Philippines – Page 72 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2013-01-182013-01-18

Goducate makes a recce trip to typhoon-hit Compostela Valley

In the latter part of last year the Goducate team in Laguna helped the victims of Typhoon Hagabat, which hit Bay, in our own province of Laguna in August, by training them in livelihood skills—the men in agricultural techniques and the women in soapmaking and other handicraft.

In December 2012 Typhoon Bopha (a “supertyphoon” known locally as Typhoon Pablo) hit the southern Philippines. It was the strongest ever typhoon to hit the region, causing about a1000 deaths and many hundreds (about half of them fishermen) to go missing. Because of our experience helping the victims of Typhoon Hagabat, and because we had contacts in Compostela Valley, one of the provinces hit, we decided to explore the possibility of whether Goducate could help the people there.

Our first action during our trip early this month was to drop off emergency supplies with our friends, for them to distribute through their organizations. Then we set off to visit the area worst affected. This used to be a village with around 100 houses, but we found only one house and half a church standing. We also saw badly damaged coconut and banana plantations. It could take 8 months to a year for a banana plant to recover and produce a harvest. For coconuts, the time could be 5 years.

We also visited a small home enterprise that, if scaled up, could provide jobs to many people.

Overall, there is a likelihood that Goducate could train the victims of Compostela Valley to help themselves. We are now mulling over plans as to how we can proceed.

DSCN0665-400 — Emergency relief supplies being downloaded.

DSCN0811-400 — The only house still standing

DSCN0750-400 — Damage to coconut plantation

2013-01-04

Livelihood program for women in Laguna expands

When the women in Laguna making decorative items out of scrap paper strips received an order for 1000 pieces of their handicraft from a shop in San Pablo City a couple of months ago, it was seen as a huge step forward for them. They have had another boost with the recent festive season. A gift shop in Divisoria Manila, a market district in Manila, placed an order for 20,000 pieces.

To meet this order a Goducate Literacy Center was turned into a temporary stockroom and workshop for a week, during which classes for the children were held in the open. The women who worked at the center were victims of Typhoon Hagabat, whom Goducate has been helping.

Women from the local community who had been taught earlier how to make these decorative items worked from home. When I saw the little daughter of one of these women come to the center to collect material for her mother, it occurred to me that this project is also teaching little children how to help their parents in a simple way.

A new project that has been started is a tailoring project. A Goducate volunteer who used to be a dressmaker was asked by a ready-to-wear store to supply blouses for a school uniform. She decided to take this opportunity to give other women in the community a chance to earn a living and has started to teach some women how to sew. The project is hampered by the limited number and type of sewing machines they have. Thus only three women, one of them an experienced dressmaker, are sewing the blouses, and they can undertake to deliver only 86 pieces a week.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Vcitims of Monsoon Hagabat making decorative items

2013-01-01

Goducate Orchestra raises funds for victims of Typhoon Bopha (Pablo)

The musicians in the Goducate music program in Laguna have been trained to help themselves. Some have gained music scholarships to enable them to continue their education in high school or college, those in the orchestra earn some income by playing at local events, and others earn money by giving private music lessons. The musicians also help others. The more accomplished musicians are volunteer music teachers for newcomers to the program. At the end of last year the orchestra also staged a concert to raise money to pay for the school fees for several of their members.

About a week ago, on Dec 23, members of the orchestra raised funds for victims of Typhoon Bopha, known locally as Typhoon Pablo. This “supertyphoon” was the strongest tropical cyclone ever to hit the southern Philippines island of Mindanao.

Goducate Laguna has been helping the victims of Typhoon Hagabat, which affected people in Bay, in Laguna Province. Goducate has been training some of the victims of Typhoon Hagabat in livelihood skills. The men have been taught agricultural techniques and offered some work at the Goducate Model Farm in Laguna, while the women have been taught how to make soap and other handicraft.

Mindanao is nowhere near Laguna. However, it so happened that just before Typhoon Bopha struck, Goducate Laguna had been visited by some friends from Compostela Valley, one of the areas affected by Typhoon Bopha. Hence the orchestra decided to raise funds to help the victims of that typhoon. The rather impromptu “mini-concert” that the orchestra put up, mostly of Christmas songs, was held in the open, at the entrance to the building in which the Goducate Music Studio is sited, and a small sum was raised from passers-by.