Author: Joyous

Goducate believes in encouraging the students at the literacy centers to read. However, it has not been easy to set up a library, or somewhere to store books securely. For one thing the centers are scattered over a wide area. For another, many centers are the living rooms of the locals into which the students squeeze for their lessons, while others are very basic structures consisting just of a roof and low walls. So for a long time the books the students had access to were what the teachers could carry around with them.

This year we have managed to rent from the landowner of the first Goducate literacy center in Sabah the use of an adjacent garage, which we have split into two parts. One part houses the books for the students, the teaching resources (flash cards, text books), and reference material (dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, various charts). The other part is the audiovisual section, which houses a television set, a DVD player, a laptop, board games, puzzles, and toys.

This main library is open through the week every morning and from 2-4 in the afternoons for those who live near enough to visit it. For 12 of the centers that are located too far away, a mobile library system has been set up. Every month a new set of 50 books is sent to each of these centers. The main library is also open, for a small fee, to those who are not students at the Goducate literacy centers. We hope that this library, which we refer to as “Uncle Tom’s Learning Center” after the benefactor who provided much of the resources for this place, will be a model for similar set-ups in other villages where Goducate operates. Meanwhile we will probably be setting up a similar facility next month for a plantation owner who would like one for his workers to use at night.

Two of our teachers have been instrumental in the setting up and running of this library. One is in charge of the library section, and the other in charge of the audiovisual section. They have got all the teachers and many of the parents involved and have set up a card system for borrowing material.

Many of the students at the Goducate Literacy Centers in Sabah joined as illiterate teenagers. Up to then they had spent their lives hanging around with nothing to do and with no prospects for the future because, as undocumented aliens (people with no identity papers), they were not entitled to state schooling. But after a year or two at the center learning literacy and numeracy, they have been able to find jobs. Some stay on at the centers as assistant teachers. Some then go on to find work outside. One returned as an assistant teacher because she found teaching more meaningful. Others went straight out to look for work.

Two boys (J and H ) who started as assistant teachers found work as waiters in October last year. But on their own initiative they learnt to cook some of the restaurant’s delicacies. When we revisited the restaurant recently, we were bit anxious to find only J there, but he assured us, “H is here, but he was assigned now inside [in the kitchen]. He was promoted as our assistant chef. He’s cooking your orders right now—a serving of bangus [milkfish]”.

Another day, I went for lunch at the market with one of our teachers from a center up in the hills. She told me that many of her pupils are working in that area as waiters and waitresses, or in grocery stores as salespeople. On their days off, they often visit their alma mater centers, sometimes to perform special numbers for the children.

On another occasion, I was approached after badminton by a teen from another center. I could not recognize her because she was looking so well groomed. G is the daughter of one of the teachers (M) at that center, and is now a salesgirl at a grocery store. Her boss asked her, “Where did you go for schooling?” She replied, “I didn’t attend any formal school. I just learned from my mother”. Now her boss wants to her to be a cashier.

Goducate is pleased to know that the women, mostly mothers, whom we have trained to be teachers at our literacy centers are producing “graduates” able to join the workforce outside.

Goducate now has 17 learning centers in north east Sabah, manned by 34 teachers and 11 assistant teachers. Last month we were invited to two areas some distance away to train the people there to conduct our literacy programs. At the village 200 km away, we went to follow up on training that we did last year. At the village 400 km was new to us. I brought with me two of our teachers and an assistant teacher.

Many of our villages are built on swampy land or over the water, so we are very used to shaky “jambatans” (bridges). But nothing prepared us for the shakiness and flimsiness of the jambatans we had to cross at the village 400 km away. These jambatans consisted of nothing more than pairs of thin planks held together by a few rusty nails. Worse, there were no bars, or poles, or ropes to hang on to for support. Some of us took off our footwear; another felt that the only way to maintain balance was to go on all fours. But all knew how important it was to get across the bridge, for waiting at the other end were people hungry for our help.

15 people attended our training session that day. From among them we selected one supervisor, two teachers, and two assistant teachers. We hope they will be able to use our program efficiently. For ourselves we hope to cross this bridge again, in follow-up training.