“There is hope after all.”

These brief words best manifest the change that has happened in Gerry Hadjirul’s small village of Barangay Lower Cabengbeng in conflict-afflicted Sumisip, Basilan, ARMM, since AMORE came and brought light to their homes, streets and community center and hope in their lives. 

Gerry was like many others in his community who had felt neglected by the government and had lost all hope that development would still come.

The nights were especially difficult before AMORE. To fight the darkness that ruled the village at that time, Hadjirul’s family used palipaan---kerosene lamps made of either glass bottles or tin cans, the dim, flickering light and smoke from which discouraged his children from finishing their study, his womenfolk from continuing with their mat-weaving, and Gerry from going out to fish for fear of getting lost at sea. When AMORE’s bright solar-powered fluorescent light illumined his house for the first time, his children almost cried for joy.

The light has reignited his faith in the government and in society. Today, Gerry is a member of his village’s Barangay Renewable Energy and Community Development Association, tasked to operate, maintain and productively use the renewable energy systems that AMORE has installed in his village. Once hopeless, he is now burning with faith in the future and is passing on the flame to the rest of his community.