Virginia ‘Virgie’ Deocareza Negrite, During he growing up years,
my family used to occupy a piece of land within the park for
slash-and burn-farming to augment their income and provide
for daily sustenance. Poverty made life difficult. the dreams to
fulfill he aspiration of becoming a public high school teacher
became so out of reach.
He migrated to Metro Manila. He was enrolled and finished the 1st year of college
for the course of Bachelor in Secondary Education (BSE) until I faced the
crossroads of my life to choose between financial support
for family or fulfill he dreams of becoming a teacher.
and while he was grappling with poverty,
a community-based multi-sectoral
environmental NGO, started to operate ecotourism services
and conserve the biodiversity, as well as to develop ecotourism
products and services.
As a lake fisher, I was one of the beneficiaries trained
as an Eco Guide in 2010 and during these initial
stages started earning money from tourism-related
services.