“I compared myself to the makahiya plant.”
Makahiya, known as the “shy plant,” is common in the Philippines. When touched, its delicate leaves fold inward.
“That’s the plant I thought was closest to my personality,” Rizalyn said. “I’m very shy. I didn’t like it when people talked to me because I thought I wouldn’t be able to answer properly or give the response they’re expecting. I didn’t want to be the center of attention. I didn’t like being noticed.”
Rizalyn lives with her husband and two children in Bosque, a small rural community in Nueva Ecija, part of the agricultural heartland of the Philippines’ Central Luzon region. Here, rice fields stretch across the expansive plains surrounding towns where farming has remained central to daily life for generations. The striking mountains, dense forests, and ocean-side scenery the country is known for all lie well beyond her horizon.
A Limited Horizon
Even in this vast landscape, life occupied a much smaller scope that rarely took Rizalyn beyond the perimeter of her household.
“Back then, before the Outreach, I had the same routine at home every day. I was the one taking care of our children, cleaning the house, and cooking. You could say that my whole day circled entirely around my family.”
Her experience reflects a broader reality for many women in the Philippines, especially in impoverished regions. According to the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), married Filipino women are three to four times more likely than men to cite housework as their reason for not seeking employment. PIDS researchers also report that unpaid caregiving drastically limits women’s career opportunities in the region. And according to the World Bank, childcare responsibilities and cultural expectations about women’s roles in society also remain significant barriers to women’s participation in paid work in the Philippines.
For Rizalyn, these boundaries did not only limit how she spent her time. They shaped how she saw herself and what she believed she could do. If she encountered someone on the street, she kept her head down. She worried that if someone spoke to her, she wouldn’t know how to respond. Her whole life had been defined by boundaries. Then Outreach International came to Bosque.
“The Outreach Returns”
Long before Rizalyn knew the term community-led development, she noticed how Outreach International practiced it. Outreach facilitators spent time in Bosque listening, learning, and building relationships with families. They ate meals with them. They stayed overnight in people’s homes. And they kept coming back.
“When the Outreach first started here in our place, I wondered why they needed to stay overnight in people’s homes and eat with them.”
But as she observed she began to understand.
“They don’t visit a home or a family just once. They come back. The Outreach returns. That’s how it is.”
Those relationships are foundational to Outreach International’s approach to community-led development. Rather than deciding what a community needs beforehand and arriving with a predetermined solution, Outreach facilitators help people identify their own problems, organize themselves, and connect with resources they can use to pursue solutions.
Rather than deciding what a community needs beforehand and arriving with a predetermined solution, Outreach facilitators help people identify their own problems, organize themselves, and connect with resources they can use to pursue solutions.
With the guidance of Outreach facilitator Agnes, the people of Bosque created the Samahang Manggagawa Lakas ng Bosque group. Through this community-based organization, neighbors now had a forum for communicating and taking action as a group. For Rizalyn, joining that process meant stepping out of her comfort zone and beyond the routines that defined her life.
When the Meetings Began to Matter
At first, participating wasn’t easy. She was shy. She was busy. Her husband didn’t fully understand why she was away from home so often. She explained where she was going and why the meetings mattered. She also reorganized her days, completing household tasks early so she could make time to participate. Her husband would eventually come to understand and become an important source of support. But early on, even Rizalyn had doubts of her own.
“At first, I thought there wouldn’t be any results because they kept happening over and over, and the waiting took a long time.”
The process can feel slow because community-led development isn’t designed simply to complete a project. Through repeated practice, community members learn how to identify priorities, make decisions together, locate resources, approach institutions, and follow through to achieve their result. For Rizalyn, that distinction became clear when the group’s meetings, decisions, and visits to outside agencies resulted in a first successful project that provided school supplies.
“That’s when I gained hope, realizing that even if the process takes a long time, it’s really not easy and results don’t come immediately when you take action or ask for help—but they do come.”
And the meetings began producing more than projects. They were building the group’s capacity to do more. And Rizalyn was discovering her own capacity to do more.
Through repeated practice, community members learn how to identify priorities, make decisions together, locate resources, approach institutions, and follow through to achieve their result.
Learning to Look People in the Eye
Rizalyn began feeling her presence strengthen in group meetings. She started raising her hand, speaking up. Other community leaders began trusting her with responsibilities.
“My fellow leaders helped me a lot. They supported me with the work I needed to do, and I realized I could handle it.”
Eventually, she became secretary of her community-based organization, Samahang Manggagawa Lakas ng Bosque. She learned to take minutes, maintain records, and carry out responsibilities she once assumed were beyond her ability. Then she began approaching outside agencies.
“Before, I couldn’t handle interacting with them, but now I can talk to them, make an effort to communicate, and answer their questions.”
That progression is one example of community-led development in practice. Because Outreach International requires the community-based organizations to do their own project work, it awakens their strengths to overcome their struggles. Ongoing participation gave Rizalyn repeated opportunities to practice new skills and take on greater responsibilities, which fortified her confidence.
Because Outreach International requires community-based organizations to do their own project work, it awakens their strengths to overcome their struggles.
Broader Horizons
Eventually, Rizalyn began applying those skills in leadership roles beyond the organization itself. She was selected to serve as president of the school’s Federated Parent-Teacher Association. There, she used what she had learned to identify where the school could seek assistance and how to approach agencies about possible projects. She also became more involved in local town hall projects, participating in clean-up drives and community assemblies. Life with her mouth closed and her head down was behind her.
“I am now one of those who provide suggestions and opinions to make discussions more productive. I don’t just listen quietly—I’m able to help, give suggestions, and share my knowledge.”
The transformation shows up in day-to-day moments, too.
“Before, I couldn’t interact with people. If I met them on the street, we would just pass by each other, and I would keep my head down. Now, I don’t do that anymore. I can look them in the eye, and I can greet them.”
Change at Home
As Rizalyn’s role in the community changed, life within her family changed with it. The meetings that once caused skepticism became something her husband understood and supported.
“My husband is supportive. He’s willing to take care of my chores so I can attend to the things I need to do.”
Rizalyn’s family began to realize that her growing involvement in the broader community didn’t require her to become less committed to her family. Instead, they found new ways to accommodate her responsibilities and ambitions that now reached beyond their household.
And those ambitions continue to grow.
Dreams That Keep Expanding
“For our future, my husband and I both want to have steady jobs. For my children, I want them to finish their studies so they have a secure future. I also want to have a business where I can hire people—even those who weren’t able to study—so it’s not just limited to those with formal education. I also hope to have a farm so that rice won’t be a problem for us. And for my parents, I want to help them build a house, to help with their medical needs. Those are my dreams.”
Once, Rizalyn described her entire world as circling around her home and family. Now, her family is still clearly at the center of her dreams, but the circle has expanded. Now it includes her parents, her organization, her school, her community, and people she hopes to one day employ. When she reflects on all this change, she doesn’t talk about the positions she’s held or the projects she’s helped complete. She talks about the person she has become.
“I am proud of myself because of my experiences and how I’ve become stronger. I used to think I couldn’t do it, but I realized I could.”
“I’m no longer like the makahiya plant that folds up.”
“Now I’m open.”
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Written and edited by Chris Conti
Based on an interview with Rizalyn conducted by Agnes, of CORD, Outreach International’s Program Partner in the Philippines
How to Help
If Rizalyn’s story inspires you, you can help more people discover what’s possible when they have the opportunity to lead. Donate to Outreach International and invest in community-led development that helps people awaken their strengths to overcome their struggles.
