Guest * – Page 108 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2010-05-212010-05-25

Goducate training center site report (2)

Visual examination of soil texture shows that it is predominantly sandy loam to sandy clay loam. Combined with the sloping terrain, these make the water retention capacity of the soil rather poor because of high seepage and percolation rates.

The area is rainfed. As mentioned by the caretaker, the cropping pattern had always been Rice-Rice, which means that only two rice crops were grown in the area. For household consumption, however, remnants of squash, alugbati, and mungbean were seen in four paddy plots. Watering of the plants is done by siphoning water through a continuous ½-inch PVC tube with one end immersed into a well.

Another important information elicited from the caretaker was that during the rainy season, so much water would cascade from the hillside into the paddy areas. Since there is no provision for a catchment structure, the runoff water would flood the ricefields and oftentimes caused damage to the standing crop.

There is no power supply in the area since the Iloilo Electric Cooperative I (ILECO 1) transmission line is a bit remote from the site. While energizing the campsite through ILECO 1 is a good option, some non-conventional energy sources should be considered because of their possible scientific and educational relevance. This will be further explained under the topic on recommendations.

2010-05-192010-05-25

Goducate training center site report (1)

General Assessment of Site:

Cursory assessment of the existing resources in the area revealed that although mahogany trees dominate the population of indigenous tree species (bamboo, madre de cacao, Ipil-ipil, etc.), about 50 mango trees (30 of which are fruit bearing), several coconut, siniguelas, santol, banana, camachile, cacao, and coffee trees are also prominent. These are very positive externalities linked with the acquisition of the camp. At their harvestable age alone, the mahogany trees with an estimated population of at least 4,000 and priced at P10,000 per tree, the monetary equivalent is P40,000,000. Even with a conservative shadow price of 0.25 of the gross tree value, this easily translates to a significant pecuniary amount of P10,000,000. If the implicit value of standing fruit trees is included, this will result in a marginal amount of P200,000. Hence, it can be imputed that the acquisition price of P2,400,000 pales in comparison with the actual market value of the property.

The presence of shallow water table in the upper agricultural portion of the area augurs well towards meeting the future domestic and irrigation water need at the campsite throughout the year. The observed two shallow wells had plenty of water even during the dry season peak. Obviously, the presence of mahogany and indigenous tree species along the surrounding hillsides is seen as big contributor to the gradual release of water while mitigating the otherwise serious soil erosion that could occur in the watershed area during the rainy months.

2010-05-17

Herbal Soap Factory; Goducate Livelihood project in Laguna Philippines

The title “Herbal Soap Factory” sounds impressive. In most of our minds it conjures up the image of a spotless, high-tech factory with white-coated lab technicians. However, the Goducate Herbal Soap Factory is in a little wooden Goducate Learning Center building. And it is run by a few old ladies (one a widow) who have learned to make herbal soap for a livelihood.

The technique of making herbal soap has been learned by Jonathan, the Goducate Learning Center supervisor at Mabakan, Laguna, from a government sponsored course. He has since transferred the skills to these ladies. The equipment is rudimentary – a few pails, many plastic molds to contain the liquid soap, some paper to wrap the soap. The raw materials are simple – caustic soda, vegetable oil and herbal essence, eg. crushed papaya, crushed guava leaves.

The ladies patiently stir the mixture of caustic soda, oil and herbal essence for about 30 minutes before the dark brown liquid is poured into the plastic molds. When the dark brown liquid is left to cool, it turns into pure white soap! When the soap is hard enough it is knocked out of its mold and left to “mature” for a month before it can be used.

The soap is then wrapped in simple paper and sold to their neighbors for 12 pesos (about US 20 cents). The proceeds from the sale of the soap are shared between the Goducate Center, the soap makers and those who sell the soap. So far sales are satisfactory. However, efforts are being made to produce smaller pieces of soap to sell to the nearby hot-spring resorts for their guests.

Though the amount earned is small, soap-making encourages the spirit of enterprise among these people. Jonathan has also learned how to make dish-washing liquid and will be teaching the students at Goducate Learning Center to make and sell this soon.

Goducate wants to help Filipinos to help themselves through enterprise.