Mutya Ruaya (23) is known by me (Analyn) personally as we live in the same barangay in Maribojoc, a coastal town in the southwest of Bohol island. In December 2022, Mutya received a loan from the PSHF for her baking business and it was fully repaid on time. Now, she is seeking a second loan but for educational purposes this time.

 

Mutya is a single parent to her 4-year old child Symonn. She was in the middle of her second year of college when she got pregnant but the father of Symonn sadly turned his back on his responsibility. Mutya was able to finish the school year and gave birth to her son soon after. The two of them live with Mutya’s grandmother Melda who was her carer when she was a child. Mutya’s mother left for Manila to find a job when Mutya was six years old and never came back. It is painful for Mutya knowing that her son will have the same experience as she did growing up without a father.

 

Cooking and selling baked products such as cookies, cupcakes, and cakes has been Mutya’s livelihood since 2021 and her sales give her an average net income of 5,000 pesos (£70) per month. In 2022, Mutya was able to go back to University to resume her nursing studies thanks to some financial assistance from her uncle Romel who was a seafarer. Regrettably, Romel lost his job last month due to his ship being sold to a new owner. When he came home, he discovered to his shock that his wife had left him for another man and had used up his bank savings. 

 

Mutya is now in her fourth and final year of her nursing degree course. She is applying for a loan to pay the balance of her tuition fees (Romel paid for the first semester) and her graduation fees; the ceremony will take place on May 29th.

 

Mutya has done well in juggling her studies, her business and raising a child and she deeply appreciates the assistance she receives from her grandmother who looks after Symonn when she is attending classes. We wish Mutya a very happy graduation later this month and we hope that she will pass the Nursing board exam which she intends to take in 2025.

 

Analyn T. Gallibot

PSHF Bohol

May 2024