Kwaderno by Jacinto&Lirio: Creating Meaning Through Business

by Noreen Marian Bautista

"The meaning of life is to give life meaning."
-Ken Hudgins

Last Thursday, April 19, we reconnected again with our community partners in Pampanga. They are some of the amazing women expertly working on the water hyacinth material showcased in each Kwaderno by Jacinto & Lirio journal cover.

Their careful attention to the water hyacinth craft has given them so much fulfillment in work and in life
Who would have thought a pest plant was the source of the inspiration behind this?

We conducted a visioning session for the group to map out our strategic direction together.

The session started with a meaningful sharing of the successes we are most proud of ever since we embarked on this journey. It's interesting for us to do that, because in sessions before, we would usually start talking about problems and challenges, and our next steps to address them.

Because the reality is, we have A LOT of CHALLENGES.

This social enterprise endeavor is no joke. Linking design markets and community livelihoods is like building the longest bridge in the world!

But our facilitator that day reminded us that challenges are actually consequences of previous triumphs. Facing difficulty in any endeavor is an indicator that one has surpassed a challenge before. Think about it. We are where we are now, because we hurdled many hurdles in the past.

That insight gave A LOT OF MEANING. Right then and there, our community partners, and myself as part of Jacinto&Lirio, agreed that we all came so far and we should be proud. One thing we are most proud of is how strong our relationships have become. We no longer look at each other as simply business partners. But it's more of a common respect and friendship being exchanged.

This is what gives life meaning. The relationships built with people. The solidarity created with whom you work with as you all do great work.

We still have so much to do. But we are smiling, because what we are doing is of greater purpose, and we have surpassed previous challenges that came in our way.

Special thanks to our training and development friends who helped facilitate the visioning session!

Darby Bognot of DTI Pampanga, Noreen from Jacinto&Lirio and

volunteer facilitators -Rina Sarmiento and JQ Quesada

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Creating Meaning Through Business

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