DETERMINATION, LOVE, SACRIFICE POWER SUCCESS

Tinges of pain fill the heart of Henry Orbino of Calinog, Iloilo whenever he looks back to his humble beginnings then as a struggling worker. Now, he proudly proclaims that buffalo dairying buried all those seemingly unsurmountable challenges that befell him then.

He used to work in a bakery in Sultan Kudarat while his wife Chita worked as a bookkeeper for the National Irrigation Administration (NIA). The high cost of living made it difficult for them to sustain the needs of their family of four children. It even came to a point that his wife resigned from her work and went abroad to work as a domestic helper.

Henry even indulged in other kinds of work — like being a driver, a factory worker, and an artificial insemination technician for pigs.

But their family life seemed to be not getting any

better despite all their sacrifices.

Henry decided to migrate from their place in Sultan Kudarat to Calinog to work as a vegetable farmer. For eight years, he tilled the one-hectare farmland owned by his sibling. Needless to say, he endured the loneliness of being away from his family.

“I worked hard so that I can give support to my

children back home,” Henry said.

To improve on his farming works, he decided one day to go to the office of the DA in their place. He wanted then to engage in organic farming and he intended to know the techniques.

However, fate had other plans for him, it turned out. At the DA office, he met Arn Granada, officer-in-charge of PCC@WVSU, who talked to him and encouraged him to go into buffalo dairying.

“It was the first time I heard about that enterprise. I was reluctant at first but somehow a voice inside me told me to try it as it could be the chance I had been waiting for to have a better life,” Henry said.

Through the guidance of PCC@WVSU, Henry took the chance of engaging in buffalo dairying in 2014.

“I exerted big efforts in putting up the animal shelter and the planting of Napier grass for the buffaloes entrusted to me,” Henry said. To better manage and take care of his dairy farm, he became a constant participant in trainings and seminars conducted by PCC.

From his three dairy buffaloes, he collected an average of 15 liters of milk a day. It meant an income of Php1,050 per day, a significant income compared to a measly earning of Php300-Php400 a day.

He then fetched his children to live with him. His wife also came home and the family decided to stay together as the income Henry was obtaining was more than enough for their need.

Not only that. They were able to send their children to college who, in time, finished their respective courses. Karen finished her Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship degree while Kristina earned a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, both at WVSU. Benito is about to graduate in college in the same university while Brian is already in senior high school.

Karen and Kristina, specifically, were not only glad that they finished their respective courses. “Our dream of coming home and staying together as a family has finally come true,” they said.

Henry, who has increased the number of buffaloes he is tending, was able to buy a milking machine and two electric motors and has put up two shallow well pumps.

“I am very thankful for all the blessings that came our way. They were all because I was fortunate enough to have engaged myself in buffalo dairying,” Henry happily said.