TUGAYA MISSION HOUSE

Clink! Maketa put down her teacup, she has deep thoughts about this article she is reading in her tablet.

According to PSA(Philippine Statistics Authority), the Proportion of Poor Filipinos was Estimated at 16.6 Percent in 2018. The full-year 2018 poverty incidence among the population or the proportion of poor Filipinos whose per capita income is not sufficient to meet their basic food and non-food needs were estimated at 16.6 percent. This translates to 17.6 million...

According to the results of the First Quarter 2019, Social Weather Survey conducted from March 28 to 31, there were 38% or an estimated 9.5 million families who considered themselves poor. Rappler reports.

Maketa felt sad reading these facts. If only we can help even just a fraction of these people. Let's start with the Ultra poor.

Ultra-poverty is an inability to meet even the barest of basic needs. The ultra-poor are typically food insecure, have few or no assets, lack education, and suffer from poor health.

The vast majority of ultra-poor households are headed by women. Ultra poor women tend to be the victims of social exclusion and lack self-confidence or opportunities to build the skills and resilience necessary to plan their own futures.

Often chronic and intergenerational, ultra-poverty creates a trap that is incredibly difficult for women and their families to escape. Traditional microfinance institutions do not reach out to the ultra-poor due to the very high level of accompaniment required to help them ascend from ultra-poverty. According to Fonkoze.

Prov 14:31: "He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor."

Maketa realizes that to honor God is to be merciful to the poor.

Before my Alzheimer's take my memory, I will use my resources to help some ultra-poor families.

2Cor 8:9: "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich."

Jesus is the greatest example of caring for a poor sinner like me, I will also help some poor like how God helped me.

"I will travel to these poor provinces of the Philippines and find some families to help or a whole community," Maketa said to Tony.

"I will go with you," Tony said.

"No! I'll go alone, we need somebody here in our base, I'll call you if I need some reinforcement." Maketa said.

"Ok, just be safe," Tony said.

Maketa brings her staff and they fly to Maria Cristina Airport using her private jet plane.

They rented a house in Tinago Bel-Air Subdivision as their staff house and office. They studied the area. One of her staff was a resident of Lanao Del Sur before during her younger years, She is Erum Puti, she has mentioned that many students from Lanao Del Sur need help for their studies, although they have scholarships, their families are so poor. Their target is the Lanao Del Sur residents students studying at PHILIPPINE SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL-CENTRAL MINDANAO CAMPUS

Nangka, Balo-i, Lanao del Norte. They coordinated with the school administration, They surveyed all the students by giving the Medical and Dental Checkup, Maketa hired doctors and nurses of a three day medical and dental mission to the school.

The Maketa foundation strategy is first to secure the studies of those who come from poor families of Lanao Del Sur that they can all make it. Then they will reach out to their families through these students.

Erum Puti is the leader of this program under Maketa.

They had forty five students who qualified, twenty with ultra-poor parents. They were surveyed at their houses and they were given training on health, and income-generating activities, weaving of Malong, a tube skirt, it has a geometric or okir designs.

They toured the area and established a network of people that will help each other in the course of time to help other people also. Instead of fighting, they create, and Maketa foundation will promote and sell them locally and to the world. The communities were organized in such a way to ensure their continued existence and will thrive to support them until they will escape the traps of extreme poverty.

They established the Tugaya Mission house located in the lakeshore community in Lanao Del Sur inhabited by Maranao craftsmen and artisans of various pursuits. They specialize in some forms of arts or crafts that are part of traditional Maranao culture: back-strap loom weaving, tapestry weaving, and other kinds of handmade textile manufacture; foundry casting of various forms of brass or bronze vessels, instruments, and decorative items; wood-carving and mother-of-pearl inlay work; metalwork and silver- and gold-smiting – all of which utilize the traditional Maranao form of decoration. The supply of raw materials was opened and marketing was done. Maketa bought the products and made a boutique in Japan, in Makati, and plans to export it to Europe and the USA.

Grants were given to deserving families and cooperatives that are formed by these families as a support group.

After three months, Maketa bought Malongs, Brass work of world-class quality, chests, gong, tapestries, swords, brass jars, and many designs for one million pesos to add capital to the community and it will be a sample for the world to see the excellent crafts of the Philippines.

Maketa lived with them for one month. She who was a survivor of being poor knows how to live in poor conditions. They know her and she knew them all by name, she had slept in their houses, eat with them, cried with them in those who died while she was there, and learned to work with them as one of them. She was respected and honored in that small community of people who think that she is an angel that visits them to free them from the worst poverty. The Tugaya Mission House, hired a doctor and nurses with a contract for one year, with a salary equal to those in the cities to serve the community's health.

Five months, Maketa went back to Makati, but the Tugaya Mission House continued its programs to touch people's lives.