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"As long as we have hope and our body can carry on, we have to work. Just work hard."
Like so many Filipino mothers, Cristie Gravanza's main motivation is her family. While she knows that hardships and difficulties are part of living, she believes you just need to overcome and go beyond it for your children.
That's why Cristie and her husband believe they have been able to make it so far through the economic crisis wrought by COVID-19. The money they received through Grameen's COVID-19 Emergency Relief kept them from hitting rock bottom. They used it to to pay the bill for her son's emergency surgery after shards of coal flew into his eyes, and they invested what was left in her husband's blacksmith business so they will be ready when business picks up again.
In the meantime, Cristie is finding ways to make ends meet with a manicure service, taking in laundry and repairing bolos for farmers. They are getting by, and they all have each other.
Never lose hope. Despite the tough situations that we all have to face, hoping is already one step forward. By hoping, we are able to find ways to feed our children and give them better lives.
— Cristie Gravanza
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The world's poorest are fighting COVID-19 with everything they have
Dionicon Bengan
Surviving, with help
Dionicon and her husband lost their jobs when COVID-19 hit. So their six children would not starve, they worked as field laborers. When the lock down ended that work, they didn't even have rice to eat. They put their money to work growing and selling vegetables and are now able to get by.
Kristine Boniba
Getting by, with help
A 33 year-old mother of three, Kristine's business was crippled by COVID-19. Through Grameen's COVID-19 Emergency Relief, cash support for rice and basic necessities during the worst time of the shutdown has kept her family afloat. Short on capital but big on dreams, Kristine dreams of one day putting a grocery next to their church.
Digitization to the poor. A glimmer of hope.
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