Livelihood Training – Page 33 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2012-09-072012-09-06

Nutrition Day events in Goducate Literacy Centers encourage teamwork between students and parents

The Philippines Nutrition Day in July was observed not only by the Goducate Literacy Center in Lalao (Aug 3 blog) but also by the other Goducate Literacy Centers in Laguna province—namely, at Mabacan and Talahiban. The students at Mabacan were joined by those attending the newly opened centers at Ulik and Burol.

All three centers followed a similar program that included, among other items, a parade of the students, accompanied by their parents and carrying baskets of fruit and vegetables, a competition among parent-child teams for the best slogan about vegetables, and a cookery contest for parents. At Mabacan, for instance, the winning slogan, was , “Kumain ng Gully para humaba ang iyong buhay” (“Always eat vegetables, so that your life will become longer”).

The idea of the Nutrition Day program was not just to teach children and their parents something about nutrition. It was also intended to encourage parents and their children to work together as a team. The Nutrition Day event is not the only one at which such teamwork is encouraged. Regular activities are held through the year to foster such cooperation.

ScreenShot228 — Students at Mabacan with their veggie headgear

ScreenShot229 — Performance by students at Talahiban

ScreenShot230 — Students and mothers at Talahiban preparing posters of their slogans

2012-08-172012-08-18

Team goes to Philippines to take photographs for Goducate book

Last year, Goducate published a book of articles by the children living at the Goducate Children’s Home in Cambodia. The pieces in “In The Shoes of a Cambodian Child” give an insight into what goes on in the minds and hearts of children from dysfunctional families and how their experiences have affected them.

This year Goducate will be producing a collection of articles by some of the needy children being served by Goducate in The Philippines. Unlike the children at the Goducate Children’s Home, the Filipino children are living in the community with their families, though not necessarily happy ones, nor their immediate ones. As is well known, many Filipinos go abroad to work, leaving their children behind in the care of others. Thus “In The Shoes of a Filipino Child” will also feature stories of emotional hardship as well as physical hardship. But there will also be stories of what makes them happy, and it is touching to read of what simple things are enough to bring them a little bit of joy in life. We hope that the stories by these children will create awareness among those who are comfortably off about how much poverty there is in the world around them.

For the coming book, a team from Goducate went to get photographs of the children who have contributed to the book. Our timing was bad. It rained very heavily nearly all of the three days that we were there. Manila was especially badly affected by one of the most serious floodings in decades, and there were 60 deaths from the rains reported while we were there. Although we were about an hour’s drive away from Manila, some of the villages and homes we had to visit were also flooded. Seeing people in their homes cooking a meal while standing more than ankle-deep in water as though it was the most natural thing to do made us realize how frequently they have to go through these hardships. However, at least they had electric lights at night, unlike those families relocated after their homes in Manila were destroyed by Typhoon Ondoy in 2009. Those families in the relocation area are still waiting for electricity, and one of the children has written of the hardship of not having any light to work by at night.

P1020368 — Our photographer Annabel at work during one of the very few dry spells

P8071032 — Our team having to wade in muddy water to get our photographs

2012-08-032012-08-03

Goducate Literacy Center celebrates Nutrition Day

The Goducate Literacy Center in Lalao in Laguna, The Philippines, celebrated the Nutrition Day on July 24. The nationwide theme for Nutrition Month was “Pagkain ng Gulay Ugaliin, Araw-araw Itong Ihain.” (Get used to eating vegetables, serve it daily).

The program started with a parade of the parents, children, teachers, and visitors. The children carried small baskets loaded with different kinds of fruits and vegetables.

The nursery students then sang Bahay Kubo, a Filipino folk song about vegetables growing around a nipa hut, followed by the students from the preparatory class, who sang a song that I composed, about the nutritional value of vegetables.

The parents took part in a cooking contest. They were divided into three groups, each of which brought the foods they prepared. Judging was based on nutritional value, creativity, and on how well dishes represented Filipino food.

After a message from Leo Decinal, the Goducate Coordinator in Luzon, our guest speaker Mrs Cora Ortiz, principal of Tranca Elementary School, took the stage. She acknowledged the Goducate Literacy Center as the school’s partner in bringing good education to the children and in building up their character.