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More volunteers and supporters for Goducate!

Last Saturday, 50 Indians visited the Goducate office to find out more about it.

This group of men had earlier heard about Goducate from their leader who had tried to explain to them about it aims and projects. We have discovered that, even after explanation, many people do not really understand what Goducate is and what it does.

I think this is because Goducate is not your typical non-profit organization. Not too many Asia-wide organizations focus on education as a tool to help poor Asians help themselves. Most Asia-wide charity organizations are usually more into disaster relief work (eg. earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons or cyclones). And, on the other hand, charitable educational organizations are usually more local, rather than Asia-wide, in their scope.

After spending almost three hours at Goducate office, I believe they left with a far better understanding of what it is and what it does. In fact, before they left the office, these fifty men committed to support and help Goducate!

I hope that many other groups/organizations will visit us and, then like our Indian friends, eventually be a part of the Goducate “team.”

As a new non-profit organization, Goducate needs many supporters and volunteers.

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Goducate Project Leaders’ Training

Preparations for the first Goducate Project Leaders’ Training are going well. A generous donation from a Goducate supporter this week provided us with the means to invite a few more of our project leaders to join us. For some it will be their first time leaving their home country!

A good program has been lined up for the 40 to 50 delegates that will be attending. Dr Low Lee Yong a Singaporean doctor whose health-care corporation is a Goducate corporate sponsor and who is an IT expert will be teaching us the importance of the internet, blogging and YouTubing. We want all our project leaders to be able to effectively share what they are doing with our other staff and with the world.

Dr Leslie Tay another Singaporean doctor who is also Singapore’s most well-known food blogger will be teaching us how to write interesting blogs and take interesting photos. Yet another Singaporean doctor, Dr Chan Tat Hon, who once was the number two person in the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board and who is now running a travel organization called Take-me-to-asia will teach us the importance of volun-tourism.

Other speakers who are more publicity-shy will teach us about the needy of Asia, creativity in non-profit work, cross-cultural communications, understanding and obeying foreign laws, etc. The first session begins on Monday night (Jan 18) and ends on Friday night (Jan 22) with a Goducate Night – where Goducate supporters get a chance to meet and mingle with our project leaders. From Tuesday on, training begins at 9am and lasts till 9pm (with the usual breaks for snacks and meals). Though the program is tailored for project leaders, all Goducate supporters are welcome to join the training sessions.

If you are interested to join the training, please email your interest to me.

As Goducate operates on a shoe-string budget our foreign delegates will be housed in homes of our friends and supporters. If you will like to help us house a delegate/delegates, please also email me. Your hospitality will be a great help to Goducate and a great encouragement to our field workers.

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First Goducate Leaders Conference

Goducate will hold its first Project Leaders Training in Singapore from Jan 18 to 22. About 40 leaders and workers who are serving in 6 countries (Philippines, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore) will be attending the course.

The aim of the conference is to emphasize the Goducate vision of “helping poor Asians help themselves.” As many of our leaders have been so busy in their particular projects and somewhat isolated from the other Goducate workers, they may have lost sight of the bigger picture. Certainly it is needful for us all to realize the magnitude of the task that is before us. Half of the world’s population live in Asia! And half of them need help! And we do not intend our vision of “helping poor Asians help themselves” to be a frivolous slogan but a clear goal which we hope to achieve.

Another objective of the conference is to help our leaders to bond together and share ideas. Though the delegates come from 6 different countries and are involved in seemingly very different projects, they are all involved in “Education.” And whether they are involved with a children’s home in Cambodia, or a learning center in Sabah or a university in Indonesia, or a youth training camp in Philippines, or migrant workers in Kuala Lumpur, they will probably be teaching the same subjects of English and computers. Similarly, if they are teaching Filipinos to use earth worms to produce organic fertilizer, the same skills can be useful in Cambodia, Indonesia or India.

Outside experts will also share with us on how to utilize the internet and Youtube, how to think creatively, how to use computers to track our data and expenses, how to write interesting blog articles, how to take good photographs, how organize group tours to visit our projects, etc. Most importantly, we will learn how to build bridges of love into the lives of individuals and communities.

Goducate realizes that just providing English, computer and livelihood skills will not be sufficient. More importantly, we must provide hope for these neglected people. And the best way to do this is to show them that we care for them and love them.