Earlier this month, Goducate Children’s Home, Cambodia, welcomed 5 new children into the “family”. These children, Nat, Lynn, Kanya, Mon and Nia, come from Battambang, a 12-hour drive away from the Home. They come from very poor homes and have received little education. They came to the Home in hope of a better education and a better life in the future.
The new children were taken for medical check-ups upon arriving at the home to make sure that they are healthy. They are looking forward to joining the rest of the children and to starting school very soon. The children at the Home were excited in having a new “brother” and several “sisters” and have welcomed them warmly. They are getting along very well and enjoy playing with each other. They new children have already even begun to help out with chores around the Home.
We are excited to see the new children grow and learn and are very glad that they are now part of the Goducate family.
Kanya enjoying breakfastChildren being welcomed at the Home
Since Goducate aims to help needy Asians help themselves, Bangladesh is a country that has attracted its attention.
Recently, Bangladesh was in the news because of a horrific factory collapse that killed over 1100 garment workers. I was in the country when that accident took place.
Bangladesh is the most densely populated large country. It has about 160 million people (half of US population) squeezed into a land area the size of Florida. It is a land of natural tragedies (cyclones and floods). Most of its export earnings come from the garment industry— where the starting wage is less than US$40 per month. 3.5 million people work in terrible conditions in these garment factories.
I spent several days surveying the capital city of Dhaka with a friend, Peter, who is a Korean doing his doctoral thesis on Bangladeshi culture. Dhaka is one of the most crowded cities in the world with over 400,000 rickshaws on its streets every day. It is also called the City of Mosques—with mosques everywhere in this country where 90% are Muslims. Since Peter is fluent in Bangladeshi, we were able to move around freely and talk to people, from those in the poorest slums to those in the most expensive universities.
At the end of my survey, I decided that we first need to learn more about Bangladesh before we start any Goducate projects. I believe that the best place to learn about Bangladesh is in Dhaka University, the premier university of Bangladesh. Peter does his research in this university. It is the dream of almost every Bangladeshi to study in Dhaka University. Though it is the premier university, its facilities are overstretched. In the dormitories that I visited, 35 men sleep in a crowded room (the size of a typical small classroom) on mats.
One of our recent graduates from Goducate Training Center, Jaime, has volunteered to be the first Goducate worker in Bangladesh. Jaime, who grew up in a poor family in the Philippines, has extensive experience working among the poor in various development agencies. He has worked in Bangladesh previously when he was with another organization. He is presently trying to enrol in Dhaka University to study Bangladeshi.
We dream of the day when Goducate can help needy Bangladeshis help themselves.
City of rickshaws
A Dhaka University dormitoryDhaka University canteen
Goducate Training Center (GTC), in Iloilo, Philippines, held its first Recruitment Conference on May 6-8.
Invitations had been sent to new university graduates, to working people, and to those who had expressed interest in being trained as community development workers (CDWs). Over 300 people from all over the Philippines attended the conference.
The topics covered included the history of Goducate, its philosophies, its CDW training program, and the opportunities available for Goducate-trained CDWs. The Goducate Coordinator for Indonesia, Pak Thomos, spoke on the opportunities available in Indonesia. Filipino Goducate workers who had previously served in China spoke on the challenges and opportunities available in China. Since Goducate does not do things in the “traditional” way, the most useful sessions were the Question and Answer sessions, during which many fears and doubts were removed.
Booths were set up for recruitment for GTC’s next training session (June to December). Our target is to train 50 to 70 CDWs for Indonesia, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, etc. At the end of the conference about 50 had shown interest to be trained.
Booths were also set up by the present batch of GTC trainees, who will be graduating shortly and will be sent to various fields (mostly to Indonesia). These booths displayed the trainees’ work in the poor communities surrounding GTC. They had taught the children in these communities livelihood skills (eg. making food items and handicrafts, doing manicure and pedicure), and these children sold their goods and services during the conference to earn some money for their school fees.
These children impressed the conference attenders with their skills in music, drama, and oratory skills. It was very encouraging to hear these poor village children speak so confidently in English before a large crowd of university graduates.
May GTC continue to train CDWs to help needy Asian help themselves.
Conference attendersMusical performance by children from the community
For Inquiries, call: Tel 09225506199 Email gtc_iloilo@yahoo.com (Goducate Training Center Iloilo Philippines)
