Meet Hermie of Barangay Gargato, Hinigaran in Negros Occidental. A year ago, he was a fisherman’s helper, earning Php50 (a little over US$1) a day on good days and nothing at all on bad days.
A year ago, Hermie lived in a one-room shack. His wife had left the family for a man of better means. The children cooked their own meals, usually rice and salt, as their father went off to sea. They drank water from tin cans found in someone else’s trash.
Hermie became our first Peter Project beneficiary. In just 8 months, 40 more fishermen’s helpers received their own Peter Project boats. Later still, 1,600 (and still counting) fishermen who lost had their boats to Typhoon Yolanda would receive bancas under the second phase of the Peter Project.
And now, back to Hermie…
On the first day he fished, Hermie gave all that he fished to the Church. On the second day, he shared some of it with his children’s school.
Today, we learned something new about Hermie. Hermie, once a fisherman’s helper and now a fisherman with a boat of his own, no longer lives in a one-room shack. Hermie now lives in a two-story house!
One year, one boat, one man. Such a difference a boat has made!
Thank you donors and thank you, Lord! And thank you, Hermie. You inspire us!
Read the latest update on Hermie, who now has a dream for the future. We believe that he can attain it!
