Author: Leo

In 2013 Goducate in Bay, Laguna Province, Philippines, had been helping 40 students through the Alternative Learning System (ALS). The ALS is a Philippines Department of Education non-formal education program for people who did not complete their schooling. Of the 40, 31 were mothers, and 4 were fathers. Goducate held twice-weekly classes for them.

On Nov 10, 13 of them conquered their fears and sat for the ALS secondary-level examination held at the San Pedro Memorial National High School.

Nationally, 6135 of 24,998 (24.5%) elementary-level candidates passed their examination, as did 72,076 of 221,598 ( 32.5%) secondary-level candidates. In our town of Bay, more than 1000 took the examinations, and only 3 of the elementary-level candidates and 19 of the secondary-level candidates passed. 4 of the 19 were Goducate students.

The 4 who passed will now be able to sign on for other short training courses or for vocational education. The other 9 Goducate candidate have the option of repeating the course with the 2014 students.

When the severe monsoon rains known as Typhoon Habagat flooded the area around Laguna Bay in August 2012, Goducate helped rehabilitate some of the affected families in Tagumpay by training the men in agricultural skills. With their newly acquired skills, 5 of the men set up a community farm on a piece of land that a former mayor of Bay offered to Goducate. The farm was productive, enabling the men to sell their crops by April 2013.

Unfortunately, in this flood-prone area, the farm was under water again from August to December 2013. During this time one of the men turned to container gardening, growing vegetable hydroponically on other premises, and sold his produce at the market every morning.

Still, the men did not give up on the farm. When the flood subsided in December, they cleaned it up, and with financial help of about PhP 3000 ($67) from Goducate they bought material to start planting again. By the end of February they harvested nearly a ton of vegetables (666kg of pechay [kind of cabbage known as “pak choi” in Chinese], and 333 kg of mustard). By next week they hope to have another harvest of another ton of vegetables. With the sale of these vegetables, the men have been able to repay the loan they took from Goducate.

The 5 men need additional help during planting and harvesting, and have been able to offer part-time jobs to others.

What the buyer rejects is taken by the man who turned to container gardening, to be sold at the market every morning.

 

In January last year, when Goducate started a sewing project in Laguna, there were only 3 sewing machines in the community. A contract was secured for the 3 women to sew school uniforms, but they could not meet demand. However, over the year, thanks to generous Goducate sponsors, the number of machines available for contract work has increased to 12, enabling more women to be trained to sew. Unfortunately, payment for work done was often delayed.

For poor people, not only is regular payment very important, but also payment at short intervals. A contract that we were eyeing, to sew clothing for sale at shopping malls, had to be rejected because the workers were to be paid at 2-monthly intervals.

A contract has now been secured, this time sewing whole-body uniforms for an electronics company that pays weekly.

The machinists contribute a small portion of their earnings to Goducate, and another portion to the person in charge of the project.