The Goducate Training Center (GTC) in Iloilo trains people to be community development workers — ie, people who go out to needy communities, to identify their needs, and to identify leaders within the community who can lead projects that Goducate sets up to meet needs. The community development workers also have to be very hands-on in the projects they help to set up, and in the kinds of help they offer to individuals.
The trainees get their practical training in the villages around GTC. At the moment they are in 10 of the surrounding villages. The help they offer ranges from chopping up firewood for or giving massages to very old people, to screening for hypertension, to helping children catch up with school work through regular remedial classes, to training people in simple livelihood skills, to agricultural projects such as backyard farming or pig rearing.
One of the livelihood projects was training in massage. In one of the villages 4 people have been trained how to give massages. Another livelihood skill being taught is how to make choco-balls and yema (a Filipino caramel candy made with egg yolks and condensed milk) with moringa (a plant with many nutrients) for sale in schools. The recipe for including moringa in yema is still being tweaked to get the right taste and quality.
