By Virgenia O. Vidad and Fr. Oliver McCrossan

Virgie Vidad is from Ozamiz City who works with Pedaling to Live and Green Shelter, Inc. since its beginning in April 2006. The project was put up by Columban Father Oliver McCrossan. Here she writes about Mary Joy Tabuco, one of the beneficiaries of the project.

Virgie Vidad (left) and Fr. Oli McCrossan (right) with survivors of typhoon Vinta, Lanao del Norte, 2018

I met a very courageous and determined girl sometime in 2005 in Ozamiz City. Her name is Mary Joy Tabuco. She was born on September 8, 1992 in San Jose, Mahayag, Zamboanga del Sur, the eldest among four siblings. At five, she had a very high fever that caused her deafness. During her teenage years, she helped in the rice seed breeding and promotion of Organic Agriculture in Tambulig, Zamboanga del Sur. Ironically, her father was killed by her uncle in Tambulig while they were having fun in the family.

After the incident, her mother decided to marry again and joined her new husband. Mary Joy then left to study at La Salle University Ozamiz School for the Deaf, Ozamiz City. This time Fr. Oliver McCrossan, a Columban priest, started to give financial support for her education. She lived on her own until she finished her high school.

She shared to me that she has not seen again her mother, brothers and sisters. Her plight in life was quite challenging, trying to survive at a very young age. Without a family to rely on, she lived with someone she didn’t know and it was not easy.

Mary Joy studied Bachelor of Science in Psychology at Philippine St. Francis Assisi Deaf Center, Inc., Calbayog, Western Samar with the support of another priest. She finished college in November 2017 and decided to go back to Ozamiz City to look for a job. She worked in a bakeshop from 9 o’clock in the morning until 5 o’clock in the afternoon earning Php175.00 per day. She was renting a small room in Barangay Carmen Annex at Php1,800.00 every month. She may have finished college but her job was not permanent.

Mary Joy inviting people to buy their food

She visited again the Pedaling to Live and Green Shelter, Inc. and we had a short discussion about the newly launched livelihood program for the Deaf. Mary Joy decided to avail of this. She was granted a small capital to build a small store and started a small business selling snacks, viand, beverage and other food items. On weekdays, Mary Joy and her friend Bernard, also a deaf, sell banana turon, bihon, ice candy and pinakbet, and on Saturdays and Sundays they sell barbeque and hanging rice at Cotta beach. Another opportunity opened for her as one of our new housing beneficiaries, following the same scheme of payment of the tricycle drivers. She will be paying Php30.00 a day until she can fully pay the whole amount of one hundred thousand pesos for the housing unit.

Mary Joy with Virgie in her new house, signing “I love you”

Finally finding a home, Mary Joy is now happy in her new house with her neighbors. I am very touched by her life story with her kind of determination that made her go through life’s challenges. She is one of the people whom we are working with, a recipient of the donations from our benefactors. The education she got may not have landed her on a good job but it gave her the confidence to set up a small business of her own.

We thank our dear benefactors who continue to touch the lives of many of our less privileged people. You have just fulfilled another dream, a quiet home for Mary Joy who was once homeless.