Stories of Hope
AMORE has helped changed lives and give hope. Please click on some of the links below.
Lam-alis residents get added dose of energy to keep development going
Maria Ethel Lasib was pleasantly surprised when a four-wheel pickup pulled up right in front of her house in the upland village of Datal Blao... (read more)
Reaching New Heights in Developement
A case of bringing safe water access to the hinterland
Some 600 meters above sea level and 55 kilometers from downtown Dipolog somewhere in the narrow winding road side of the Zamboanga del Norte mountains... (read more)
Ain't No Mountain High Enough
Bringing Energy Service to the hinterlands
Astride his motorcycle bike, Abdulrauf Manalasal scours the mountains of Central Mindanao for photovoltaic (PV) solar home system clients... (read more)
The Business of Bringing Light to Mindanao
'Ka Darang is a woman on a mission. After more than a two hour- boat ride from her village in the island of Sumangat, she strides into the Datu Amirbahar Jaafar Convention Center in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi where various solar photovoltaic lighting and energy equipment... (read more)
Young students in the south excel
Students from Kabuling Elementary School, a remote off-grid school in the southern Philippine town of Buluan in Maguindanao recently harvested gold and silver medals in an academic district-wide mathematics and science competition... (read more)
Water facility change lives of Muslims in Southern Philippine town
SIASI, SULU ? Water is a precious resource. In fact, it is one of the world?s most important resources, yet two fifths of the people of our planet face severe shortages of it... (read more)
Former war-torn village finally glimpses light; gradeschoolers get educational tools
A school in a former war-torn community has been brought into the 21st century with the installation of electricity and audio-visual facilities... (read more)
Ramadan takes on a new meaning for Barangay Kilangan
Ramadan is the ninth month in the Muslim calendar. Throughout this month, Muslims fast during the daylight hours and in the evening, eat small meals and visit friends and family. It is a time of worship and contemplation, of cleansing, enlightenment and hope, and of strengthening of family and community ties... (read more)
Light spreads to more households in remote Mindanao village
When AMORE electrified the island barangay of Tumalutab in Zamboanga City with solar home systems in April 2004, the 30 members of the Barangay Renewable Energy and Community Development Association (BRECDA) that AMORE organized to operate and maintain the systems vowed that they would do everything they could to help extend the benefits of the electrification project to the rest of their community... (read more)
Community sustains peace and development efforts
The municipality of Columbio in Sultan Kudarat is known to be a hotbed of insurgents, i.e., the New People?s Army (NPA). When the AMORE Program entered Sitio Lam-alis in Barangay Datalblao in Columbio to energize the village with a 7-kilowatt microhydro power system... (read more)
My son couldn?t even spell my name
Hamsaini Kipli, then a 4th grade student in Barangay North Tapian Bohe, Sapa-Sapa, Tawi-Tawi, did not know how to read... (read more)
We are now out of the dark
Jabidi Talib, a member of the Barangay Renewable Energy and Community Development Association (BRECDA) of Barangay Lampinigan, Isabela, Basilan, is ecstatic. ?We should be thankful to AMORE because we are now out of the dark,? he says... (read more)
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... (read more)
Peace now reigns in war-prone community
When news of the brutal killing of Barangay (the local term for ?community?) Mandulan?s captain and his wife broke out in late 2003, some of their family members organized a group to avenge their deaths and take the law into their own hands. Armed conflicts were... (read more)
BRECDAs: Catalysts in promoting women empowerment in far-flung villages
Generally, women in remote communities in Tawi-Tawi have limited options in life: to become a housewife or a teacher. Young girls are tasked to carry gallons of water... (read more)
Solar Power helps student pursue their dreams
Norminy Arik is a high school student in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, an extremely poor province in Mindanao, Southern Philippines . Norminy has to travel by boat for over an hour to school everyday from her island village and back. She does not mind the difficult commute... (read more)
Sense of permanence settles in war-ravaged Maguindanao community
Kalumenga is a mountainous barangay that sits at the boundary of Datu Paglas in Maguindanao and the town of Columbio , Sultan Kudarat. As a frontier... (read more)
