Sewing Supervisor Shares Transformation Story

Jean Barrosa, a sewing supervisor who used to be called Simang (for simangot, the Filipino word for frown) by workers on the lines she supervised, shared the following story of how the Lord transformed her into a cold-hearted boss into a caring one, at the 22nd annual membership meeting of the Center for Community Transformation Group of Ministries in March 2014. To read Jean's testimony in English, please click HERE. 

Magandang gabi po sa lahat! Isa pong karangalan ang  mapiling tumayo sa harap ninyo upang i-share ang pagbabagong nangyari sa buhay ko buhat ng tangapin ko ang ating Panginoong Jesus sa aking buhay.

Ako po si Jean S. Barrosa, sewing supervisor po ng Covenant Community Service Cooperative sa Dasmarinas, Cavite.  Forty-nine years old na po ako at 21 years na po kaming kasal ng asawa kong si Marlon. Biniyayaan po kami ng Diyos ng dalawang anak.                                                                                                                

Galing  po ako sa mahirap na pamilya kaya naging masikap po ako sa aking pag-aaral upang makaahon sa kahirapan. Pero hindi rin po ako nakatapos ng kolehiyo dahil sa kakapusan. Nineteen years old po ako nang mag-umpisang magtrabaho sa garment factory. Naging konektado po ako sa ibat-ibang malalaking kompanya bago mapasok sa Hoffen Industries bilang sewing supervisor.

Pinilit kong ayusin at mahalin ang trabaho ko para sa kinabukasan ng pamilya ko. Naging obssessed ako sa mga posisyong hinawakan ko. Hangang sa hindi ko na nalalaman na wala na pala sa lugar ang pag-uugali ko. Lahat na po yata ng negatibong adjective  ay naikabit na sa pangalan ko: masungit, dragon, tigre, walang puso. Sa isang company nga po, ‘Simang’ ang ibinansag sa akin dahil di po ako marunong ngumiti.   

Wala po talaga akong konsiderasyon sa mga kasamahan ko. Naging palaban ako basta alam kong nasa tama ako. Iyon po ay  sa paghahangad kong baguhin ang takbo ng buhay ko.

Kumikita  nga po ako ng maayos pero lagi pa ring kapos. Madaming problemang dumadating sa pamilya ko lalo na sa aming kalusugan. Nagkaroon po ako ng problema sa matres.  Ilang beses po akong niraspa hangang sa kinailangang magpaopera upang alisin ang matres ko. Kasabay nito ay nawalan pa ng trabaho noon ang asawa ko. 

Doon ko po naranasang halos di ko na alam kung paano makaka survive. Halos nawalan na ako ng pananampalataya. Tinatanong ko na ang Dios kung bakit nangyayari ito samantalang nagsisikap naman ako. Lalo na po akong tagtanong ng hindi nagtagal ay nagsara ang Hoffen Industries. Ang perang ibinayad sa akin ay naging pambayad ko lang sa mga naging utang ko.

Ang Hoffen ay pagmamay-ari ng isang board member ng CCT. Salamat sa Panginoon na nagpasya siya na magbukas ulit sa pamamagitan ng kooperatiba sa tulong ng CCT.  At nag start nga po kami sa pamamahala ng Covenant Community Service Cooperative o CCSC.

Naging kakaiba po ang  pamamalakad ng CCSC na talagang hindi ko ma adopt noong una. May Spiritual Development -- kailangan kong pumasok ng maaga for morning devotion. Naging negatibo po ang aking naging pagtanggap. Itinuring ko itong isang malaking abala  dahil dapat start na ng trabaho pero di pa sila tapos mag dasal. Lalo na po nang mag-umpisa ang mancom meetings tuwing Miyerkules. Tumatagal ang meetings na ito ng  two to three hours.  Nahihirapan po talaga silang kombinsihin akong umattend. Kailangan pa nila akong sunduin sa production area, lalo na kapag may mga hinahabol akong shipment. Pero unti unti, na mimiss ko na ang meetings, lalo na ang sharing ng  Word of God.

At dumating po ang araw na tinangap ko na po ang ating Panginoong Jesus  sa puso ko. Noon ko napatunayan na wala pala akong sapat na kakayahan kung wala Siya sa buhay ko.  Marami na akong naririnig  na pangako buhat sa Kanya.  Conservative po akong tao, pero kumakanta na pala ako at sumasayaw para sa Panginoon.

