Category: Livelihood Training

In August last year the torrential rains and thunderstorms, known informally as Typhoon Habagat, displaced the communities around Laguna Bay. The Goducate team in Laguna has been helping to rehabilitate some of the families in Tagumpay through training in livelihood skills. Some of the men learnt agricultural skills at the Goducate Model Farm, while the women learnt skills such as soap and detergent making, decorative handicraft, and sewing.

We were fortunate that a former mayor of Bay generously offered us, for free, 2000 sq m of his land in the district of Tagumpay, to be used as a community farm. Five men who were trained at the Goducate Model Farm helped develop this community farm.

The early part of this year was spent planting. By March the workers were starting to harvest lady’s fingers and some string beans. The bulk of the string beans (79 kg) were harvested in the first 2 weeks of April. have had a good harvest of string beans. Between April 1 and 12, 79 kg of beans were harvested, and what was not used for personal consumption was sold on the market. Pechay will be harvested soon. Leeks and mustard will be planted soon.

By now the people displaced by the severe Habagat floods have left the evacuation centers and are in their own homes, some of which had to be completely rebuilt. The longer-term plan is to use this farm for training others in the community in backyard farming.

One of the objectives of Goducate Sports program is to help out-of-work people earn some income, for example as basketball officials, or as lifeguards. There are also the other important objectives of keeping out-of-school youths off the streets, and teaching them discipline, perseverance, obedience, teamwork and many other good characteristics.

The basketball program has been introduced in several districts in Laguna Province, Philipplines. On Feb 18-19, two Goducate members of staff were invited to conduct a seminar on basketball refereeing in another province. They were at the city of Bacoor in Cavite Province to train 10 jobless youths to be basketball referees. The youths were also given ideas about the kinds of sports activities that have been held in Laguna and that they could organize in Cavite.

Later this week, one of the Goducate staff members will return to Bacoor to help set up a basketball camp. Meanwhile the 10 youths will be able to help out at a basketball league that is about to be held there and possibly earn a little pocket money.

Goducate introduced a sports program in Laguna Province, Philippines, about a year ago. We used basketball to help youths with a passion for the game. We started by organizing a league match in two villages (Puy-puy and Tranca). Within a few weeks one boy was offered a place at a university on the strength of his basketball ability. The program has also offered other youths employment opportunities as basketball referees and table officials.

Early in February Goducate introduced volleyball in Tagumpay, a small lakeside town that was badly affected by flooding during a storm last August. A one-day volleyball league was organized. 8 teams participated. It started at 9 am and continued right up to 2 am. 90 people filled the hall. The winning team (Team San Pedro) was made up of high-school students, who each received a small cash prize. They will be offered more volleyball and team-building training at a camp in March.

Goducate hopes that this program will keep youths off the streets, train them in discipline, team-building and other characteristics, and enable some of them to get sports scholarships to schools or universities.