Filed under: The Livelihood Program
The bags are completely sewed and printed by my neighbors in San Teodoro, Mabini, Batangas. I started with one mananahi (sewer), Aling Guring, who is the wife of our carpenter, and who makes minor sewing jobs for me regularly. I am blessed to have Aling Guring as she has taken on the job of distributing the work to other women in the barangay, training them as necessary, and acting as quality controller. Providing them with work has been very fulfilling as these women are either already mananahis with nothing to sew (they get sewing jobs only in June when school opens), or are learning to sew for the first time. They are otherwise unemployed women married to fishermen or laborers, who now take pride in being productive and earning additional income for their families.
Aling Guring
Aling Guring and I are still figuring out the most efficient way of producing the bags while ensuring quality. It’s been a challenge since the women have household chores to do and kids to take care of. We can’t do factory-line style where each sewer only does one task, i.e. one cuts only, one makes the straps, one sews the bag together, etc- since the women live far away from each other (some live up in the mountains and some by the beach).
The mananahis showing off the bags they sew.
The silk screen printing is done by Richard and King. Richard is a public school teacher and preacher from neighboring Malimatok, who prints the bags at night &/or weekends. King is a tricycle driver who prints after the day’s trips. Richard and King are training their friends/neighbors how to silk screen to spread the work.
King picking up bags for printing. The child is Bryan, my caretaker’s son.
As of today, I am very happy to say that 21 families are already benefitting from this livelihood program. And Aling Guring says that more women are asking her to give them more bags to sew or teach them how to sew. I can’t believe it myself!
Last April, I read this Time article and the numbers stunned me- “Every year, more than 500 billion plastic bags are distributed, and less than 3% of those bags are recycled. They are typically made of polyethylene and can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade in landfills that emit harmful greenhouse gases.”
More than the numbers, however, my main takeaway was that we (normal people and not scientists or radical activists) can do something about it- “Reducing your contribution to plastic-bag pollution is as simple as using a cloth bag (or one made of biodegradable plant-based materials) instead of wasting plastic ones. For your next trip to the grocery store, BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag).” Hmmmm, I can do that. And maybe I can get other people to do it, too.
My family and I have a weekend home in San Teodoro, Mabini, Batangas, and my husband and I have always wanted to do something for this wonderful community. So with the BYOB idea in my head, next thought bubble was- Why not have the bags made in San Teodoro?
And thus, Luntian Bags was born.
