Of second chances and the legacy of sponsorship
“Years ago, my family received support from World Vision in starting a coffee farm. More than a decade later, we, including my daughter, still experience the impact of that help,” he shares.
Jonep is an only child. His parents, Noli and Norma, used to make ends meet through corn farming. His father, Noli, has always been fascinated with coffee farming. He tried to venture on it once but failed. Committed to empowering families and communities to nurture an enabling environment for children, World Vision, in partnership with the local government, implemented several economic development programs, one of which was training interested families on coffee farming. Noli immediately grabbed the opportunity and was given 600 seedlings to start with.
That opportunity turned their lives around.
Over the years, with proper training and technical guidance to start the coffee farm, Noli was able to grow what was given to him to 3000 trees. In a year, they harvest for three months, earning them at least Php150,000.
Second chance
The journey was not without challenges though. Married at a young age, Jonep was not able to finish his studies. To support his family, he had to learn the ins and outs of their coffee farm. With mentoring from his father, he became better. Soon, his income allowed him to send his wife to college, who is set to graduate this year.
“I am grateful for my parents who never got tired of supporting me and my little family. I must also say that if not for the generosity given to us when I was a sponsored child, it would have been more difficult to get out of poverty and I probably would not have had a business to run alongside my father. Now that my wife is graduating, it’s my turn to finish my education,” he shares, adding that all his hard work now is for the well-being of Jayde.
Your kindness to one is your gift to many
“I want my sponsor to know that because of his support, my family is also able to help other families now,” says Jonep. The coffee farm has five regular staff who are also from their indigenous people (IP) community. During harvest season, at least 20 people from their village have a steady income for three months. The department of environment and natural resources (DENR) has also partnered with them to provide at least 60,000 seedlings (worth Php300,000) each year which are given to aspiring coffee farmers. Their land that used to house 600 coffee seedlings is now a 10-hectare coffee farm.
