A mother's wish comes true
Twenty years ago, all that Annalyn wanted for Christmas was for her children to be safe and secure. Now her daughters, Darlene, 5, and Glydel, 2, can enjoy watching television and playing together, something that their older brothers could not do while the family was living in a slum in Bacolod City, central Philippines.
“We were squatters, renting a four feet-by-five feet room with bamboo and coconut lumber for walls and flooring that rested on top of a drainage canal. Only my husband was able to work, because I could not leave my two young sons alone in our home for fear of their safety,” Annalyn, a 43-year-old beauty therapist recalls.
Despite the difficult early years, Annalyn’s sons John Rey, 24, and Daryl, 21, have completed their aircraft mechanics courses. John Rey is on an internship with an airline company in the nearby province of Cebu; Daryl is in the Philippine capital of Manila to undergo a series of tests for his professional license.
Annalyn hopes to see her daughters Glydel (left), 2, and Darlene (right), 5, complete their education and grow up well. All photos: Habitat for Humanity International/Jed Alcala and Raphael Montinola.
“I hope that my husband and I live long enough to guide our daughters to be good people, to help them finish their education,” says Annalyn. “I want to see my sons marry and start their own families, and to see them raise their children without having to face the hardships that my husband and I experienced when we were raising them. I hope they can make enough income to support their families without having to move away in search of better livelihood, the way my husband and I sometimes had to do when they were young.”
In late 1998, Annalyn and her husband Wilfredo moved out of her parents’ home in Kabankalan City in a different part of Negros Occidental province. The couple could only afford to rent a room in a slum in the city center as that was where they could get work. Wilfredo, now 49, was the sole breadwinner, earning about 250 Philippine pesos (US$4.60) daily as a carpenter.
Every month, they had to pay 350 pesos rent for the room that had holes in its wooden walls. During the rainy season that usually lasted six months, the canal below their room would swell and send sewage water almost up to the floor slats. Wilfredo often hurried home after heavy rains, frightened that the room, along with his family, would be swept away. Annalyn was also worried that her family would have no way of escaping if a fire had broken out in the slum. In addition, they faced health risks as refuse and even human feces were thrown into the canal.
Wilfred (third from left) with his sons John Rey and Darryl, his wife Annalyn and his mother-in-law Agnes with some Habitat volunteers at the 1999 Carter Work Project site in Bacolod City, Philippines.
In December 1998, Wilfredo was working on a school’s repairs when he learned about the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project, Habitat for Humanity’s signature event, from one of the teachers. After he shared the news with Annalyn, they decided to seize the opportunity to build a safe, affordable home in Bacolod City, one of the six sites where the 1999 Carter Work Project would be held.
“I told my husband, ‘I don’t care if we don’t have anything for our Christmas or New Year’s celebrations. I just wanted my children to be safe and secure. That’s all I wished for at the time,’” says Annalyn.
At the Pamana Habitat Village site in Bacolod, the couple helped with site preparations in January 1999, and contributed over a thousand hours of their own labor. Two months later, in March 1999, Annalyn and Wilfredo were among 293 Filipino families who built homes with more than 14,000 volunteers including the Carters during the week-long build.
Annalyn recalled building together with a 10-member team with volunteers from Australia, China, Japan, Korea and Thailand. She had fond memories of Australian volunteers John and Joyce because they worked fast and produced work of very good quality.
“Working alongside other future homeowners also helped us to form strong bonds with our neighbors. We still lean on each other in times of health scares and other family problems,” she adds. Thanks to her helpful neighbors who took care of her sons, Annalyn could attend a beauty therapy course offered by the local government.
Annalyn (third from left) sees wholeness, stability and security for her family including her daughters Darlene and Glydel and her mother Agnes in their Habitat home.
Since moving into their double-story two-bedroom Habitat home, the couple’s combined earnings now averages 1,000 pesos a day. Annalyn and Wilfredo also saved enough to buy one hectare of land that is now filled with coconut and other fruit trees. They bought a motorcycle for fetching their children to and from school every day. Wilfredo also purchased a small truck for the running of his home construction and repair business.
With a few years left before their final mortgage repayment, Annalyn expects life to continue getting better. “Our home is the place where we keep our family whole, stable and secure. Our children know that they can always return to this place,” she says. “I’m happy because I know my children will never have to worry about constantly moving house. They will have peace of mind because of this home.”
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