(La Carlota City, Negros Occidental) As a child, finishing school was one of Lagrimas “Lory” Luston’s greatest dreams. But living a difficult life hindered her from achieving it. Now with a family of her own, Lory wanted to pass on this dream to her four children and strive to give them a good education and a better life.
Both event photographers, Lory and her husband worked hard to provide for their family. But it wasn’t enough. They needed to upgrade their equipment and get more projects. To help grow their business, Lory joined the Project Dungganon, a flagship program of the Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF) that aims to help underprivileged women from rural communities achieve self-reliance. It offers group-based loan that utilizes the Grameen lending methodology.
Securing an affordable loan, Lory and her husband were able to improve their cameras and computers, which are essential to their craft. Through hard work and dedication, two of their children have already graduated. Her eldest is now a seafarer while the other one is a teacher, who also happened to be a Dungganon Scholar.
With less to worry about, Lory decided to apply for a Dungganon Housing Loan to improve their living conditions. This helped them rebuild and reinforce their home – starting from concreting the whole structure to replacing their windows and cementing their floor. Their family now lives comfortably in a home strong enough to withstand storms.
Through financial support, Lory has turned her dreams into achievements, which she could proudly pass on to her children. Living a more stable life, they are ready to seize better opportunities and conquer new goals.