Back in business: Tzu Chi Eye Center restores vision, livelihood of poor couple

Back in business: Tzu Chi Eye Center restores vision, livelihood of poor couple | Daily Tribune

Couple Francisco and Amy Dejucos of Sta. Ana, Manila used to have a thriving business. She makes beddings and curtains which he sells around Metro Manila and Rizal. They lost their livelihood during the lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic. The worst was yet to come.

Francisco lost his eyesight from cataract in 2022, leaving his wife as the sole income earner for the family.

“I did laundry for other people to pay the bills and put food on the table,” Amy recalls in a video documentary of her life posted on the Facebook page of Tzu Chi Medical Foundation Philippines.

She also worked as househelp.

Money was hardly enough for the childless couple. They could not afford the expensive eye surgery to fix his blindness. Hope came when a neighbor referred them to Tzu Chi Eye Center in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

Ran by the international humanitarian organization founded by Taiwanese nun Dharma Master Cheng Yen, through Tzu Chi Medical Foundation Philippines, the center provides free consultation, surgery and medicines to poor patients. Volunteer eye doctors and medical staff serve the over hundred blind or semi-blind patients packing the center daily.

The Dejucos got more than what they asked for. Francisco successfully underwent cataract surgery in both eyes and regained his eyesight.

Volunteers of the eye hospital, realized the couple needed more help after visiting them at their home. Learning of Amy’s skill as a seamstress, they pooled money worth P17,000 as capital to restart their bedding and curtain-making enterprise. They even accompanied the couple to Divisoria in buying the cloths, threads, garters, zippers, sliders and sewing machine oil that she needed in making beddings and curtains.

“We can treat Francisco’s eye disease but they will continue to suffer if they do not have a stable source of income,” Tzu Chi volunteer Ting Ting Pua said, according to Medium. “We found out Amy had a talent for sewing. We thought, the best way to help them is to harness what skill they have.”

The husband and wife earned an initial P34,000 from the orders they fulfilled. Tzu Chi volunteers helped sell their products to other patients and staff at the eye center.

Further support came in the form of packaging for her products and a new mobile phone for communicating with customers.

Amy reciprocated by filling a Tzu Chi coin bank and donating it to the center to cover the medical expenses of other poor patients. She was able to save money from the sale of beddings and curtains.

“There are many patients who are in need just like we once were. That’s why we are saving donations in the Tzu Chi coin bank — so we can also extend help,” she said.

Helping after being helped. That’s how cycle of love and charity is sustained at the Tzu Chi Eye Center.