There are now 17 Goducate Literacy Centers in Sabah, serving about 2000 poor children who do not have the opportunity to attend school.
Children at these centers learn phonics (literacy) and numeracy. The unique feature of Goducate’s centers is that most of the teachers are mothers from their own communities, or former Goducate students who are now serving as teachers. Another unique feature is that most of the school buildings are built by the community.
The literacy and numeracy program has been very successful and most of our students are able to read phonetically – in English and Malay – after a few months. Goducate is now focusing on how to help our students to earn a livelihood.
As a start a few sewing machines were bought and young girls are taught how to sew. Their first project was to sew simple satchels (school bags) to carry their school books. These budding entrepreneurs bought cloth and sewed bags, which were then sold for 2 Malaysian Ringgit each – earning a healthy 1.5 Ringgit profit per bag!
The recent visit by the ieatishootipost blogging community resulted in the donation of another sewing machine and a hemming-machine. These have come in time to sew dresses for the coming Muslim festival.