Himamaylan weavers get more time to work as solar lights brighten their nights

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines — As darkness falls over a mountain community in Himamaylan City, fifteen (15) tikog weavers can now keep working long after daylight fades, with  solar-powered lights giving them more time to weave.

The beneficiaries, members of the Madaja Handweavers Association (MAHAWA), are from Sitio Madaja in Barangay Buenavista, where each of the 15 weavers received a 120-watt  solar power setup on Tuesday, October 6.

The team also provided a separate solar power setup to Madaja Elementary School.

For the weavers, the intervention addresses a simple but practical limitation: weaving once depended largely on daylight.

With their new solar systems, they can now continue working on their tikog products at night.

Anabelle Hermino, one of the beneficiary-weavers, said the assistance means more to them because a solar setup was something many of them could not afford to purchase on their own.

“We are deeply grateful for this support. Honestly, we could not afford to buy a solar setup ourselves. We are already earning only from what we can make from weaving, so buying equipment like this would have been difficult for us,” Hermino said in Bisaya.

She added the solar light gives them something they previously lacked: the ability to keep weaving even at night.

“Before, when it became dark, we had to stop even if we still had work to finish. Now, we can continue weaving at night. We can finish more of our work, and that is a big help to us,” Hermino said.

The solar installations are part of the “Integrated Science and Technology Solutions for Inclusive Development and Peace Building in Sitio Madaja,” implemented by the Hope Builders Organization Negros Island Inc. (HBONI) with support from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) through its Community Empowerment through Science and Technology (CEST) program.

The solar systems were fabricated and installed through HBONI’s partnership with Engineer Giel Rex Besas of Giex Builders, who worked with the organization in bringing the systems to the community.

Besas said seeing the beneficiaries receive the solar systems gave the technical work deeper meaning.

“The joy in their faces is really apparent and can really warm your heart,” Besas said.

He also called for more initiatives that reach communities where basic needs remain a challenge.

“More projects addressing the basic needs of far-flung areas should be prioritized by the government or any entity that has the capacity to help,” Besas said.

POWERING EDUCATION. A solar power system was turned over to Madaja Elementary School in Sitio Madaja, Himamaylan City.

Meanwhile, Project Lead Reymund Titong said the goal goes beyond bringing solar technology to a remote community. It continues Project Tikang, which HBONI started in Madaja in 2022 to address basic concerns related to children’s education, literacy, numeracy, and health.

“When we started Project Tikang in 2022, we were responding to very basic needs—children who needed help with reading and numeracy, families struggling with nutrition, and farmers trying to make a living from very limited resources,” Titong said.

Four years later, the work has expanded to livelihood, agriculture, environmental protection, and science and technology, while maintaining the same community-centered approach.

“The needs have evolved, so our interventions have also evolved. But the principle remains the same: the community must remain at the center of the work,” Titong said.

The current project supports not only tikog weavers but also schoolchildren, farmers, and Bantay Gubat volunteers, linking livelihood development and nutrition with environmental protection.

Titong said introducing technology must also respect the community’s cultural identity.

Residents of the community consider themselves part of the Bukidnon-Magahat tribe, with traditions such as tikog weaving forming part of their community life.

“Our goal is to harmonize technology and tradition. We don’t want technology to replace what the community already knows and values. We want it to strengthen those traditions,” Titong said.

“Their culture, their weaving and their relationship with the land are part of who they are. We have to be very careful that development does not become another way of exploiting that culture. If we introduce a machine, it should make the work easier without taking away the weavers’ knowledge. If we help them find markets, it should pay them fairly for their work and protect their identity. Technology should serve the people, not the other way around,” he said.

The project will continue through mid-2027, with HBONI and its partner agencies, including the barangay and city governments of Himamaylan, sustaining science, technology, health, livelihood, education, and environmental interventions in the community.*