Page 110 - EMBRACE Book

Rosalie, Philippines
“I was a barangay counsellor when EMBRACE came to our
village. I welcomed the ADRA team and the project they
proposed for us. Before, many non-governmental
organizations came through, but we weren’t that interested
110 in what they proposed. They gave some sessions, but they
didn’t really push through to the completion of the project. I
had never heard of ADRA before this project. I would see
their vehicle out and about and I was curious. Why weren’t
they coming to our village to help? So when they came, I was
happy to welcome them.
There are 121 households in our village and 71 of them
joined the project. I worked really hard as a village
counsellor to encourage our village to attend the EMBRACE
sessions and to put them into practice.
Our barangay captain position has remained in the same
family for 22 years. The term is three years, and it kept
getting passed between the husband and wife. But at the last
election, the village voted me as the new captain. Maybe they
saw how hard I worked for them as just a counsellor and
thought that if I was promoted, I could do even more.
The coordinator of EMBRACE met with the men and really
put in their minds that they should care about women’s
empowerment and to let go of the ancient ideas. EMBRACE
brought someone in to do gender sensitivity sessions for the
Photo: © 2019 ADRA | Frank Spangler
men exclusively. This helped a lot because now the men are
changing. They go with their wives to check-ups and they
work together to help their children’s well-being. They aren’t
jealous of power anymore. They’re now more open because
of the sessions. 111
We didn’t know about gender equality before EMBRACE. The
mindset of the people here was really ancient. They thought
that if you were a girl, you only do girl stuff – women’s work.
The men were irritated with the new ideas at first because
they thought that they shouldn’t do women’s work. The
women were encouraged because they felt, ‘Oh! We don’t
have to only be in the house, we can do men’s work! We can
decide for ourselves and not just whatever the men decide
for us!’
My husband is an exception to this. He accepted these ideas
readily because he already knew that women were equal.
All that EMBRACE has given us, from knowledge to tools to
practices, we will really take care of it, with thanksgiving. I
want to reach out to other villages that were not included in
this project and show them what we’ve learned. I’m very
thankful to ADRA, its partners, and the Government of
Canada. I’m 100% grateful for the people of Canada for
helping us, and I want to give back. May God do something
good for the Canadians who have done so much good for us.”