Goducate’s Happy Happy English program is featured in newspapers on anniversary of Little India riot

Monday Dec 8 was the first anniversary of the riot in Little India that prompted Goducate to set up the Happy Happy English program in foreign workers’ dormitories in Singapore. Little India is a district in Singapore where Indian shops are concentrated and where foreign workers from the Indian subcontinent congregate on their days off.

Over the weekend and on Monday itself, Singapore newspapers commemorated the anniversary with reports on how the riot developed, the repercussions of the riot (such as the restrictions on sale and consumption of liquor in the area, and the restrictions on movement of foreign workers into the area), the findings of the committee of inquiry, and how foreign workers and locals have responded to the riot.

Two newspapers reported on Goducate’s Happy Happy English program. They reported on how the volunteers teach the workers functional English, but more importantly, as the name of the program implies, bring some happiness to these people by becoming their friends. These foreign workers have to leave home to live here in quarters that are generally in isolated parts of the island, and to work here for very long hours just to pay off debts and make ends meet at home. An equally important point made in the reports is how the program has helped to dispel some of the misconceptions that Singaporeans have about foreign workers—namely, that they are a group to be feared, when in fact they are very normal people like any of us.

Happy Happy English has so far been operating in three dormitories. We hope to bring happiness to workers in other dormitories as well.

Report in Straits Times
Report in Straits Times
Report in The New Paper
Report in The New Paper

MHC Asia celebrates its 20th anniversary with $200,000 gift to Goducate

MHC Asia is Goducate’s main corporate sponsor and, true to form, one of the highlights of its 20th anniversary celebrations on Oct 13 was the presentation of a $200,000 cheque to Goducate.

MHC Asia adopted Goducate as its corporate social responsibility (CSR) in 2009, and has been allocating up to 10% of its profits to sponsor Goducate needs as and when they arise. The items sponsored have ranged widely and include office space and support for Goducate headquarters, vehicles for our work in various countries, learning centres, staff costs and staff travel, and even a carabao (a water buffalo) for the Model Farm in Laguna, Philippines. It has also helped others raise funds for Goducate by matching amounts raised—for example, for the dinner organised by Dr Leslie Tay of ieatishootipost at Fukuichi Restaurant.

Dr Low Lee Yong, MHC Asia’s chief executive officer, is in effect Goducate’s chief public relations officer in the way he brings up the subject of Goducate into the many talks and interviews that he gives. Other members of the staff, too, have always willingly promoted Goducate in the course of their work, and have cheerfully helped us with office chores and as volunteers for Goducate projects.

MHC Asia is a third-party administrator linking medical clinics, insurance companies, and human-resource departments. It tracks and processes outpatient visits for corporate clients, matching employees’ medical entitlements with their actual claims, and it processes payments for these visits, thus making things hassle-free for the entities that it links.

Goducate is naturally very grateful to MHC Asia for its support. But others too have acknowledged the value of MHC’s efforts for Goducate. In 2011 MHC Asia was among big-industry players (ie, HSBC, Body Shop, and Suntec Singapore) as finalists for Extraordinary CSR Practices category during the 12th Annual Business Awards given by the British Chamber of Commerce (Singapore).

Cheque presented by MHC Asia to Goducate --- holding cheque, from left, are Dr Low, Mrs Cecilia Tan (chairman of MHC Asia and patron of Goducate), Mr Victor Yeo (Goducate director), Dr Paul Choo (Goducate director).
       Cheque presented by MHC Asia to Goducate.             Holding cheque, from left, are Dr Low and Mrs Cecilia Tan from MHC, and Mr Victor Yeo and Dr Paul Choo from Goducate.
A van in a sticky situation in Cambodia
A van in a sticky situation in Cambodia
A van transporting trainees from the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo to help out in the surrounding villages.
A van transporting trainees from the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo to help out in the surrounding villages.

Goducate musicians from Philippines perform at sponsor’s anniversary dinner in Singapore

Four Goducate musicians from Laguna, Philippines, had the wonderful experience of being flown to Singapore to perform for an audience of 900 people. The occasion was the 20th anniversary of MHC Ltd, a loyal and generous Goducate sponsor.

MHC, a third-party administrator that connects general practitioners, human-resource departments, and medical insurers, has adopted Goducate as its corporate social responsibility. For its 20th anniversary dinner, it decided to bring the four musicians to provide some of the entertainment. MHC also invited a team of nine Filipino Goducate teachers serving in Indonesia to sing at the dinner.

The Goducate music program in Laguna started as a means of attracting street-kids back to school, but it took off so well that the students were soon leaning other instruments. There are now over 200 people in the program, which includes a senior and junior orchestra. The program caught the eye of Channel News Asia, which in 2011 produced a 2-part feature on the orchestra in its Once Upon A Village series.

The music program now has a Singapore-based director, who will be going over periodically to Laguna to conduct music camps. While the musicians were here, apart from rehearsals for the anniversary dinner, they also received special music lessons.

In Laguna the musicians play at various events, and some give music lessons. We hope that the experience they gained in Singapore will encourage them to seek even more performing engagements back home, thus fulfilling Goducate’s aim of helping needy Asians help themselves.

Musicians rehearsing in Singapore
Musicians rehearsing in Singapore
Laguna musicians (seated) performing at MHC dinner, with Dr Ben Kwan
Laguna musicians (seated) performing at MHC dinner, with Dr Ben Kwan
Laguna musicians with Goducate supervisors for Laguna
Laguna musicians with Goducate supervisors for Laguna
7 of the Goducate teachers from Indonesia who sang at the dinner, together with Goducate founder Paul Choo
7 of the Goducate teachers from Indonesia who sang at the dinner, together with Goducate founder Paul Choo