Category: Philippines

Last week about 40 people attended our Goducate Campsite ground-breaking ceremony. These were dear men and women who have offered to help to develop the camp.

Among them were 2 young men, Mike and Jeru, who have will be leaving for USA later this month on a “scholarship” from the Wilds Camp of North Carolina. The Wilds Camp has generously provided their airfares to USA and will train Mike for about 6 weeks and Jeru for 2 weeks at their campsite. Mike and Jeru have been helping at our camps for poor kids for the past year and have proven themselves to be good camp leaders.

An architect, Hermes, has also offered to help us to plan and design the camp. He is an old friend who has previously worked in Singapore for four years.

An eminent professor of soil science, Prof Hope, was busy inspecting the characteristics of the camp soil. Prof Hope’s gut feel is that the soil in the valley portion of the campsite is fertile and suitable for vegetable production. After the ground-breaking, soil tests from different portions of the campsite were taken for lab tests.

Accompanying Prof Hope was Dan, an expert in sustainable organic vegetable farming. Goducate hopes to not only produce enough food for our trainees but also to teach our trainees how to grow good crops without polluting the soil and our bodies. In the group of experts was an enterprising young aqua-culture researcher who will help us to develop our own fish-farms.

Before we begin to build, we want to plant the right trees in the right places because building will take months to build but trees take years to grow. Also, we realize that if Goducate wants to help poor Asians to help themselves, then one of the most important things to teach them is how to grow enough food for themselves!

When we first negotiated with Nanay Gonzales to buy the land in Alimodian, Panay, Philippines, it was a “remote” rural place. However, over the past year amazing unexpected developments have taken place!

Each time I visited the site from Iloilo City, I noticed changes along the way. Firstly, I noticed new residential subdivisions were sprouting out along the road. So what had earlier seemed like a rural campsite was now only about 15 minutes from middle-class housing projects. Secondly, the pot-holed road has been largely transformed into a nice national road. A possible reason for this upgrading is the new city airport nearby.

Though the city is fast “encroaching,” the campsite still has a nice camping ambience because it is a 5 minute ride over rough rural track from the national road. Furthermore, the terrain of the campsite – a valley between two hilly ridges – offers a nice, secluded country atmosphere.

We had earlier thought that the land was over 9 hectares but after a proper land survey we found out that it is 8.2 hectares (about the size of 20 soccer fields). The hilly portions of the land are covered with fruit, mahogany and bamboo trees. The flat valley portion is planted with rice and vegetables. Two springs of water provide adequate water supply. According to the owner, these springs continue to provide water, even in the dry season. This is very important because the camp hopes to produce enough vegetables, fruits and food (except rice) for our trainees.

Due to financial constraints, we will divide the development of the campsite into phases. The first phase of development will occupy about a quarter of the land area and should begin as soon as funds come in. Hopefully, we can gravel the roads, set up the electrical lines and build the multipurpose hall before the rainy season sets in in a few months time. Hopefully, we will take in our first batch of Goducate trainees by the last quarter of this year!

Last week we, the Goducate Philippines’ team, “broke-ground” at our training campsite in Alimodian, Panay, Philippines.

This is the beginning of our dream to produce Goducate workers for Asia. We believe that the quality of Goducate’s work is dependent on the quality of Goducate workers. And our effectiveness in helping Asians help themselves is dependent on our ability to produce an adequate number of quality Goducate workers. Considering the population of Asia and the needs of Asia, it is obvious that if Goducate is serious about helping Asians help themselves, then this task is HUGE!

Some months ago we bought a piece of land, 40 minutes from the city of Iloilo, for this purpose. The seller of the land was a kind grandmother called Nanay (which means “grandma”) Gonzales. Nanay Gonzales had grown up in utter poverty and had only been through 6 years of elementary education. She sold vegetables in the local market to support her family. Her struggles worsened when her husband abandoned her and her six little children. However, her hard work and honesty impressed a large importer of mangoes in Manila, and he appointed her to be his “agent” for mangoes from her district – which was famous for its mangoes.

She prospered and bought this piece of land and spent each weekend with her little children planting fruit trees and mahogany trees on this piece of land. When she heard of our purpose to train workers to help poor Asians, she offered to sell the land to us at a discounted price.

Nanay Gonzales was present at our ground-breaking ceremony with 5 of her grandchildren – most of whom are now professionals. It was a proud moment for her to be able to give back to society and to be a part of helping the poor!