Goducate’s aim is to help the needy help themselves, not only by helping them through their schooling but also by offering them livelihood projects. Making decorative items out of rejects from paper factories is a Goducate livelihood program that has been started in Laguna.
A Goducate volunteer had learnt how to make these products from a friend who had attended a seminar on the technique. Initially this lady worked for her friend, but later decided to work with Goducate’s head of livelihood projects in Laguna to offer it as a livelihood project to parents of the children who attend Goducate Literacy Centers. Since the start of the program at one learning center in early October, the program has been extended to three other centers, with some 35 women taking part.
There are five basic designs in plain white that can be bought as they are. The women also produce decorated versions of these basic designs.
The women have been marketing their goods by personal visits to stores, and also online. A gift store in San Pablo City (a place where people go to buy such decorative items and souvenirs) has placed an order for 1000 items. Many have been bought as “giveaways” for weddings, and orders have been placed for several hundred pieces to be given away at two other weddings.
