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Goducate’s 5 levels of helping the needy

Many people have the heart to help the needy.

We at Goducate are thankful for all such people!

However, there are different levels of help and we at Goducate have defined 5 levels:

1. Happy — The first level of help is to make someone happy (eg. give a toy, a pair of shoes). This type of help is appropriate for newcomers because it involves little commitment and no skills. However, the benefit to the recipient is often only a short period of happiness.

happiness is a pair of shoes

2. Help — This is the second level of help that requires more commitment and some skills (eg. teaching how to speak English, teaching to play a musical instrument). Most people who offer such help do so for a short period of time (say, a week). The recipient has been informed/ instructed but is usually unable to master the skill in this short period of time. Therefore, the benefit from such help is often short-lived.

3, Hand-holding — This is the third level of help, which requires a much greater level of commitment of time. The teacher/instructor not only teaches the recipient but continues to “hold his hands” until the recipient masters the subject (eg. English phrases, guitar chords). In other words, the helper is not just satisfied with merely transmitting the information but is also concerned that the recipient “gets it” and is able to confidently do “something useful” with it.

I can now sew my own clothes

4. Hand-over — This fourth level of help requires the helper to understand the importance of giving the others enough self-esteem so that the recipient is not perpetually dependent on help from outsiders. For example, the guitar student is told that he is now ready to take over as the new teacher. In other words, the task of teaching guitar chords is now handed over to him. The “helpless person” is empowered to be a “helper.”

5. Hand-over, hand-over — The fifth level of help is when the newly trained teacher clearly understands that his task is to train another layer and hand-over to the new layer not only skills and but also an understanding of the importance os sequential handing over from layer to layer. When this 5th level of help is in place, then a sustainable work has been implemented. Without this 5th level of help, most projects will soon fizzle out.

I can train many others to teach literacy

Goducate aims to implement projects that incorporate all 5 levels of help.

Goducate aims to help needy Asians help themselves in a sustainable way

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Pedro – life transformed by Goducate

Pedro on his new motor-bike

Pedro, aged 32 and married with two young children, was a jobless and aimless fellow who first appeared at the Goducate Training Center (GTC) with his armed gang, hoping to extort some ‘protection money’ during the early stages of construction. Careful negotiations and counselling sessions with us subsequently led him out of the gang, and he joined the GTC construction team.

We also visited his family, showing them kindness and slowly helped them out of poverty. He owned no land or property, but we offered him opportunities at the GTC to learn farming. We shared our farming expertise with him and soon gave him charge of the hundreds of mango trees at the GTC.

Goducate’s philosophy of helping the poor to help themselves is seen in Pedro’s story – before long, he was able to repair his shack of a house, and subsequently bought a motor-bike, using it to visit other villagers in the area to teach them the farming and crop-growing skills he had picked up from the GTC.

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Franklin – life transformed by Goducate

Franklin with his ampalaya harvest

When Franklin first came to Goducate, he was given the job of helping with the clearing of the jungle-like land which the Goducate Training Center (GTC) now stands on. After that, he continued to help us till the ground and grow useful plants and vegetables.

Now one of our hardworking, trusted workers, Franklin is married with one child. Although he owned a small piece of land not far away from the GTC, he could not afford seeds or fertilizer for planting. He and his family used to live very simply on one or two meals (rice and vegs only) a day. His desire to grow something on his land was soon realised when Goducate helped him with the initial investment of a few seeds.

After a few months, he has a thriving crop of ampalaya (bitter gourds) as well as hot peppers, pumpkins and rice on his own land. His family now has the means to add fish and meat regularly to their diet. At the GTC, he works tirelessly in the farms, regularly harvesting heaps of ampalaya, chilli and other vegetables for us.