In 2017, we met the Peroy family: Conrado, his wife Erlin and their six children, all living on the grounds of a cemetery. One of the children, five-year-old Jane, had leukemia and needed to be hospitalized regularly for blood transfusions.
Conrado made a living making graves and doing odd tasks. With what he earned, he was able to feed his family twice a day. He hoped to be able to feed his family three times a day and shared that with additional tools, he would be able to take on more work. Through our Project Joseph, we turned over these tools to him, and he was able to earn better.
Sadly, just a few months after he received these tools, Conrado passed away. After a full day of working on graves and slaughtering chickens, he suffered a heart attack.
One of the older children quit school to work as an assistant at a bakery and became the family’s breadwinner. As their mother, Erlin hoped to start a small business so she could step up and earn for the family. Once again, through Project Joseph, we supported the family. Erlin received a fishball cart and with that, she was soon earning P300/day selling snacks to students and workers. Eventually, the business grew and continued to thrive for years. However, the business met some challenges during the pandemic.
Little Jane continued to need blood transfusions so NVC introduced the family to Suntown Camp for children with cancer and serious illnesses. Jane’s camp experiences helped her cope psychologically and emotionally. Additionally, Suntown helped connect the family to opportunities which helped with Jane’s blood transfusion requirements.
From time to time, we checked up on the family. One day, we asked Erlin if we could schedule a visit their home to check on her food cart. She mentioned that on that day, she would be at the hospital with Jane for her blood transfusion. So we decided to drop by the hospital instead to bring along a little something for Jane. We regularly receive donations of stuffed toys and we had set aside something from the stash for Jane. At the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital ward, we found Jane sitting down next to a pillow which her mother bought along. “It has a Minnie Mouse print.” said Erlin. “She is Jane’s favorite creature.“ We had no idea that Jane loved Minnie Mouse but, just our luck, the toy that we had set aside for her was a Minnie Mouse doll!
Through the years, Jane continued with her treatment. And last week, Jane traded in her hospital gown for a toga when she graduated from Grade 6. Congratulations, Jane!