Marunong na rin po  akong ngumiti na dati ay naging napakahirap para sa akin. At  higit sa lahat natututo na akong magmahal at magbigay ng unconditional love sa pamilya ko at mga kasamahan ko sa trabaho. Mahigpit pa rin po ako sa trabaho pero nagtatrabaho na po pala ako ng may puso. Nakakaramdam na po ako ng guilt kapag naka sigaw ako ng tauhan ko.

Unti-unti, na realize ko na nababawasan na ang aking mga alalahanin. Naranasan ko ang walang tigil na agos ng blessing mula sa Kanya.  In less than two years time po nakabili po ako ng bagong  bahay sa isang maayos na subdivision, nakapundar po ako ng dalawang sasakyan na ginagamit ng asawa ko sa kanyang negosyo, at nailipat ko po ang aking dalawang anak sa magandang eskwelahan.

Tumangap na rin po sa ating Panginoon ang aking bunsong anak isang lalaki na graduating na ngayon sa isang Christian school. Ang akin pong asawa ay isa na ring CCT partner at kasalukuyang uma-attend ng Bible study sa aming lugar at hopefully ay tatangap na rin kay Jesus. Talaga pong kay buti ng Dios! 

Inihanda Niya rin ako sa mga pagsubok  na syang nagpapatatag sa akin. Six months ago po ay nagtanan ang aking anak na panganay. Third year college lang po sya at naging napakasakit po ito para sa pamilya ko. Hangang ngayon po ay di pa siya bumabalik pero may communication na po kami. Pangako  po nya na  babalik siya after siyang manganak. So isang  bagong role na naman po ang aking haharapin dahil one month from now ay magiging lola na ako at talaga pong excited na ako. Dalangin ko po ngayon ay ang pagkalinga Niya sa anak ko, at sana’y matangap na rin ng asawa ko ang nangyari sa aming panganay. Siya po kasi ang  higit na naging apektado dahil sobra po silang close.

Ito ang pagbabagong naganap sa buhay ko  mula nang tangapin ko sa buhay ko ang ating Panginoong Jesus. Nawa po ay maging blessing ako para sa iba.

Magandang gabi po at GOD BLESS YOU ALL! 

29 Couples Tie Knot in CCSC Group Wedding

Obedience to the Lord’s leading was seen in the lives of  29 couples who pledged lifelong commitment to each other and to God at a group wedding organized by the Covenant Community Service Cooperative (CCSC).  

“We praise God for their decision to get married,” said Froi Parado, CCSC general manager.  “This is an indication of the spiritual growth of the couples, of a desire to live in accordance with God’s plan.” Twenty-eight of the couples had been in a live-in relationship.

Of the 58 individuals who got married, more than half are employees of factories where CCSC has ministry.  Two of the couples are from the Doxo factory in Manila, 10 are from a garments factory in Dasmarinas, Cavite, and 17 are from another garments factory in Carmona, Cavite.  All couples underwent marriage counselling with CCSC pastors Fortunato Bayucan, Jesse Malibiran, and Dr. Alfredo Crespo before the ceremony.

Cherie Carimpong, who works at the factory in Cavite said, "We were hesitant at first, but our kids overheard our discussion about finally getting married, and they motivated us to pursue the plan."  

CCSC is a member of the Center for Community Transformation Group of Ministries. It ministers to informal service workers and factory workers through spiritual development, job generation,  social services, micro finance loans, and savings mobilization. 

Newlyweds Menardo and Dolores Alison said,  "Kami po ay lubos na nagpapasalamat sapagkat nabigyan po ng katuparan ang matagal  po naming hinahangad sa buhay. Dahil po sa abala sa trabaho at kakulangang financial hindi po ito matutupad kung hindi sa tulong ng lahat ng tao na tumulong na mabuo ang group wedding. God bless po! Satisfied at masaya po kami sa nangyaring kasalan. Nawa'y marami pa pong couple ang mabigyan po ng ganitong kasalan. Thank you po!"

This is the second group wedding organized by CCSC.  The first one, held in November 2011, was done in partnership with the Kaibigan Ministry of CCT which ministers to street dwellers. Read story here: cctkaibigan.blogspot.com/2011/12/21-kaibigan-couples-tie-knot.html‎

The wedding was held at the Tagaytay Retreat and Training Center on November 9, 2013.

                                                                         Reporting: Elmer Valencia, Photos: Art Trinidad

Factory Workers Donate Blood

Workers at two garment factories in Carmona and Dasmarinas, Cavite have donated a total of 66 liters of  blood  since they began a bloodletting partnership with the Philippine General Hospital in July of this year. 

