Category: Children’s Home

The children at the Goducate Children’s Home not only attend school daily but also receive training in livelihood skills. Both the boys and the girls learn agricultural skills, which should come in useful when they return to their home villages. The older boys also learn some engineering and construction skills. A workshop for boys was completed in Sept 2012. The older girls have been learning to bake, and the arrival of community development workers from the Goducate Training Center in the Philippines has enabled them to widen the range of delicacies they can prepare.

A girls’ workshop is now under construction, and should be completed by the end of the year. We plan to introduce lessons in sewing, basic cosmetology, and other livelihood skills.

In recent months, teams of staff and older children from the Home have been going out to different communities to teach English. Those who attend these English classes can also benefit from learning livelihood skills. Thus we plan to use the workshop to train both residents and non-residents of the Home.

Most of the children at the Goducate Children’s Home come from dysfunctional families. They may have been abandoned by parents who have left home to work abroad or for some other reason, or who are abusive. At the home boys outnumber girl primarily because it is the custom for girls to stay at home to learn how to keep house, and then to marry early. Under normal circumstances, boys are expected to be the breadwinner and to help the family should the father die.

The existing boys’ dormitory was intended for 15-18 boys, and it has a small room for the guardian. However, it is housing 23 boys and 5 guardians.

Some Goducate supporters who visited the Home realized the need for more space, and have raised funds for the new dormitory. Construction began 3 months ago, and the aim is to complete the building by December.

Since late last year, the staff and some of the older children at the Goducate Children’s Home have been going out to three communities (Preynob, Ottapang, and Phnom Pec) to teach English to the children. The classes used to be held in the open (see blogs of Nov 9, 2012 and Feb 5, 2013). However, we have now been able to rent premises at these three places, so classes can be held indoors.

In addition, we have included lessons on health. So far the children have been taught proper handwashing techniques as well as how to prevent dengue fever. Lessons on sanitation will follow.

We are preparing a schedule to get to each of these places twice a week, on top of the thrice-a-week sessions at the school in Diamond Farm (see blog of Aug 6, 2013). The older children at the Goducate Children’s Home are being trained to help with this community work. We hope this training will inculcate in them a desire to help others in need.