ieatishootipost community ate for Goducate learning centres in Sabah again

Last Saturday saw another session of the ieatishootipost blogging community’s eating for a good cause—ie, for Goducate learning (literacy) centres in Sabah. The community has pledged to collect for 100 learning centres. At present, there are 17 Goducate centres serving some 2000 students.

The fabulous 5-course lunch was held at Privé Restaurant, situated on Singapore’s only private island. The event was an educational session as well, with Catherine Chan from Iconiq Image teaching about table etiquette, and Clinton Ang from Cornerstone Wines teaching wine appreciation. We learnt from Catherine tips such as how far to sit from the table, how to pass the bread basket round (anticlockwise), how to scoop up soup (towards the 12 o’clock position of the plate), and how to stir tea or coffee (silently in figure-of-eight motion). Clinton had us swirling, sniffing at, and listening to the wine. The men also learnt that they are not supposed to hold the wine glass by the stem but by the base—which is not at all convenient since both hands are needed to get the glass off the table first.

Goducate would like to thank the diners who bought tickets for the event, the ieatishootipost community for organizing the event, and all the sponsors of the event (Privé, Iconiq Image, Cornerstone Wines, Fresh Gourmet, Nuffnang, and MHC Asia) for their generosity. $30,000 was collected for the Sabah learning centres that day.

menu
Dr Leslie Tay of ieatishootipost introducing Catherine from IconiQimage
View from Privé restaurant

Goducate Sabah at Transforming Our City Together Exhibition 2011

Goducate Sabah was invited to put up a photo exhibit in the Transforming Our City Together Exhibition 2011 in Penang, Malaysia.  The conference was a gathering of organizations, businessmen, leaders, and volunteers who are calling for transformation in society.

One of the main speakers, Dr Kim Tan of Transformational Business Network spoke on corporate social responsibility and how good business practices positively affect transformation in the community. Goducate volunteers who attended the conference joined the workshop on education. The facilitator, educationist John Cruz, emphasized that transformation, be it in business, politics, culture, entertainment, etc, are all connected with education. When he visited the  Goducate booth he expressed that this what was he was talking about and was quite impressed by how Goducate started learning centers that are run by mothers and by former students turned volunteer teachers.

Of the 40 exhibitors, Goducate Sabah, another learning center run by John Cruz, and a soon-to-be-started center by another group were the only three that are into literacy work. The exhibition was open to the public, and what Goducate is doing to help transform poor communities of women and children into productive learners and responsible members of their communities attracted much interest and appreciation.

Preparing the booth
Goducate booth

Once upon a village on Channel News Asia

Don’t miss out the special feature on Channel News Asia on Saturday 19 Mar 10.30pm

Repeat Telecast on 20 Mar 2011 at  1.30am,  12.32pm & 4.33pm

“Once upon a village”  features Goducate music project in the Philippines.