Clarisse – Page 2 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2014-08-08

Teens from Goducate Sabah undergo training at Goducate Training Center, Iloilo

About 6 years ago Goducate started literacy centers in Sabah to cater to the numerous undocumented aliens of Filipino origin who are not entitled to state education. Over the years a few thousand children have learnt literacy and numeracy and some livelihood skills at these centers, and many have been able to get jobs in places such as restaurants, retail outlets, hairdressing saloons.

Some have stayed on as assistant teachers at the literacy centers, and some wish to continue with their schooling. So this year Goducate took on the challenge of bringing to the Goducate Training Center (GTC) in Iloilo 9 of the teens who have been working as assistant teachers. Here they are being taken through the Philippines Department of Education Alternative Learning System (ALS). It is a ladderized, modular, non-formal education program for people who have not completed their schooling. Goducate has been tutoring out-of-school youths and adults in ALS in its community programs. Those who successfully complete the secondary level of the ALS are eligible to apply for tertiary education.

The aim of bringing the Sabah teens to GTC is not only to enable them to finish their academic schooling, but also to train them to help their own communities when they return to Sabah. Hence, they are also undergoing parts of the training to be community development workers that the rest of the trainees at GTC are going through. The teens’ curriculum focuses on the learning of communication skills, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. They are taught how to make use of the resources they have, how to develop oneself, and how to expand one’s vision. After all, poverty is not merely the result of external factors, but also of the state of the mind. The Sabah teens have classroom training that is separate from the rest of the trainees, but they join the others in the community work in the areas around GTC, in some of which the effects of Typhoon Haiyan are still being felt.

After a few weeks at GTC, the Sabah teens have become confident in speaking English, and they have also picked up the Filipino language. They have opened up and shared about their dreams and what they want to be in the future. Through mingling with the other trainees they have learnt new skills such as photography, cooking, playing a new kind of sport, and also important lifeskills such as doing their own laundry and keeping their own place clean. Their talents are beginning to show through.

Goducate hopes that when they return to Sabah these 9 teens will be an encouragement to others in their community, who will see that that if they dream big and work hard there is a good chance they can bring themselves and their communities out of poverty.

2014-07-29

Hog raising project in Panay Philippines

True to its cause of helping needy Asians help themselves, Goducate Training Center which is based in Panay came up with another project that aims to aid needy families by providing them with a livelihood project.

The hog raising project is one of the livelihood projects of Goducate Training Center which started last January 2012. For the benefactors of the project, they are provided with a piglet or a litter of pigs that they will fatten as well as the feeds throughout the fattening period. The first benefactor of the project was Jyson Saclauso, one of the workers in Goducate.

At first he was only given 4 piglets to fatten and to sell with the expenses being shouldered by Goducate. Eventually the project grew and grew until two years from now, he was able to provide 10 piglets to another family to start their own hog raising project, renovate his home from the money he got, pay for his siblings’ school tuition fees and buy off 2 sows from Goducate to raise on his own. He is now selling and raising pigs all on his own.

“Dako gid ang nabulig sang (hog raising) project sa akon, sa panimalay and sa tuition sang mga manghod ko.” (The hog raising project really was a big help to my home and to pay off the tuition fees of my siblings.) says Jyson. Because of his dedication to the project, another family was also able to start the project in their own backyard. The Cag-ang family have recently 10 pigs ready to be sold and 1 sow ready to give birth my September of 2014 at their very own backyard.

Currently, Goducate has 4 families who are taking part in the hog raising project but according to Mr. Joel Dagon, the head of the project, Goducate is hoping to reach more families in need. “We’re expecting nga indi lang sila, kung maka produce kita sang damo nga piglets pwede naton ma scatter pa gid to the other families nga maging part sila sa livelihood program kag makabulig kita sa community.” (We’re expecting that it’s not just them whom we can help. If we can produce more piglets we can scatter them to the other families that they can also be a part of the livelihood program as well as we can help the community.) he stated.

The families that had received the project were families that Goducate identified to be the most in need within the community, trustworthy, as well as having the knowledge and understanding on how to care for the pigs.

Not only does Goducate the need of these people for a sustainable source of income, but the people in the community also begin to see how they can help their fellows. “Kung mag anak na ang baboy, pwede naman mahatag sa iban kay makabulig man ni sa ila.” (If the sow gives birth, we can also give these to others that this can also help them.) says Roberto Cag-ang, one of the benefactors. “Maayo gid ang project nga ini para sa pigado makabulig gid nga dako.” (This is a very good project for the poor because it can help them a lot.) he added.

Through this project, Goducate Training Center helps others in need not by directly giving money but by teaching them a trade that would be able to provide them their needs for the rest of their lives.

2014-01-172014-01-23

Goducate makes tents for schools damaged by Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda)

One way by which Goducate is helping the victims of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) that devastated large swathes of the Philippines in November 2013 is to provide temporary shelters for schools in north Panay that were damaged. North Panay is the area near the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo.

There are two approaches to providing these shelters. For classrooms that lost only their roofs, Goducate provides tarpaulins to serve as the roof. We call these “wrap-around tents”. The school teachers and parents put up bamboo and wooden rafters, and Goducate works with the locals to put up the 32×22 ft tarpaulins

When the walls and posts of roofless classrooms are structurally poor, as assessed by the engineering team from the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo, Goducate provides a “tent school”. The Goducate team has designed the tent schools to provide sufficient ventilation and insulation from the heat.

The Goducate team has been busy at the Goducate Training Center making these tent schools. We are fortunate to have people with the necessary skills to make these tent schools. When the Goducate Training Center was being built, we decided where possible to employ people from the neighboring villages and train them in various construction skills. One of them learnt welding and has since become a contractor for concrete and steel works. His team has been employed to help make the tent school. One tent frame can be made by 3 people in 4 days. The tarpaulin roof and wall are made by a separate team, so the manufacture of a complete tent is finished in 4 days. A tent takes 4 people 1 h to assemble.

Our target for phase 1 of our relief work is 25 units by the end of January. As of Jan 15, we had 5 full tents (which have been assembled on site) and 10 frames. Work will be speeded up in the coming week with more workers on the job.

We will soon be launching the Goducate Tent Schools with a teachers’ appreciation day to commend teachers for their hard work and resilience during the recent crisis.