Category: Livelihood Training

An old friend of mine in Manila called me up one day to ask whether he and his friends could bring some goods for the people Goducate works with in Dayap. This village is a relocation site for the victims of the devastation that Typhoon Ondoy caused in Manila in 2009.

The next day the group travelled 20 miles to distribute 20 boxes of used clothing and 60 kg of rice. The children also received parcels containing stationery donated by the National Bookstore.

Although the people have been given simple houses by the government, many have still to get jobs, and their children’s education was interrupted by the move. In this village Goducate helps the children with tutorials on their schoolwork. Goducate is also running its pilot project on backyard farming here, to help the community put veg@table.

Sandy is a volunteer at our model farm in Laguna. He goes round collecting leftover vegetables for our vermicomposting project. Vermicomposting is the use of a worm called the African night crawler to produce compost. The worm eats waste material and churns out good compost. At our model farm we are are trying out different combinations of waste material to find out what produces the best compost.

Sandy has started his own backyard vegetable garden. Among the vegetables he is growing are bittergourds, sweet peppers, eggplants, and ladies’ fingers. The plan that he has been following is to plant several kinds of vegetables simultaneously but in small quantities. Then the planting is repeated roughly every month, so that there is a continuous harvest of each kind of vegetable.

Sandy works in the Talahiban area. He will soon be teaching the villagers there how to start their own backyard vegetable gardens using this plan.

Goducate hopes that the residents of Talahiban will soon be able to put their own veg@table.

When Manuel was 14 he got into the wrong company. He started to gamble, drink alcohol, and take illegal drugs, and when he ran out of money he and his friends stole electrical wires from houses and substations. He was caught and charged several times for fighting on the streets and in school. As a result he had to leave school.

But he realized his wrongdoing and wanted to finish his studies. When he heard about out Alternative Learning System (ALS) programme, he joyfully enrolled. This ALS, developed by the Philippines Ministry of Education, enables children who cannot attend regular school to study on their own and at their own pace. Goducate offers ALS tutorials.

Manuel, now aged 21, has taken the final ALS high-school exam, which will qualify him to enter college. He will know the results in February.

His interest in music and his musical skills may influence his as yet undetermined future plans. He plays the keyboard for the Goducate orchestra and teaches in our music program.