Goducate has started 2015 with an ambitious project. It aims to extend its helping hand to 400 new barangays (villages, districts, or wards) in Panay (an island in the Western Visayas group and on which the Goducate Training Center is situated) and Leyte (an Eastern Visayas island that was particularly badly hit by Supertyphoon Haiyan in 2013 and where Goducate did some relief work). Such an aim might seem impossible, but only by dreaming big for the less privileged Filipinos are we able to improve their present status. This project is called CDWs [community development workers] for the Barangays.
CDWs for the Barangays (CFB) is a six-month long project that kicked off on Feb 1. Ten groups of Goducate CDWs have been deployed to the island of Leyte and to the following towns on Panay: San Miguel, Oton, Alimodian, Tigbauan, Leon, Concepcion, Car-Bal-Es (Carles, Balasan and Estancia), Lemery, and Capiz. The target barangays will receive free health check-ups and health education. This health-education drive will cover the following:
I. For adults:
a) Blood-pressure checks and a hypertension-information drive
b) Random blood-sugar checks and a diabetes-information drive
c) A moringa-awareness and moringa-powder-making seminar
II. For Children
a)Good hygiene practices such as toothbrushing and handwashing
b) Checks on nutritional status, using World Health Organization Child Growth Standards for children aged 6 and under, and Body Mass Index for older children
This big project requires much in the way of materials such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, for which we will be glad to have sponsors.
*Our guest writer is Joanna De Leon, a community development worker
