Camps – Page 3 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2010-06-092010-06-07

Goducate Philippines headquarters staff

1. Oscar – is nurse by profession and he was previously working in the Middle East as nurse. Presently, he is one in charge of mountain and depressed areas community centers in Dumangas, Lacturan, Lanit, Bitoon, Neuva Invecion & Layog Bato.

2. Mike Mendiola – was a Chemistry professor at the Central Philippines University before joining us as volunteer and now a camp director for Camp Goducate Program.

3. Jeru Samilo – is a Civil Engineer who helps us both in our training and camp building project.

4. Belen – trained as English Teacher but worked in a bank. At present, she still pursuing her Masters in English proficiency and is in-charge of our English Enhancement program for teachers.

5. Selah – trained as a Medical Technologist but worked as office secretary and as a teacher in one of our literacy training centers.

6. Jasper Dex – trained as a nurse but is presently the our assistant camp director.

7. Teofy – a nurse by profession and presently doing Goducate community work.

8. Rodel – previously in the Philippines military and now camp handyman and teacher of youth in a Goducate community center.

10. Jet – is passionate in helping wayward youth, esp. drug-dependent youth, because he came from that background.

11. Jesusa – a commerce graduate works with kids and is in charge of the kitchen..

11. Biboy – a hotel and restaurant graduate, presently a handyman at Goducate.

12. Ranie – Chemical Engineering by training who is National Coordinator and Corporate Secretary for Camp Goducate. She is also the one in care of Goducate literacy training centers in Panay.

2010-06-042010-06-16

Impounding lake takes shape at Goducate Training Center

The impounding lake for irrigation of our rice-fields and vegetable farms at the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo has begun to take shape.

This is the first thing that needs to be done on the site so that we can start planting our rice and vegetables. We will need this to feed the first intake of trainees which we hope to have by the last quarter of this year.

It is a race against time because of the coming rainy season which is already due. It will be very difficult for the heavy equipment to enter the site and the fields after the rains come.

The photos show the construction of the impounding lake and the dumping of the excavated earth to the site of the Multi-Purpose Hall.

Excavated earth becomes base of Multi-purpose Hall

We are also racing to gravel the roads so that vehicles can come in even during the raining season to bring in the building materials. If sufficient funds are available we can start building the roof of the Multi-Purpose Hall to shelter the building materials from the rain. If the roof is up before the rains then building of the other parts of the MPHall can be done even during the rainy season. Otherwise, we will waste 6 months of time during the rainy season.

Another urgent work which needs to be done is the bringing in of electricity from the highway. Electricity is needed to run some construction equipment.

Also, the gate and fence needs to be installed to protect our crops and building materials.

The remaining parts of the camp can be done later as funds become available.

2010-05-312010-06-01

Goducate Training Center must be self-supporting

Several people have asked why we had planned to have nice dormitories and facilities at our Goducate Training Center in Iloilo, Philippines. They rightly wondered why we wanted to “spoil” our Goducate trainees – who were being trained to work in poor communities. Couldn’t they just sleep on the floor in the Multi-Purpose Hall?

It is likely that the first few batches of trainees will indeed sleep on the floor in the Multi-Purpose Hall, until funds are available to build additional facilities.

However, we are hoping eventually to build proper dormitories and recreational facilities so that the Center can be self-supporting. A core philosophy of Goducate is to help Asians help themselves. Therefore, one of the core skills that our trainees will learn at the Center is to learn how to be self-supporting. It is our hope that when they are sent to poor communities, they will creatively impart this core-vaue of self-support to their communities.

There are several ways that we hope will make the Center self-supporting. A major way is to produce their own food. Trainees will be taught scientific, small-scale food production that can be transferred to most Asian poor rural communities. A good part of the acreage of the camp and a large part of the initial funding is for soil preparation and irrigation. We have several top quality agriculturalists serving as Goducate volunteers at the Center who will help us to achieve this.

Another major way of raising funds is to rent out the Center to corporations for their training functions and to individuals seeking recreational facilities. There is a large potential market for a well run, recreational facility in Iloilo. Besides raising funds for the running of the camp, trainees will also be able to learn many useful skills, eg. management, leadership, planning, creativity. For the Center to be a recreational center, it will need, as funds are available, to have nice facilities, eg. decent accommodation, interesting recreational facilities.

Since funds are limited, we will focus on the agricultural aspect first. After all, the trainees need to eat and agricultural skills are needed in most of the communities that we serve. Scientific, sustainable, small-scale agriculture will be the best way to help Asians help themselves.