While society has made leaps and bounds in providing opportunities for women in education, leadership, and the workforce, there unfortunately still exists a notion that a woman’s identity is tied to her husband and her children. Phrases such as “babae lang (just a woman)” and “nanay lang (just a mother)”, remain commonplace especially when a woman becomes a mother, limiting her role to child rearing and household management. In reality, however, the capabilities and contributions of women are far more significant than these restricting phrases, and their identities go beyond the traditional roles in society. The challenge today is to help these women, these mothers, recognize their own self-worth precisely because they are women.
Ten years ago, when our co-founders, Maan and Jo, started interviewing Filipina mothers who would compose their pioneering team of Happy Helpers, they were saddened to hear such a common sentiment among these women: “I’m too old, my dreams are for my children.” Frustrated that these mothers had such an outlook towards themselves, Happy Helpers’ social mission evolved beyond simply providing employment opportunities for Filipina mothers from vulnerable communities. In the Spark Project’s Why She Works Podcast, Maan shared, “The mission of Happy Helpers is for these mothers to see their value and see the better versions of themselves. So how do we do that? How do we make sure that they feel that self-worth? Because they are mothers. I am valuable because I am a woman, because I am a mother.”
As a social enterprise cleaning company, Happy Helpers has spent the past decade pursuing this mission. When we first started, we had a team of five mothers from the community in Barangay Pinagsama, Taguig who would provide our professional cleaning services, specifically our now flagship house cleaning service, the Deep Cleaning Service. “It was definitely not easy - we began our cleaning service operations in Jo’s home garage, wrote our job orders on post-it notes, and there was even an instance when Maan had to assist the Happy Helpers with a Post Construction Cleaning Service job since the size of the space was initially understated. At that time, it was already a significant achievement to have five job orders of home cleaning services in a week.” Yet despite all these challenges, Happy Helpers has always prioritized its mission of helping these women recognize their self-worth and achieve their dreams not only for their husbands, children, but themselves.
At Happy Helpers, we use an on-call cleaning service model where these mothers work for a maximum of five hours a day, allowing them to earn additional income and still raise their children and spend time with their families. On average, they earn Php 5,000 per month working as part-time professional cleaners, and are even taught financial literacy. Upon joining Happy Helpers, they are paid via a savings account and are highly encouraged to join our monthly ipon (savings) challenges.
A Happy Helper since 2018, May Vendiola was able to accumulate enough savings to support her father, treat herself to her dream jewelry, and even set-aside funds for the ongoing construction of their new home in the province - all without having to sacrifice spending time with her family. “Okay lang kasi 5 hrs lang at may time pa para sa pamilya. Pinagpatuloy ko ang pagtrabaho hanggang sa nakaipon ako at nakabili ako ng alahas na ang saya sa pakiramdam. Nasuportahan ko din ang tatay ko sa pamamagitan ng aking pagtrabaho. Nakaipon ako pagpagawa ng aming bahay sa probinsya. (It is okay since I only work for five hours and I have time for my family. I continued working with Happy Helpers until I was able to save enough to buy jewelry which made me feel amazing. Through my work, I was also able to support my father, and save for the construction of our new home in the province.)”
In addition to earning income, Happy Helpers also focuses on enriching the holistic development of these women through regular life coaching and training sessions. These include our quarterly kickoff celebrations where we gather our team of 107 Happy Helpers from our Taguig, Quezon City, and Muntinlupa branches to spend a fun day playing games, sharing stories, and having fun together. During our recent 10th Anniversary Celebration, Maan was deeply inspired seeing these mothers all glammed up in beautiful evening gowns sharing, “Each one of you inspires me na parang galingan pa natin. Kailangan pagbutihin pa natin kasi gusto kong makita na mas maraming nanay na ganyan ang mukha, na may dahilan na magbihis, na may dahilan na mag-iwan ang kanilang anak at asawa, magparty, magpakasaya para sa sarili. (Each one of you inspires me to do better. We need to do better because I dream of seeing more Filipina mothers with those faces, with a reason to dress up, to leave their children and husbands to party and have a great time for themselves.)”
Alfe Delgado, who has been with Happy Helpers for seven years, found purpose and value in being a woman. “Marami po akong natutunan sa Happy Helpers. Sa pagiging masaya bilang nanay dahil hindi lang po pala, bilang isang babae na dapat nakadepende sa asawa ko, kundi, magtulungan sa bawat problema at sa gastusin sa loob ng pamamahay, at maging matatag sa lahat ng problema, pamamaraan sa disiplina sa bahay at sarili. (Happy Helpers has taught me a lot. It has taught me to be happy as a mother - I learned that as a woman, I do not need to simply be dependent on my husband. Instead, I can help with every problem and expense that we face, be strong throughout these problems, and discipline myself and the household members.)”
In the past decade, we have had the privilege of working with over 250+ Filipinos, primarily Filipina mothers from vulnerable communities - these women are the heart and soul of our social enterprise. Each of these women have inspired us to persevere through every single challenge we face in pursuit of our mission of helping countless Filipina mothers recognize their own value, achieve their dreams, and define their own identities despite society’s notions and stereotypes. As we celebrate International Women’s Month, we are committed to empowering our growing team of 107 Filipina women beyond livelihood opportunities - to transform their lives where they will find joy, fulfillment, and self-worth for themselves as mothers and as women.
Written by Andie Miranda