Veronilla M. is a 40-year-old married woman who lives in the green farm country of the Rizal province town of Pililia. She has three children, one of whom is a high school student, while the others are at elementary school. Over the years she has provided for her family by hog-raising, including slaughtering, and by buying and selling different small goods in her village.

Veronilla’s biggest dream is to have a successful pig farm someday. She believes this opportunity will give her the confidence to succeed while helping her family rise out of poverty. The financial opportunity of hog-fattening is one of the best ways to help provide for her family and she very much wants to lift her family out of scarcity.

This loan of 10,000 PHP is for hog-fattening, a common business for people in her area who are afflicted with poverty. Veronilla will buy small piglets, sacks of feed, and supplements and vitamins for the piglets. She will raise them for approximately four to six months until they are ready for sale. Her long-term goals are to build a sustainable business, fund her children’s college education, and construct a more durable home that can survive flooding, which is common in her town. With the support of ASHI and Kiva, she is hopeful that her hog-fattening business will generate a steady income to improve her financial stability and her family’s quality of life.

About ASHI

Ahon sa Hirap, Inc. (ASHI) has the distinction of being the oldest existing replication of the Grameen Bank Approach (GBA) to credit delivery to the bottom poor in the Philippines. With its outstanding achievements over the years, it has become one of the role models in credit delivery to the poor in the country.