No incentive is given to donors except the assurance that they may avail of free blood at the PGH blood bank when they need  it, as long as CCSC has enough reserves, said Noeh Vios, cooperative training officer for the Covenant Community Service Cooperative, apparel subcontractor for the factories.  “Relatives of blood donors may also avail of the blood,” Vios added.  “Beyond that is the satisfaction of knowing your donation helps save the life  of a sick or injured person.”   

“Blood donation is a nearly painless process,” said Dr. John Tabije of the Center for Community Transformation health team. “The actual collection of 500 ml of blood takes about 15 minutes and the only pain a donor will feel is something like a quick pinch when the needle is inserted.”  

According to the Philippine National Red Cross, healthy men and women 18 - 65 years weighing at least 110 pounds may donate blood.  Some 2,000 units of blood are transfused into hospital patients in the Philippines everyday.  One unit of blood measures 450 ml.

Another bloodletting  event  at the Carmona factory is scheduled for November 16.

 CCSC is a member of the Center for Community Transformation Group of Ministries

CCT Co-op Offers Multi-purpose Loans to CCSC Members

The management committee at a garments factory in Dasmarinas, Cavite study a portion of the Scriptures
at the beginning of a regular meeting.  Leading the Bible study is Pastor Fortunato Bayucan of the Covenant
Community Service Cooperative. 

Members of the Covenant Community Service Cooperative (CCSC) may now receive loans from the CCT Savings and Credit Cooperative (CCT Co-op) following the signing of  a memorandum of agreement between the two cooperatives.  

According to Froi Parado, CCSC general manager, the loans are being offered to arrest the problem of CCSC members borrowing from usurious moneylenders and being caught in a debt trap.  Informal moneylenders are known to charge as much as 20% interest on loans to workers who are driven to borrow in situations such as medical emergencies or to pay their children's college fees.

The loan may be three times the amount of the CCSC member’s capital build-up with an interest of 1.5 per month for a loan term of up to six months.  Collection will be done by salary deduction. 

CCSC, which has a membership of 4,200, is apparel subcontractor for two garments factories in Cavite. Both CCSC and the CCT Co-op are members of the Center for Community Transformation Group of Ministries. 

Factory Workers Donate to Pablo Victims

           Cristy Valencia of the CCT finance department receives a donation for victims of Typhoon Pablo
collected by factory workers and members of the Covenant Community Service Cooperative (CCSC).
Handing over the donation are Froi Parado,  CCSC peer servant (center) and  Elmer Valencia,
 CCSC  HRAD officer.  

In the spirit of Christian love and brotherhood, factory workers in Dasmarinas, Cavite donated P15,800 to victims of Typhoon Pablo which hit the island of Mindanao during the first week of December 2012. The factory workers are members of the Center for Community Transformation (CCT)  Covenant Community Service Cooperative.

Typhoon Pablo (International Name: Bopha) hit Mindanao on December 4, 2012,  leaving 1,067 dead and more than 800 missing according to government reports as of December 22. 

Benefiting from  the donation are affected CCT community partners and staff  in Davao Oriental, Surigao, Cagayan de Oro, and Compostela Valley.  A total of 175 CCT community partners and 30 staff were affected by Pablo, according to Mike Salili, CCT peer servant for field operations management.   Among these, 49 lost their homes.  

“The workers collected the funds on their own, in less than a week, without any prompting of prodding from management,” said Froi Parado, CCSC peer servant. 

"I've Been Blessed," Says Former Street Dweller

Roy Reyes, a former street dweller, went from having zero skills to being
 multiple-skilled.  He passed TESDA assessment in steel works, 
hydraulic backhoe operation, and carpentry . 

Adopted Child. Roy Reyes, a man in his early forties, still breaks into tears when he remembers his past.  At 12, he learned that he was an adopted child. Shocked and unable to accept the fact, he ran away from home in Cebu and found his way to Bohol, where he did hard labor on a sugarcane plantation. By the time he turned 20  he had ended up in Manila where he joined an informal community of  street dwellers and took to crime.   He moved from snatching handbags and necklaces, to picking pockets, to robbing jeepney passengers.

The police threw him into jail twice,  but he went right back to crime when released.  "I didn't want to steal, but it was something I had to do to survive," he says.  

In October 2010 he had just been released from prison a third time and was planning another jeepney holdup  when instead, he joined a feeding session led by the Kaibigan Ministry of the Center for Community Transformation  (CCT) Group of Ministries.  The food was being distributed by a young man, Frankie Libre, who said he also used to live on the street and was also frequently jailed for theft but that his life had been turned around by God.

