Guest * – Page 36 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2014-08-292014-09-11

Goducate Laguna holds its 1st Music Camp

In April this year, while on a trip to Medellin in the Philippines, I met Ric Patricio, Goducate’s agricultural consultant, who filled me in on what Goducate is doing. Since I was once the Director of Music of the Republic of Singapore Navy Band and has been guest-conductor for several musical groups, I was particularly interested in Goducate’s music program in Laguna. So in June, accompanied by Ric, I went to Laguna to see the work there. The result was a music camp planned for the short holiday break in August.

The camp was held on Aug 21-22, with me as conductor/trainer/mentor for the 43 campers.
The music camp program started with a session with the senior orchestra, made up of a weird instrument combination of violins, a viola, a cello, flutes, a clarinet and a trombone, playing music scored only for strings. The musicians worked on the pieces “Shepherd’s Hey”, “Over The Rainbow” & “Have Yourself a Very Merry Christmas” over a total of 4 sessions. I also had a couple of sessions with the junior orchestra, playing only 1st violins. In addition, I held a 2-session song-writing course for 7 musicians interested in learning about melody-writing, as well as a conducting class for 5.

The young musicians were enthusiastic and learned many new things, among which were singing the rhythm of difficult rhythmic patterns before playing them, and a new perspective about Crescendo & Decrescendo. They confronted and worked on the difficult parts instead of the easy passages. .

The camp ended with both the senior and junior orchestras giving a simple concert attended by their parents and some guests. Every camper also received some music -related gift.

At the post-camp evaluation it was decided that future music camps would be 3-day camps, and confined only to the senior orchestra. I also advised that the group be confined to just a string orchestra for the moment, since it would quite impossible to get the music scores for their present weird combination of instruments.

Peter rehearsing with the senior orchestra

Junior orchestra performing at the concert.

Our guest writer is Peter Yan, who has now been appointed music director/mentor for the Laguna music program.

2014-08-22

Goducate Training Center holds barangay captain’s lunch

Goducate Training Center (GTC) which is located in the middle of 4 municipalities in Iloilo— namely, San Miguel, Oton, Alimodian, and Leon. A municipality is divided into barangays (the smallest administrative division), which contains territorial enclaves known as puroks (those in urban areas) and sitios (those in rural areas). In the 3 years of its existence, GTC has built strong relationships in 7 barangays (including 5 sitios withing these 7 barangays) through various projects such as the moringa project, vermicomposting, massage, sports, remedial classes, and hog-raising.

On June 14, GTC held its first Barangay Captains’ Lunch Gathering. Seven barangay captains and their officials attended this event. The purpose of this gathering was to update them on what is happening in their own barangay and to discuss with them how we can best help them attain their vision for their communities.

Goducate Philippines’ Over-all Coordinator spoke about how GTC hopes to provide sufficient community development workers who are creative, ready, able, and sacrificially willing to do their part to bring about life-transforming improvements to the communities and individuals they work with. GTC’s Over-all Coordinator added during his inspirational message that GTC’s asset is its community development workers, who visit and help their barangays every week. GTC desires that through the weekly visits of the community development workers, people in the community will be encouraged and mobilized to help others too through the different Goducate projects. Other speakers were members of the community sharing about how GTC had helped them and how they too had the opportunity to help others.

Our guest writer is Leigh, GTC’s Community Health Coordinator

2014-07-182014-07-29

Typhoon Rammasun (Glenda) causes damage in Goducate Laguna

Living in northeast United States I have experienced my fair share of storms, or so I thought. We had planned our trip to Goducate Laguna several weeks earlier, so by the time we got word of Typhoon Rammasun (known locally as Typhoon Glenda), we were already committed.

Our flight was surprisingly smooth, and when we landed the sky was overcast, but the weather calm. Glenda was supposed to intensify overnight, so we were lulled into a sense of security throughout the day as we went about our pre-planned activities. A light rain fell as we pulled into Goducate Laguna and were greeted by the entire staff. We enjoyed a great time of food and fellowship until midnight, when the power suddenly went out. Everyone retired for the night, expecting the typhoon to roll in, but what I experienced next was like nothing I had ever seen. All night a howling wind blew, but by the early hours of the morning it had intensified to the point where trees were blowing almost horizontally. Every now and then we could hear the metallic sounds of large objects being flung about. A flashlight would susbsequently appear in the darkness as someone checked to see whether that clanging noise required attention.

When dawn broke the full extent of the devastation was visible. The ground was littered with coconuts, branches, debris, and fallen tree trunks. Several trees had found their way onto the roof of the building we were occupying. Fortunately, no one was injured. Across the courtyard, the children were happily retrieving the fallen coconuts. One of the staff skilfully hacked away at them and presented us with fresh coconut drinks. That was a pleasant surprise.

The multipurpose hall where we had been entertained a few hours earlier was a mess, and one of the Goducate vans was crushed in the middle by a fallen tree. Although the concrete buildings managed to survive intact, the other Goducate structures such as the farmhouse, vermi-house, hydroponics building, and a literacy center were badly damaged. The two couples living in the farmhouse are now homeless, and the homes of many other staff workers have been damaged and flooded. It will take anywhere from a week to a month for power to be restored. Without power, water does not flow since it arrives through pumps.
I was astounded to learn that the Philippines is hit by typhoons 15-20 times a year. If this took place anywhere else in the world, the populace would be permanently depressed, yet the Filipinos take it all in stride. Immediately after the storm has passed, people are out clearing debris, repairing their roofs, and removing fallen trees from the roads.

The road outside the Goducate Laguna centre was strewn with debris, yet within two to three hours, enough had been cleared for us to drive through and onwards toward Manila airport.

Apart from learning about the work at Goducate, one of the other reasons why I undertook this trip was to expose my 11-year-old daughter to the realities of life outside her sheltered existence, but this visit ended up being an eye opener for me as well.

Our guest writer is Tim, a Goducate sponsor.

Damage to Goducate literacy center in Mabacan.