BREAD OF HOPE

It’s three a.m. at  the Holy Trinity Home for Children. While every one is still in deep sleep, Sister Perpetua Osio gets out of bed. She offers a prayer of thanks for another day to serve the Lord and the faithful, especially the children taking shelter in the orphanage. Then, wearing her habit, she goes to the kitchen and with the assistance of Randy and Mema, teenagers who grew up in the orphanage, she prepares the dough  to be baked and sold in their bakery.  She does this every day.

“We need to do the baking early so people could see that our breads are already available in the morning and they will be enticed to buy. If we display the breads late, most likely, they won’t be sold,” said Sr. Osio, a nun for already 13 years. Some of their best selling products are the cheesebread and the asado bun.

The bakery, named after the orphanage, has been in operation for several months. It was established through the assistance of the Rotary Club of Pag-asa, RI District 3780 which remains to be one of the organizations that support the orphanage over the years. The club donated an oven and other baking tools as well as provided free training. The bakery’s earnings are being used to support the needs of the more than 40 indigent children housed at the orphanage located at Fairview, Quezon City.   Sr. Osio admits that, at first, she was not able to focus on operating the bakery due to field missions. But this time, she’s really geared up for baking jobs.

The Holy Trinity Home for Children was established in January 1993 by Mother Elena O. Suico, founder of the Trinitarian Handmaids of the Divine Word, with her great desire to help destitute children attain a better future. The charitable institution also provides education and livelihood training to the beneficiaries.

The ongoing livelihood project of the Rotary Club of Pag-asa involves the conduct of free training for a three-year-baking course, in partnership with the Philippine Society of Baking,  being held at the Fairview campus of Gateways Institute of Science and Technology, where the project’s main proponent, past club president  Joe Montenegro, serves as director.  It is open to individuals who are above 18 years of age and have the desire to learn how to bake.  So far, the project has around 200 beneficiaries and more are signing up.

Montenegro, an electronics and computer engineer, shares that helping people in their livelihood is close to his heart.“When I see people who are in need, I could not hinder myself to help them because I see my former self in them. I came from a poor family in Surigao and I worked as a house helper, driver, car wash boy to support my education in order for me to achieve my dream of having my own school. Now that I achieved that, I would like to share my blessings to them,” he said.

Last October, under the leadership of Club President Marilou Lapuz, the club will provide training on making breads and pastries that could be baked in small ovens to make the course relevant to more viable livelihood for the trainees, as well as accommodate more students. Sr. Osio has already expressed her interest to join the upcoming session so she could add more variety to Holy Trinity Bakery’s products that sustain the children at the orphanage.

When asked if she has a secret ingredient or a ritual in making her breads flavorsome, she answered,  “There is no miracle. We just make the breads with love.“ -Photos by: Carmen Dela Cerna

(Published in Philippine Rotary magazine October 2015 issue)