(MARCH 6, 2023/ TAWI-TAWI-BARMM). Eddinaira Mercera, 31, is a housewife and a mother of two living in Brgy. Malacca, Panglima Sugala Tawi-Tawi.

Her husband died in 2022 and together with her mother, she struggles to provide for their family by managing a small sari-sari store in their community.

Eddinaira is also working hard to pursue with her education and is hoping to become a teacher one day.  

When her husband died, she chose to continue the battle in life.

"I will continue to fight because this is our Qadr (fate). What I am looking right now is my children, because they are all I have and they are my strength," Eddinaira said.

As one active woman in their community, Eddinaira joined the organization of women formed in the village when the SUBATRA-ECSO Project came in 2022.

SUBATRA-ECSO: Enhancing Civil Society Organizations’ Capacities for Inclusive Development Interventions in BARMM in Support to Bangsamoro Transition is a project that provides inclusive assistance to vulnerable groups in the communities across BARMM that includes the women and the widows.

At first, Eddinaira was a secretary to the organization and has been elected as president of the group.   

The organization has recently undergone skills training from the project wherein hey learned about processing of native delicacies.

"We chose to make native delicacies because we know one day it will be known not only in Tawi-Tawi but in different places”, she remarked.

Eddinaira was in tears and was repeatedly expressing gratitude because the women in their community were given an opportunity to become more productive.

"We are very happy because, through this, women in our village will have more freedom towards progress”, she said.

Meanwhile, Tarhata Haraji from Brgy. Pasiagan in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi is also delighted by the learning acquired from the skills training.

They also learned about preparation of native delicacies that are unique in this island province.

"We want to introduce these native delicacies, especially now that the province of Tawi-Tawi is receiving more tourists where we can sell and generate income helpful for our families”, Tarhata said.

According to her, the process is known to some senior members of the community but they wanted to learn more especially for the young generation to promote and preserve these traditional dishes such as lara-lara (sili-sili), batang buruk, jintan, panyam, panganan, bawlo, hantak/kukus, doughnut-doughnut, jah, tapa-tapa and tok-ki.

Life in Tawi-Tawi is simple, most of the people's occupation is fishing, planting, and harvesting seaweeds is common source of income in the island province of Tawi-Tawi.

Through the SUBATRA-ECSO, the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA Inc.) is hoping to help these communities maximize their potentials by using available resources locally towards social enterprise development.

BDA Inc. is coordinating with BARMM agencies for more support to these local organizations to improve further their operation and become more sustainable.

SUBATRA-ECSO is being funded by the European Union and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation.