Ink and rain: Writing with purpose in troubled times

In the wake of Typhoon Crising, as many communities across the Philippines struggled to recover from widespread flooding and displacement, Typhoons Dante and Emong entered the country, compounding the damage and deepening the uncertainty for thousands.

- JAIME ARISTOTLE B. ALIP, PHD

It is hard to describe what it feels like to live in a place where one disaster barely ends before another begins, but moments like this underscore the importance of our work in helping impoverished and vulnerable communities.

While watching the news and mobilizing aid for affected members of our microfinance communities, I find myself returning to a familiar question: Why do I keep writing? Especially now, when the headlines scream of calamity and chaos, and the needs on the ground seem far more pressing than anything a book can offer. What place does writing have in times like these?

Yet, just days ago, we gathered at Fully Booked in Bonifacio Global City to mark the launch of Opening Doors in Mindanao, which I coauthored with Pia Yupangco. It was a modest gathering, but one rich in meaning. Last year, in the same venue, we launched Covering Nanay, a book about how microinsurance helps women and their families cope with risk and recover from crisis. Opening Doors tells a new but similar story — one about inclusion, identity, and the journey of making Shari’ah-inspired financial services accessible to Muslim communities in Mindanao.

Neither book was written for mass appeal. Neither promises commercial success. But both were written with conviction — rooted in the belief that some stories, no matter how quiet or complex, deserve to be told. Especially in times like these, when the country’s most vulnerable are once again shouldering the brunt of nature’s fury.