But that was before they came to learn about the Mobile Out-of-School Training (MOST) program of Operation Blessing Foundation Philippines (OB). March of last year, Dennis and Ryan were among the 39 MOST graduates in Davao City. Today, these two are well on their way to earning a good future from their new skills in appliance and cellphone repair.

Self-Employed For Success

Having a steady income has been a struggle for 25-year-old Dennis Panay. A former construction worker living in Isla Verde, an impoverished community in the city, he could only hope for more hard-hat jobs to come his way.

But after finishing MOST’s practical electricity course, he started working his way to self-sufficiency. He began receiving repair orders from his neighbors who wanted their broken appliances fixed. Soon enough, he’s accepting house calls from his friends around the city.

“It’s like almost every day, I have a customer,” said Dennis. He has fixed electric fans, stoves, flat irons, and a washing machine, earning P500 at most from a single house call.

Profits from his appliance repair service helped Dennis buy more repair tools for his new trade. Last October, he was able to purchase and drive a trisikad or passenger pedicab, assuring him of a more stable source of income.

Now Dennis is helping his siblings and relatives whenever financial problems arise in the family.

“If not for MOST, I would’ve been stuck waiting for my next construction job,” he said. He dreams of setting up his own repair shop one day.

Life-Changing

A small table and his tools. These are all Ryan Intal needs to start his own cellphone repair business.

A month after graduating from MOST, Ryan had support from a churchmate in setting up a small sidewalk shop near the city’s Ecoland bus terminal. Today the shop has customers almost every day. Oftentimes his classmates at MOST help him with the repair orders and get to earn, too.

“Gamit na gamit namin ‘yung aming natutunan (We’ve made very good use of what we’ve learned),” Ryan said.

The 22-year-old pastor’s son used to tell himself he can’t make it on his own. His slight handicap—a limping left leg caused by a vehicular accident—proved to be much of a setback in finding a job. But thanks to MOST, Ryan is enjoying his newfound fulfillment and improved self-worth.

“My parents are glad that I can now help with the family’s finances. It feels good that I’ve done all these through hard work,” he shared. “I am so happy because Operation Blessing changed my life!”

New Skills Empower the Jobless

Aside from cellphone repair and practical electricity, MOST also has courses on cosmetology, refrigeration and air-conditioning repair, and dressmaking.

Since it started in 2005, MOST has produced more than a thousand graduates from Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, Albay, Compostela Valley, Cebu and Davao, all of them grateful for the new trade skills they learned for free.

MOST is just one of the many programs of Operation Blessing Foundation Philippines, the humanitarian arm of the Christian Broadcasting Network Asia.

Through fervent support from its partners, OB uplifts the poorest of the poor not only through skills training but also with medical missions, disaster relief, livelihood assistance, community transformation, water and sanitation programs, and children’s outreaches.

OB’s Davao office is located at 370 3rd Street corner 5th Street, Ecoland Phase I, Matina, Davao City, with telephone number (082) 297-3080.