35 people are undergoing training in pipe fitting at the Goducate Training Center in Laguna, Philippiines. Some are high-school graduates and others are fathers without regular jobs. They have finished the 2 weeks’ training the in the theory of pipe fitting and have started on the week of practical training. Those who successfully complete the course will receive a TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) certficate, which will help them to get a job either within the Philippines or abroad.
Organizing this course is one means by which Goducate achieves its aim of helping Asians help themselves.
At the moment, the trainer is provided by our training-school partner. However, we are working towards being recognized by TESDA as a training school.
One way by which Goducate plans to help needy Filipinos help themselves is to promote vermiculture among these people. They can then either use the organic fertilizer thus produced by the African night crawler worms for their own crops, or they can sell the fertilizer. When we brought the neighboring villagers to the Goducate Training Center to learn about vermiculture, the uptake was poor. So we decided to go into the community to teach them on site, and the uptake has been encouraging.
The vermiculture program in the areas neighboring the Goducate Training Center in San Miguel, Iloilo, was started in October 2013 One household per “sitio” (an area within a barangay [village], usually far from the barangay center) is given ¼ kg of worms and taught in its own backyard how to culture these worms. When the worms have multiplied, that household gives 1 kg to another household in the sitio. So far, 12 households in 7 sitios around GTC have been producing vermicompost through the Goducate program.
The first person to have a vermibed in his own backyard was Rommy, a farmer in Sitio Sapa, Barangay San Antonio. Previously he spent a considerable sum on commercial fertilizers. So far he has harvested 275 kg in 5 months from January to May 2014 . He uses the compost on his own vegetables, and now spends only a small amount on commercial fertilizer.
One of our more successful vermicompost producers is Rommel from Barangay Sto Angel, who started on the program in January this year. Rommel, a farmer, taught his children how to take care of the worms while he is busy at work. The vermibeds need to be checked frequently to ensure that there is enough moisture and enough substrate (usually dung and rice hay, rice stalks, madre de cacao leaves, ipil-ipil leaves, banana trunks and common grasses, which are rich in nitrogen) for the worms to work on. Within 2 months his ¼ kg of worms had become 5 kg, and he was able to harvest 12 sacks (1 sack = 40 to 50 kg) of compost in 3 months. He uses the compost for his own vegetables and sells some of it. With the profit he was able to buy clothes for his children. He gave a portion of his worms to his nephew.
Helping Rommy harvest his vermicompostRommel and his family with the vermibeds
The guest writer is Melody, a community development worker based at GTC.
The SM- City San Pablo, a large shopping mall opened in Oct 2010, invited Goducate musicians in Laguna to play for their Mother’s Day Special Presentation. It was the third time that the mall has invited our musicians to do so.
Not only were our musicians able to entertain shoppers that day, but also they had a chance to distribute flyers promoting the private tutorials that our musicians give. 8 of the Goducate musicians are giving such tutorials.
The Goducate music program in Laguna has been a good way of keeping children off the streets, teaching them qualities such as discipline, team work, and diligence, and also a means of helping them earn some pocket money through performances such as at malls and at weddings.
Goducate musicians (at right side of foot of stage) entertaining crowd in between stage shows.