AMORE empowers rural women through village-based leadership
Most people are not aware how difficult it is for us Muslim women to take on leadership responsibilities in our communities... (read more)
From rebel to peacekeeper
Kumander Gubat?s name used to strike fear on the hearts of military officers and soldiers, big businessmen and politicians in the 1970s. He commanded the respect of his men and his turf... (read more)
Community saves up and join hands to sustain development project
The thirty households in the village of Barangay Lanawan in Sumisip, Basilan lighted up by the AMORE program were only too happy to take care of the renewable energy systems that are giving them light... (read more)
Changing mindsets, changing lives
Doubt and skepticism greeted the USAID-funded Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) Program staff when they first entered and introduced the program to the residents of Barangay Luuk Poblacion in Tongkil, Sulu... (read more)
Love (?AMORE?) conquers all
Neneng Muarip is a community development worker who has worked with many poor, remote, conflict-affected communities in Muslim Mindanao. She has stood witness... (read more)
Clean water for remote Mindanao barangay
Despite the abundance of water in Barangay Chua, a remote mountainous barangay 13 kms. from the town proper of Bagumbayan in Sultan Kudarat, water remains a problem to many residents... (read more)
No more coughing
The people of Barangay Bakkud in Siasi, Sulu have grown accustomed to the pungent smell of smoke when using their kerosene lamps to light up their houses at night... (read more)
A Force for Good
Back in 2002, Belen Sansawi was Secretary of the Barangay Renewable Energy and Community Development Association (BRECDA) of Mandulan, Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, an organization of household electrification beneficiaries of the AMORE Program in the village... (read more)
Helping more
Kursid Kurais is the son of a former Moro National Liberation Front or MNLF combatant... (read more)
From battlefield to best BRECDA
Kuraisiya Hussin was enjoined by her uncle, a former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) commander from Duggo, Siasi, Sulu, to join the MNLF medical team and spearhead its Duggo unit in the mid-1970s... (read more)
Night life in New Canaan
?It?s a full house!?? New Canaan residents would exclaim, referring to the ?home theater? that the Ba-ids have come up for the community... (read more)
Sherna's dance
Sherna Hassan, a first-grade student at the Duggo Elementary School in Siasi, Sulu, could not hide her smile when she disclosed, ?All of us in school are aware of the Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) Program because we now have music from the cassette recorder when we have a program in school.? (read more)
Crops to quicker cash
To vegetable farmers in Little Margos in the municipality of Tungawan , Zamboanga Sibugay, preparing and packaging harvested crops were activities confined to daytime... (read more)
Victims no more
Maguindanao, have become wary of development programs trying to enter their barangays. They had previous experiences with groups that entered their villages with promises of assistance through capability building, research, and other projects, and yet failed to deliver... (read more)
A new beginning for a remote Maguindanao community
?This is a new beginning for us.? (read more)
AMORE paves way to healing of family grudges
Bongo Island , Parang, Maguindanao -- Kasan Kotongan, barangay captain of Kutongan, a small coastal village in Bongo Island off the coast of Cotabato , had not set foot on his birthland for almost a year. A long-standing grudge between his clan and another clan in the village... (read more)
Keeper of the trees
Parang, Maguindanao ? In Barangay Kutongan in this municipality, which was too remote to be connected to the power grid, electricity came through stand-alone solar home systems installed by the AMORE Program in participating households in May 2005... (read more)
War is not the only thing on our minds
Barangay Masulot, Sultan sa Barongis, Maguindanao - Hardened combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest Islamic separatist group that operates in Southern Philippines... (read more)
Thanks for the light
Barangay Darampua, Sultan Sa Barongis, Maguindanao, Philippines ? Cheers accompanied the first switch-on of electric lights in the 30 households in this remote village that were recently energized with stand-alone solar home systems by the Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) Program of the U.S. Agency for International Development... (read more)