Before the world came to a standstill in 2020, Maricar Solomon, a 42-year-old mother of six from Barangay Quintin Salas, Jaro, Iloilo City, lived a life shaped by determination and hard work. She ran a small carinderia in their barangay that was known for its affordable home-cooked meals. The small eatery not only served customers but also provided food and income for her family of eight.

Maricar’s husband is a loan collector whose income is barely enough to support their entire household. Together, their combined income of around Php 6,000 a month helped them get by. There were no luxuries, but their basic needs were met. Food was on the table, the children went to school, and life felt stable enough.

Then the pandemic came.

When COVID-19 spread across the country, it greatly affected families without savings like Maricar’s. Streets that were once busy became quiet, and income from her carinderia started to fall. Her regular customers stopped coming as people stayed inside their homes. Schools and offices closed, supplies became limited, and food prices increased. Even buying ingredients from the market became difficult because of travel restrictions.

“I tried to hold on,” Maricar recalled. “I thought things would return to normal after a week or two, but they did not.”

Life became harder as income continued to decline while expenses did not stop. Her large family still needed daily meals, and her husband’s income was not enough to cover everything. Toward the end of the lockdowns, new eateries began opening in the area. Many of them had more resources and better reach, which made competition even tougher.

Maricar felt discouraged and left behind. She was not only losing income but also the confidence she once had in being able to provide for her family.

“It felt like everything we worked for was slowly disappearing,” she said. “I wanted to keep going, but I did not know how.”

In 2023, as the country started to recover from the effects of COVID-19, Maricar became a beneficiary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP). At first, she was unsure. After years of struggle, she had learned to be careful about promises. Still, she hoped this would help her recover financially.

Through the livelihood training provided by the program, Maricar learned about managing money, planning a small business, and basic marketing. For the first time, she began to see her carinderia not just as a way to survive each day, but as a business that could grow with proper guidance.

When she received the Php 15,000 seed capital, it felt like a blessing. The amount may seem small to others, but for Maricar, it brought renewed hope. More importantly, she now knew how to use the money wisely.

“I told myself that this time I had to do things right,” she said. “I might not get another chance like this.”

She used part of the grant to buy important cooking equipment such as a bigger stove, new pots and pans, and a rice cooker. These helped her prepare meals faster and reduced her daily expenses.

She began buying ingredients in bulk and learned how to compare prices and find better suppliers, which helped reduce costs and increase her income. She also improved her menu by offering affordable and nutritious meals for workers, students, and families. She made small changes to improve the look of her carinderia, making it cleaner and more welcoming. As customers slowly returned, Maricar hired a relative who had also been affected by the pandemic. This gave her extra help and provided income for another family as well.

After a few months, more customers began visiting her carinderia, and word spread about her affordable and tasty meals. Workers and students came back, and even passersby stopped to eat. Her monthly income increased to around Php 12,000 to Php 15,000, more than double of what she earned before the pandemic. With this improvement, Maricar regained her confidence.

Her children were able to continue their schooling without interruption, and her household became stable again.

“I used to think we needed a huge amount of money to start over,” Maricar reflected. “But what I really needed was guidance, trust, and a little help to get back on my feet. The assistance wasn’t huge but because I was guided on how to use it properly, it became the push I needed to recover everything we had lost.”

Today, Maricar’s carinderia continues to serve warm meals to the community and remains an important source of income for her family. It has become a place where people gather and share stories. She now encourages other women in her community to join livelihood programs.

Through the support of the DSWD-SLP and Maricar’s perseverance, a difficult time turned into a story of recovery. Empowered by entrepreneurship, she sustained her family’s lifeline. Her story reminds us that empowerment, when given even to one person, can become the foundation for building a better and brighter future./dswd6/cdf/Jose Julius P. Pedregosa