Vision to educate 1 million poor Asian children

We finally made the long awaited trip to visit the two Kampong learning centres established by Goducate in Sandakan (Sabah).

I made this trip with my daughter, her friends and an MHC team. We also had the privilege of having Dr Leslie Tay and his friend to join us. Dr Leslie Tay is the famous food blogger who runs the popular food blogsite call ieatishootipost.sg.

This is a very special trip because there were four doctors, two law students and five photographers all equipped with the latest Canon and Nikon SLR cameras. They all came to shoot a video and photo documentary of the Goducate learning centres.

The objective was to hand over the MPV van donated by MHC, as well as for the rest of the members to visit the learning centres to explore how we could play a part to help the poor children in Sandakan.

Our first stop was Kampong Number 1 which was very near the airport. Goducate has rented a small piece of land to start the learning centre.

I was totally overwhelmed to see so many children in this learning centre. Some of them were wearing the uniform donated by a kindergarten in Singapore. We visited 3 of the classrooms. Each class has an average of 40-50 children. All the children were seated on the floor when we stepped in. There were no desks and chairs for them. They were so excited and happy to see us. They cheerfully greeted us with a loud ‘Good morning, visitor, welcome to our school’. All the photographers were so excited and I could hear cameras clicking non-stop as they began to get busy shooting photos of the children.

Many parents were present at the learning centre when we sat down in the tent to watch the song and dance items presented by the children. There must be at least 250 children at this learning centre which is the first of its kind. The learning centre was established by Goducate volunteers to provide free literacy classes to help the poor children who never have a chance to go to school. The principal, Mrs Launa, said, ‘The children could not even write A, B, C when they first came to the school’. ‘Now they are talking to each other in English and singing English songs’, she added with a smile. She was so happy that her own children who now attend the learning centre scored very high marks for English and grammar.

Linn, the lady who started this work in Sandakan was very emotional when she narrated how a boy from this centre had a desire to visit the town to take part in a drawing competition. When the boy was asked what he wanted, he only asked for pencils. Linn cried when she ended by telling us that this boy won first prize for the drawing competition. We were all very touched by what we heard.

The neighbourhood and government school teachers were also amazed by the performance of the students. They were surprised to learn that there is a learning centre that conducts excellent lessons in English in Kampong Number 1. Dr Paul Choo, the founder and chairman of Goducate left a very strong impression on me when he said,’ We must give the children the best education we could afford even though they don’t pay any school fee. We must never short change their future.’

We visited a few houses in the kampong to understand the lifestyle of the people living there. We were very surprised to find that the kampong folks were so friendly and hospitable. Linn told us that the kampong was not like this before the establishment of the learning centre.

There were many quarrels and gambling problems in the kampong. Nobody trusts each other. The poor children were left wandering aimlessly in the kampong. Some were made to work by picking empty cans to make a living.

The learning centre allows the parents, especially the mothers, to work together to help each other and to help their own children. The teachers are all volunteers. The kampong was transformed two years after the centre was established. The villagers became friendlier and they live more harmoniously with each other. Children now go to the learning centre to learn and they have stopped wandering around aimlessly in the kampong.

                   Villagers with their children at the Goducate Learning Centre

We visited another learning centre which was located deep in the forest scattered with huts and attap houses. We had to walk through muddy paths to get there in the hot sun.

                  Gathering together to take a group photos with the children

Wow, I could not imagine seeing another learning centre in the middle of a forest. We were amazed to find 200 over children gathered together with parents and teachers to welcome us. The villagers were also very excited to find visitors coming to their kampong. The children gave us a warm welcome and presented song and dance items to show us what they have learnt from their teachers. The principal was in tears when she shared about the how the centre was started.

Apparently there are over 1 million poor children in many kampongs in the remote part of Sabah. These children have no education, no hope and no future. Some have no parents and no home. Almost all of them could not even write ‘A, B, C’. Now they are singing English songs and performing their items in English. Some of them could speak grammatically perfect English.

                            Rachel, Wen Juin and Charity-with some children.

Dr Leslie Tay and his friend were moved by what they saw and we went together to the town to buy stationary and books to donate to the two kampongs after our visit.

We ended our tour of Sandakan by having a simple ceremony to hand over the van donated by MHC. The van is needed to transport the children and the teachers for their training. I was so touched to hear that Dr Leslie Tay is going to raise money to help Goducate to purchase another van to meet the need of these two learning centres.

It really warms our hearts to know that there are volunteer teachers and workers like Linn and Launa who dedicated their lives to help these poor children in the kampongs. These poor children used to have no education, no hope and no future. Now they are speaking English and starting to learn science and maths.

Linn said she looks forward to the day when more volunteers will come to this remote part of Sabah to help Goducate to reach the 1 million children out there.

The vision to educate 1 million poor children seems like an impossible dream to realize. The work has just begun. Dr Paul Choo stayed behind after we departed to visit more kampongs to look for suitable locations to set up a few more Goducate learning centres.