Tags: Food Products, Healthy Food and Drinks
By KC Santos
ROSARIO, CAVITE – Through social enterprise, nuns from Mother Bonifacia Rodriguez Foundation aim to inculcate the value of hard work and self-sufficiency to underprivileged teenagers.
The nuns have founded Talleres de Nazaret, a business that sells pineapples and pineapple products. The business was initially started in Tagaytay where the fruit was most abundant.
With assistance from the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) the nuns and the workers, comprised of young adults, now produce dried pineapples, pineapple jams, and pineapple vinegar, a less acidic alternative to cane vinegar.
Sister Erlinda DC. Garaci, SSJ, currently the general manager of Talleres de Nazaret, shares that the success of the project sprung from how they incorporate prayer each step of the way.
“We start and end a day’s work with a prayer. It’s our way of making these young women understand that in the middle of work, we can still be sanctified,” Sister Erlinda says.
She says most of the out-of-school youth under the stewardship of the foundation are girls, specifically young adults, who have lost hope in themselves.
“Through this enterprise, they learn that work is actually dignifying. We want to bring back to them the feeling of being productive and the dignity in knowing that you have a purpose in life,” Sister Erlinda says.
One of those young women is Eva Tadefa. She used to work at a factory in Cavite but sought help from the foundation as she felt that she wasn’t as productive and happy as she wanted to be.
“It’s different when you’re doing manual labor out of love and it’s much fulfilling to help make products that would benefit youths who are in need,” Eva says. She has been helping out in the business for four years now.
Sister Erlinda, along with Eva and other staff, sell the Talleres de Nazaret pineapple products from 50 to 70 pesos. They also sell fried seafood products such as tahong and squid. Part of their total sales is allotted for the foundation’s scholars and the sustenance of the children’s needs in their foundation’s shelter.
Sister Erlinda says every phase of the ongoing product development is tantamount to a new learning experience not just for Eva but also for the nuns. She hopes the pineapple products will be patronized, especially in a time when prayers are often forgotten.
“These are healthy products that are made with love and prayers. Whoever patronizes them will surely be blessed not just physically but spiritually,” she says.
Talleres de Nazaret products are on display at the One Town, One Product National Expo from September 21 to 25 held at Halls 1 and 2 of the Megatrade Hall at SM Megamall.
Get more information about Talleres de Nazaret
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