs. Unlad helped an Overseas Pidjanga (Taiwan-based) to establish the Matinao Rice Center.

I now have initial talks with Gen and Unlad about how Pidjangas of Mainit Dot Org could learn from Unlad's initiatives. Some Overseas Pidjangas also emailed me signifying their interest in the possible tie-up between Mainit Dot Org and Unlad. As soon as I return from my Bangkok trip, I'll meet up with their Philippine-based counterparts, especially Gen.

Now back to Gen's post... it's really fascinating how a first-time visitor to Mainit describe our place and people. Here's an excerpt from her post and some of the beautiful photos in her blog:

Finally I arrived in Surigao, in the Northeast part of Mindanao after a nine hour bus ride through mountain passes and half constructed roads. I downed some motion sickness pills and survived the journey for the most part. I wasn’t bored and was pleasantly hypnotized by the passing scenes of the countryside from my window...

...You can tell you have arrived in Surigao when you finally see Lake Mainit (‘mainit’ means hot in Tagalog), a sprawling glassy plane of water that represents one of the largest lakes in the Philippines...

...We’ve all seen the classic pictures of Southeast Asia—the rice fields, green and muddy, the farmers bent over the crop, the sleepy water buffalo, mud-spattered...

Post: ZIMM of www.pidjanga.blogspot.com
Crossposting: www.bisayabloggers.com
Photos: http://gendegen.blogspot.com)