Milabelle Maningo

When things turned sour in Belle’s marriage, life opened unexpected…

Milabelle Maningo is a program member of KMBI in General Santos City since November 2003. Her enrollment to the program opened doors of opportunities and blessings that were beyond her expectations.

Belle, as what she is fondly called, is a 38-year-old working mother with three kids. Her firstborn, 23-year-old Joe Alvin, finished with a degree in management accounting. Her second child, 20-year-old Julie Anne, is in her senior year as Nursing student. The youngest, 18-year-old Earl Bryanne, is a junior in BS Marketing. Since she ended a rough marriage eight years ago, Belle has been working herself to the bones making uniforms and neckties for teachers of private and public schools, local entrepreneurs and other customers in order to provide for her children’s needs.

Dressmaking was just a hobby for Belle then. Her husband then provided well for the family allowing Belle to manage a restaurant and take care of her children at the same time when they lived in Zamboanga City. When their marriage turned sour, Belle decided to move on and settle anew with her children in the nearby city of General Santos. Her hobby, dressmaking, became a lifesaver for them.

With her little savings, Belle started her dress shop. Her sewing machine and dedication to create well-crafted products gave her enough to generate income, but only a few customers believed in her skill. Being a stranger in that land was a great challenge that moved Belle to double her efforts while coupling it with fervent prayers to God. For three years, her weekly net profit was only Php700.

When a friend invited her to enroll in KMBI’s program, she did not hesitate to join. She knew that being in the program would not only provide her additional capital but would also increase her contacts. Rightly so, Belle gained friends and customers. Before long, she won the trust of some famous families who are in the tuna business.

With the increasing orders from customers, Belle hired one of her neighbors to help. The arrangement went smoothly for a time, but soon, her every customer demanded for the quality products which only her skilled hands could produce. She gave in to the demand and found herself staying up until the wee hours of the morning perfecting three to five dresses worth PhP300 apiece for labor and PhP600 for materials. Belle made sure that only choice materials she herself bought from the town of Marbel and Davao City were used. She utilized the amount she loaned to purchase these materials. Now in her seventh loan cycle, Belle is earning a weekly net profit of Php3,000.

Recently, Belle was elected vice-president for special projects in her SUCCESS Center. She plans her group to engage in business training. She desires that other women may learn from her lessons on good stewardship of money, time and skills. She believes that, in time, additional income generating projects may be borne out of the group’s diverse skills and talents  which were evident in the rag-making project of disabled persons in her barangay, which she helped generate.

Years back, this group of disabled persons started making rags as source of income. They only had few contacts to help sell their products. When Belle learned of this, she encouraged other program members to grab the opportunity of helping. However, the group was not that interested so she pursued it herself. She spent her savings to buy 100 kilos of rags (PhP15.00 per piece) every week and sold the rags to contacts in Zamboanga City. This endeavor greatly helped the disabled persons provide food for their own families, a fact that helped raise Belle’s spirit to life after being affected by the separation from her husband. She realized that the experience made her see things with grace and love, and her desire is for other program members to cultivate the same attitude through her influence.

Last April, Belle received one of the greatest fruits of her labor – her firstborn son graduated from college. She is overjoyed, but she still wants to continue helping others. Recently,  she asked contacts to refer to her needy students that she could sponsor. This schoolyear, two students were able to continue schooling through her.

Belle acknowledges that it is the hand of God who has led her and her children out of the grief they experienced and into the joy of sharing these blessings to others.