Edsel and Hilda Giolagon live in the hamlet of Maligatong, Tawan-Tawan with their 5 children. It’s also located in Davao, a region that produces over 75% of the cacao in the Philippines. In their 30s, the Giolagons both have high school educations, and have been farming for as long as they’ve owned their farm—since 2001! They have planted an incredible 1,000 cacao trees on their 1-hectare farm, where they also grow coconut, banana, durian, mangosteen, and lansones.
The Giolagons buy all of their drinking water and usually wash their clothes in the nearby river. Lacking a direct connection to the electrical grid, power comes via a long metered cable. With kids aged 2 to 14, they’ve got 2 future engineers, a teacher, and a doctor in the family. (And one undecided.)