Category: Malaysia

Last week I visited our Goducate Literacy Centers in Sabah. Presently there are 16 centers (possibly 17 by next week) in 16 different villages that provide education to children who have no opportunity to go to school because they are “undocumented aliens” from The Philippines and Indonesia. These are the children of migrant workers who have come to look for work in Sabah’s plantations and construction sites. The “stars” of these literacy centers are the teachers—most of whom are mothers of our students, or former students who have “graduated” from these centers. I am always amazed by their passion to teach, their willingness to learn, their dedication to their students—in spite of the primitive conditions of their “classrooms”, the meagerness of their remuneration, and the constant fear of the local authorities.

One of our former students, T-t, aged 17, is now a teacher. T-t was a student at our center for about 2 years before she was promoted to be an assistant teacher and then a teacher. A few months ago, she was offered a job as a receptionist in an “upmarket” spa because of her poise, her ability to speak a little Mandarin, and her fluent English (a skill she picked up at our center). This was indeed a dream come true for her and a first for the entire village! The starting-pay was RM 500/month – which is what most “undocumented” adults hope to earn.

After 2 months in this cushy dream-job she felt an “emptiness” (in her own words) and decided to return to the village to teach—for RM 100/month! She told me with tears in her eyes: “I just love to teach!”

 

 

T-t exemplifies Goducate’s philosophy of helping Asians help themselves—and who then help others help themselves. We are so proud of our Sabah teachers!

On my visit to Sabah last week, I visited many of our Literacy Centers. Some old ones had disappeared because the government had cleared out the “squatters”. However, as soon as the people settle into their new squatter kampong (usually fairly near-by) they immediately request for us to start a new Literacy Center in their new kampong. Because of this I can hardly remember the names of our centers (which are named after the kampong they are in). Furthermore, most schoolhouses are fairly similar because they are made from leftover wood and zinc roofing.

However, it is exciting to hear request after request for extension of the existing schoolhouses that are already overflowing. Each year, the student cohort moves from Beginners’ Class,to Basic Literacy Program, to Primary to Intermediate—so more space is needed.

It is also exciting to hear requests from people living in nearby kampongs to start a center in their kampong. On this trip, I had  2 requests from new kampongs and numerous requests for extensions and improvements to existing facilities.

The number of illiterate children continues to grow because of a high birth-rate and new squatters arriving in Sabah. So our work of helping Asians help themselves continues….

Last week I went to Sabah to visit our Literacy Centers. It has been almost 6 months since I last visited.

It was good to hear that many of last year’s students have found jobs —not the usual manual jobs available to them (eg, in construction sties, in public markets) but “white-collar” jobs (in internet cafes, in mobile phone shops, in restaurants). Several of them, in their early teens, are earning more than what their parents get! Indeed, the literacy and numeracy that they learned in our Literacy Centers have given them the opportunity to get these jobs.

I was told that their ability to speak English and the good character that they had developed in our centers were also important factors in getting employment.

One day, as I was in the Goducate car passing a row of shop-houses, one our former students, who is now working in a mobile-phone shop, recognized the car and waved at us. I got out of the car to chat with her. She was so excited to tell me about her work at the shop. I remembered her as a shy little girl who had learned “phonics” and numeracy in a few months, then moved on to being an assistant teacher, and now she was ready to learn all about mobile-phones. In a mere 2 years, she had moved on from illiteracy and hopelessness to employability and hope.

As I returned to the car and waved goodbye to her, I felt a sense of “fatherly pride” as I watched another one of our students bravely entering an exciting new world that they had once never imagined they could penetrate.

Indeed, there are few things as satisfactory as helping a person help himself!