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When I was in Sabah last week, I met others who were also involved in helping educate poor children. Though they had sufficient funds for their projects, they were unable to sustain or expand their work because of the lack of committed teachers.

Their lament was “After a few weeks, the teachers get tired of going all the way to the village to teach the kids.” Sustainability is a common problem in charity work. Many people like to help the poor but to help them day in and day out for years is another story altogether!

Goducate realizes this and therefore believes that where possible we should focus on training locals (ie, people who live in that village and who have a on-going interest in that village) to do the work.

Goducate also believes that mothers have the greatest commitment to see children get educated, especially if some of their students are their own kids. Therefore, where possible Goducate trains local mothers as the teachers in each of the Goducate Learning Centers.

This policy has worked thus far and allows Goducate to expand its learning centers. Thankfully most villages thus far have mums who have received education because they received education in the Philippines before they fled to Sabah to escape the strife in southern Philippines.

Goducate concentrates its efforts on training the mums. On each of my visits there, I am so impressed with the interest of the mums to learn more – so that they can be better teachers to their own kids in their own kampongs. On this trip we had a training session that lasted from 730am to 4pm. I was worn out but for them it was another opportunity to learn!

I am convinced that mums make the most committed teachers.

Goducate is privileged to work with mums!

New Balance gave Goducate their unsold “old models” of shoes to give to charity.

We decided to give some of them to our Sabah Literacy Centers’ students as most of them do not own a pair of shoes. Rubber sandals is the usual footwear. Since they hardly ever leave their village for fear of being arrested as “illegal aliens,” there is hardly any need for fancier footwear.

However, as they are getting educated and are able to read and write – and therefore read road signs and other signs they come across – they have more confidence to leave their village. More importantly, as we hope that some of them will one day be able to get responsible “white collar” jobs, it is important for them to know how to dress and behave accordingly. Learning to wear the right type of footwear is a first step in this direction.

When I arrived last week with the shoes at #1 Goducate Learning Center, the teachers had arranged a volley-ball match on their newly constructed volley-ball/basketball court (which is now the pride and center of their village).

The usual team sport in Sabah is soccer but as the communities Goducate serve are stateless (and therefore landless), soccer-size land is usually unavailable. As I watched the rather high quality of play between the two teams, I thought to myself “Maybe one day some of our students will represent their adopted land in volley-ball.”

After the game, the players lined up to receive their shoes. Though most of the shoes were several sizes too large for them (the smallest size given by New Balance was size 8), they eagerly chose their shoes and wore them. A little cloth stuffed into the front of the shoes would be all that was needed when they dressed up for the visit to town!

Hopefully, this will help them to dream of the day that they will have a responsible job in town!