Goducate … Go And Educate! – Page 125 – Helping Asians Help Themselves

2012-12-11

Goducate visits Myanmar

Recently a small team from Goducate visited Myanmar to see what help Goducate could give the needy there to help themselves. We had been urged to do so by a Goducate supporter who visited that country a year ago. In the mean time we had met or had been in touch with some people who work among the needy in Myanmar, running an orphanage and/or teaching needy local children, and were able to visit them.

The very poor in Myanmar are not hard to find. We visited villages where people live in makeshift or very broken-down huts, without electricity or running water. At one place, the muddy green water being used came from a very shallow well that obviously contained rain water and overflow water from the drains, rather than groundwater. Food was cooked over a fire created from bits of charcoal that the people had scavenged for.

Goducate is now thinking about the specific role it can play in helping the needy in Myanmar to help themselves.

CIMG1005 — A very poor village; pile on the ground on the left is of bits of charcoal being left to dry before use

CIMG0927 — At literacy class run by volunteers, children singing their hearts out for us. Note bare room, where walls are used as blackboard.

2012-12-072012-12-08

Goducate helps victims of Typhoon Hagabat

In the first week of August this year, parts of the Philippines underwent severe flooding and damage from intense rain. Although the damage was caused by a strong movement of the southwest monsoon, rather than by a typhoon, the severity of the damage led the abnormal weather conditions to be known informally as Typhoon Hagabat [monsoon]. Bay, in Laguna Province, where much of Goducate work in the Philippines is concentrated, was one of the areas damaged. 500 families in Bay were affected, and are still being housed in evacuation centers.

The Goducate team in Laguna has been helping these families by training them in agricultural methods and offering them some work at the Goducate Model Farm. They have been learning different methods of farming such as hydroponics, backyard farming, and organic farming. They also get an allowance for helping with chores at the farm, such as watering, planting, ploughing, and cleaning of the premises. Through this, they are not just earning money but are also learning to know the importance of self will and discipline in helping themselves.

While the men are busy on the farm, 40 of the women have been learning another livelihood skill—that of making soap and dishwashing liquid. We hope that this skill will give those families another means of income.

2012-12-042012-12-06

Students in literacy centers in Sabah undergo year-end examination

Evaluation is vital part of every learning program, and that is just what the more than a thousand children at Goducate’s literacy and numeracy centers in Sabah are undergoing right now. They are being assessed on what they have learnt through the year in their English, mathematics, and science classes. The evaluation also helps us assess the relevance of the curriculum and the effectiveness of the teaching.

The results of the year-end examinations contribute to only 50% of the evaluation. The other 50% is based on the teachers’ assessment of the student’s performance through the year.

Many children have to repeat their grades because their living conditions make it difficult for them to attend class regularly. What matters, though, is that the children are able to master the program.