Author: Leo

Three members of staff of Goducate Laguna are attending a TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Agency) course in Practical Nursing. The course will train them in standard emergency procedures, in doing routine health check-ups, and in simple measures for tending to the ill patients. Their practical training has involved being deployed in the different villages assisting the health workers in the health centers to measure vital signs such as blood pressures and respiratory rates and to elicit other data from patients.

As another part of their practical training the three trainees organized a Moringa Seminar for the community in Puy-puy Bay Laguna. This event was organized in partnership with the Puy-puy Elementary School administration and the Parent-Teacher Association. The seminar was aimed at students in grades 4, 5, and 6 of the school and their parents. The audience learnt about the health benefits of Moringa, and how to make Moringa powder.

The seminar was very well received by the Parent-Teacher Association, and there are plans to introduce it to other communities in the Bay area of Laguna.

The Goducate scholars took part the Brigada Eskwela (Schools Brigade) program in Laguna this year. This program is an annual Philippines Department of Education program, whereby teachers and students as well as the community help to prepare the school for the coming school year, which starts in August. The week-long program is intended to make the school surroundings as well as the classrooms clean and tidy.

Thus on May 30, our Goducate scholars helped to paint the walls of Masaya National High School and clean its yard. For our scholars, the work was a way of expressing their gratitude for their scholarships and a way of contributing to their community.

Goducate scholarships are awarded to university students in the music program in Laguna whose family income falls below the provincial minimum wage rate. The scholarship pays for the university fees. In return the scholar helps with the music program and other Goducate community work.

Since January this year, Goducate has partnering a private manpower service in Laguna whose aim is very much in line with ours of helping the needy help themselves. This service runs campaigns in villages on the outskirts of Laguna to help out-of-school youth find jobs. We have thus been channelling to this service those attending our Alternative Learning System (ALS) programme, as well as those in our other community programmes.

All applicants have to attend a seminar and personal-development training session at the Goducate Training Center in Laguna. The Human Resources Department of the manpower service tells the applicants about the company that is doing the hiring, and the benefits and rights of the workers. The Goducate team then discusses the importance of Knowledge (about the company), the Skills needed, and the importance of a Positive Attitude in the workplace. Some will then be invited to go for a job interview.

So far, through this partnership more than 100 people in our various programmes have been able to find jobs paying them around the provincial daily rate of PhP 340 ($7.20). Most of the jobs are in food factories.