A Shack by the Sea

In 2012, NVC President Millie Kilayko and the rest of the NVC Team visited a place called Hinigaran on Negros Island in the Philippines. The team was there to look for possible recipients of fishing boats. On the shores, she met a young boy named Erick John. Erick John lived in a shack with his siblings and father. Erick John’s mother had run away. What was worse, she continued to collect the government issued financial aid which was meant for her children!
The family was literally dirt poor, their “floor” was just the ground beneath their bare feet. While their father was out at sea working as a fisherman’s helper the kids fended for themselves. Erick John’s task was to cook lunch for his siblings Christian and April Rose. In order to make a fire to cook a small pot of rice, Erick John burned some trash, and toxic smoke filled the little shack. The children ate the rice plain because the family could not afford anything else. After that, the children drank dirty water out of old tin cans from someone else’s trash.
Ms. Millie observed as Erick John (wearing blue in the photo) cooked rice.

The Boy Who Begged

Erick John had begged us to wait for his father, Hermie, to come home so that he could be interviewed and considered for the gift of a fishing boat. And so, wait we did.

Hermie came home after a long day at sea. Though he worked hard, he earned just P50 (a little less than a dollar) on good days and next to nothing on bad ones. We asked him what his dream was, and we though he would say that his dream was to own a fishing boat. However, his response surprised us. It turns out Hermie’s life was so hard that he did not even have the energy to dream. He stared at us blankly and said he had no dream.

And so, we were determined to help him dream again! We put his name on the list for possible recipients of a PeterProject fishing boat.

A Boat for Hermie

In November 2012, Hermie signed an agreement with NVC Foundation as a beneficiary of a fishing boat. Part of the agreement was that they would provide the labor to make their fishing boats. On February 5, 2013, we turned over Hermie’s fishing boat and he became the first Peter Project fisherman.

Hermie and his children pose beside his boat, the Queen B.

A Better Life for the Family

Becoming a fisherman helped Hermie a lot. He built a sturdy home for his family and he finally began to dream. His dream was for his children to go to college. Hermie also became a community leader, supervising people in his community whom NVC had hired to make boats. He was even featured in the news! After the devastating earthquake in Nepal, Hermie was the first to step forward to share some money with the survivors and others from the community were inspired to donate to the cause. CNN found out about this and featured the story.

An Older Eric John

With the more stable family situation, Erick John and his siblings started going to school regularly. Sadly, during the pandemic, Erick John dropped out of school because he did not have a gadget for him to join his online classes. And then he started hanging out with kids who were a bad influence on him. Thankfully, Erick John met a pastor who turned his life around. The young man even changed the spelling of his name to symbolize his transformation. Through the help of a pastor from overseas, Eric John went back to school, and he graduated from Senior High with honors.

Eric John began college, hoping to be a seaman who would bring the word of God to different parts of the world. A series of donors helped out Eric John with his schooling. First there was a kind lady, then a group of three generous souls. The final donor who will help Eric John till graduation is Krystylle Lycca. She was fortunate to have been helped through college by another kind soul. Now that she is a working professional, she has chosen to pay it forward. The most poetic part is, Krystelle Lycca works for a company that provides catering services to the maritime industry, so it seems that this story always comes back to the sea where it all began.

We are so grateful to people both in the Philippines and abroad who help our beneficiaries reach their dreams!