Married for 20 years, Yolanda & Ding (happily!) spend nearly every day together!

• Ding, whose real name is Edmund, is a trained auto-painter from Camarines Sur, an area in the Southern part of the Philippines. Yoli, a trained garment factory worker, is from Mandaluyong, a part of Metro Manila.
• Yoli was born in 1960 and completed the 10th grade, while Ding was born in 1953 and was one of the first in his family to finish high school.
• They have two children, one who thankfully lives nearby and works in customer service.
• When you ask Yoli and Ding about their life outside of work and sewing, they excitedly say, "We have 3 grandchildren!" :) (We here at GIANNA think that grandparents around the world must all be part of the same club! Grandparents are so similar around the world!)

Yoli & Ding dream about helping their three grandchildren get a good education.

• They tell us that they themselves don't have any "big" dreams, just to help their 3 grandchildren get through school and eventually get good jobs.
• When we ask them what they would dream about if they knew their grandchildren's education would be fine, they say they love gardening and that it would be fun to have a small garden and eat fresh fruits and vegetables each day. (yum!)
• Yoli and Ding also share that they enjoy animals, so having pigs and chickens as a hobby and also as supplementary income is something they've considered for a while. If they're able to meet their financial goals this year making our recycled billboard products, they may just get a few pigs and chickens!

Previously, Yoli & Ding's main form of income was repairing clothing for friends, family, and random people in their community. Now, this financially-unpredictable activity is only supplementary income because they're able to earn a fair trade wage making products from recycled billboards.

• Yoli, a shy woman who's not trained in many vocational skills aside from sewing, expresses her gratitude that this work allows her to work from home, spend time with her friends, and work at her own pace.
• Her husband, Ding, is a true partner in the sense that he helps her sew and cut the recycled billboard pieces, and in fact, they design products together and present them to the GIANNA team during fair trade workshops!
• What stands out perhaps most of all is that by working with us, Yoli and Ding are able to work from home and earn a fair trade, living wage. Previously, their primary source of income was making clothing alterations and repairs—a relatively low-paying and unpredictable profession. It's still something they do on the side, but it's wonderful to have it be just that: "a sideline," as they say. :)