Emmalinda R., 41, is making sure that her family has enough for their daily needs. She is married to Joselito R., a buko (coconut) juice vendor, and they are blessed with two children, one in elementary education and the other in high school. Emmalinda, a college graduate, helps her husband earn a living so they will be able to send their children to college. Together, they live in Lalaan 1, Silang, Cavite, Philippines.

Emmalinda has been managing her own buko (young coconut) salad and buko juice business for ten years now. Coconut water (buko juice, in the Philippines) is the liquid inside young coconuts. It’s watery and only subtly coconut flavored – sort of sweet and grassy. Young coconut juice can be used as a sports drink or a simple beverage that is usually sold in Filipino restaurants. Emmalinda, along with her husband, used to sell fresh buko juice and buko salad among her neighbors and in the local community. Monthly, she earns an estimated net income of around 12,000 PHP.

To help her continue operation of her business, Emmalinda is requesting a loan of 50,000 PHP. She plans to use this loan to purchase more fresh young coconuts to sell and other raw materials needed for her buko salad business. She believes she will see an increase in her earning capacity as a microentrepreneur through this loan. Emmalinda dreams that her business will continue to grow so that she can have enough money for her children’s college education. As a CCT community partner, she faithfully attends the group's weekly fellowship* meeting where she can also draw strength and inspiration from the Word of God.

* All CCT community partners/clients are organized into fellowship groups that meet on a weekly basis. A fellowship group is composed of 15 to 30 community partners. The fellowship groups gather each week to study the Word of God, build social capital and pay microfinance loans.