Building a house of their own has always been the dream of Eva Pagunsad and her husband. It is their greatest desire to provide a roof over the heads of their children.
Eva, a mother and wife from Sibagat, Agusan del Sur, worked all day and night so they could put up their dream house. Her husband who works as a seaman also worked tirelessly to make ends meet. In Eva’s case, she even took two jobs to earn the money they needed for the house. In the morning, she worked as a nurse and a caregiver in the evening.
All of their hard work paid off when they were able to finally build their dream house. She said that looking at their house, everything felt surreal. It was just a dream come true for the couple and their family.
But on August 18, 2020, a nightmare happened when a big fire burned Eva and her family’s dream house. As fast as the snap of the fingers, the fruit of their labor turned into ashes.
“Makalusno gyud tungod kadto nga balay, gikan pa sa akong hago sa dalaga pa. Mag-nurse ko sa buntag unya mag caregiver sa gabii. Nag-dealer pa gyud ko ato og Tupperware para lang gyud mapundar sa balay (It was really depressing because I worked hard for that house since I was single. I was a nurse in the morning and a caregiver in the evening. I even became a dealer of Tupperware to budget for that house).”
Fortunately, Eva was able to retrieve some of their cash savings from the fire. Eva took the chance and tried depositing the partially burned cash amounting to PHP 51,000 to the bank. Luckily, the bank accepted it. Eva felt a slight glimmer of hope because of this.
“Maayo na lang gyud naa pa mi na-save nga kwarta gikan sa sunog. Nahatagan ra gihapon mi og gamay paglaom nga maka-recover ra gihapon mi sa nahitabo (It’s a relief that we were able to save some of our money from the fire. This gave us little hope that we can recover from what happened),” Eva shared.
The money that Eva recovered from the fire was supposed to be a capital fund for their water-refilling station. After building their house, they envisioned to set up a business so that her husband can retire early from being a seaman, come home, and be with them. But fate had other plans for the family. Hence, Eva used the money to open a sari-sari store to help them get by and recover from the horrible fire.
Despite losing almost everything they’ve worked hard for, hope still found its way towards Eva and her family. Months after the fire, Eva was identified as an eligible beneficiary of the livelihood assistance from the Sustainable Livelihood Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Through the DSWD-SLP’s Internally Displaced Persons Program, Eva received an amount of PHP 20,000.
Eva immediately spent the grant by purchasing additional goods and supplies for their sari-sari store. Currently, their store earns an average of PHP 55,000 a month. They use most of their store’s income to roll the business and add more goods that are marketable. As of the end of the 3rd quarter of 2021, their business’ latest inventory is at PHP 70,000-PHP 80,000. They also have cash on hand amounting to PHP 10,000.
Eva and her husband aim to expand their business by January 2022. They are considering venturing in water-refilling just like they planned before everything went down because of the fire. In this way, they are also hoping that they can save up again to build a new house for their family.
Even after the terrible ordeal they went through, Eva is still grateful because family and close friends never left her side. Without hesitation, these people extended a helping hand to Eva and even supported her when she decided to take the risk of establishing a sari-sari store.
“Dako gihapon akong pasalamat kay daghan nanabang sa amo ug nag-ampo para sa amo. Nahatagan gyud mi og dakong paglaom tungod atong higayuna. Apil na sab ang tabang nga nadawat namo gikan sa DSWD-SLP. Hinaot unta gyud nga next year, makabawi na gyud mi (I am grateful for everyone who helped and prayed for us. Because of those gestures, we felt so much hope. The assistance given to us by the DSWD-SLP also added to that hope. We’re really hoping that we can fully recover by next year),” Eva said with hopeful eyes.
The fire incident will always be a painful memory of the past for Eva and her family. Nevertheless, Eva realized that hope still remains and thrives even if one loses everything.