That was the beginning of Roy's attendance in a series of feeding sessions and Bible studies. He learned of a Bible verse where Jesus Christ said, "Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." It was a verse that seemed to have been written exactly for him.  "I  was tired of living on the streets, tired of committing crime. In fact, I sometimes hoped I would get shot and killed  in one of those robberies which would mean the end of all my hardship." But before that could happen, he turned his life over completely to God.

From Zero Skills to NC2 Holder. Shortly afterward, Roy gladly accepted an invitation to join a team of workers who would construct buildings at the Tagaytay Retreat and Training Center.  He also grabbed a chance to learn carpentry work, how to be a steel man, and  how to operate a hydraulic backhoe through Sikhay sa Paggawa (SIPAG), a project being overseen by CCT and run in partnership with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) with funding from the Alagad Party List.  "Dati po wala akong kaalam-alam.  Ngayon po NC2 na ako," he says with gratitude. ("I used to have no skills at all, but now I have a national certificate 2."  With these skills and with God's blessings Roy knows he will be able to give his children a better life than he had.

"Kaya po ako naiiyak dahil ayoko na sana maalaala ang pinagdaanan ko.  Pero naiiyak din po ako dahil may pag-asa na po ako," he says.  "Napakabuti po ng Diyos sa akin. Pinag-pala po ako." ("I am in tears  because I no longer wish to remember my past.  But I am also in tears because of the hope I have been given.  God is so good to me. I've been blessed.") 

Photos below show SIPAG workers and members of the Kaibigang Maaasahan Multi-purpose Cooperative building the Visions of Hope Christian School in Puypuy, Bay, Laguna. Most of them are holders of TESDA certificates. 

For information on the CCT Group of Ministries, its programs and target beneficiaries,  please visit  www.cct.org.ph/new/.

Photos by Myra Gaculais del Rosario

The Mervin Parana Story

Turbulent Early Years. Mervin Parana, 31, grew up in Pagsanjan, Laguna, the second child in a brood of six. His parents split up when he was about 12 and for this reason he was unable to study beyond first year high school. Soon after, he went to Pampanga where he worked as a 'boy' (a lowly-paid helper) for an uncle.

Learning Masonry. At about the age of 20 he returned to Laguna and found a job as a laborer on construction sites. Within the next two years he gradually learned the work of a mason and soon grew confident enough with his skills to walk into construction sites and ask a foreman if there were any openings for a mason. From 2002 to 2009 he worked at several sites ranging from low-cost, one-story residential buildings to high-rises. 

All those years he also brought his 'bisyo' (vice) to the construction sites. He would join drinking sprees with co-workers and end up in brawls with them. Occasionally he would be unable to work because of a hangover.

A Changed Life. Then in 2009 he found work at what was to become the Center for Community Transformation-Training and Development Institute campus in Magdalena, Laguna. All workers were required to attend devotions (an hour of reading and meditating on God's Word) before the start of work each day. On Saturdays they attended corporate worship, a service patterned after Sunday services of Christian churches.

His employment with CCT brought him to other construction sites such as the retreat center in Tagaytay, the boarding school for children in Puypuy, Laguna, and the resettlement village for transformed street dwellers in Cabanatuan City. “In Cabanatuan we had devotions in the mornings and in the evenings,” he said. “In the beginning I would join simply for the sake of work but over time I began to look forward to reading the Bible and to listening to the preaching.” He has since given his life to God and his life has been wonderfully transformed. “During my teen years and my twenties I never went to church,” he says. “I prayed but when I did, there seemed to be something missing with how I talked with God. I've since learned how to come to God in prayer.” His drinking habit no longer has control over his free time. “I used to be hotheaded when dealing with co-workers. I have more patience now.”

Family Man and TESDA Exam Passer. Today Mervin is a hardworking father of four (his children range in age from eight years to nine months). “My wife and I practice family planning,” he says. “I want to be able to send all my children to college so they can find good jobs and not experience what I went through.”

He is also one of 39 CCT-assisted masons who passed a masonry competency exam given by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in February of this year. 

The workers underwent TESDA assessment as part of Sikhay sa Paggawa (SIPAG), a project  being overseen by CCT and run in partnership with TESDA , the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) with funding from the Alagad Party List. Mervin's TESDA certificate attests that he can work according to standards expected in the global workplace.

Tips for Fellow Masons. So what makes a good mason? Mervin says, “If you know you're working on a tight budget, you must be able work within that budget. One must be patient, because impatience and hastiness result in 'pingas' – chipped corners. And, a good mason has to be able to concentrate, must be systematic.”

For information on the CCT Group of Ministries, its programs and target beneficiaries,  please visit  www.cct.org.ph/new/.