In July, Goducate started a kindergarten in Batam for a nearby community. The kindergarten, called Sekolah TK Lentera Anak Bangsa (Light of the Children of the Nation Kindergarten School), was formally opened on Saturday by Goducate founder Paul Choo and the village head. Most of the day’s program, however, saw the participation of the kindergarten’s 26 students. The children come from a poor sprawling neighborhood of some 2000 huts with no running water.
Parents, some students, and guests at the openingin classroom preparing for performance
The kindergarten is housed in a shophouse a short distance from the neighborhood from which most of the children come. There are two classrooms downstairs, one for the 6-7-year-olds, and one for the under-6s, and a long activity room upstairs.
The three-pronged philosophy behind the kindergarten is to staff it with good teachers, to involve the cooperation of the parents in the children’s education, and to put an emphasis of the teaching of English. Goducate hopes that this approach will give the children a good start in their preparation for life in today’s international world.
Last month, when most of our volunteer teachers at the Goducate Literacy Centers in Laguna were sent to the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo to join the training for community development workers, our literacy centers were left with only one teacher each.
This was a bit tough for them— until they realised that some of the mothers were hanging around outside waiting for their kids, and that these mothers could be trained to help in the classroom. So our teachers encouraged them to take on some of the classroom responsibilities. After all, Goducate’s experience in Sabah, where mothers are trained to teach their children, has shown that such mothers make the most passionate and effective teachers.
Mother assisting in classroomJohn David as teacher
Additional help is provided by Goducate college scholars, who volunteer their services. During their free periods. One example is John David, who had to drop out of college when he was a 3rd- year information-technology student because of his addiction to computer games. His parents refused to send him back to college.
However, when he was invited to join our 2nd Summer Music Workshop last year, he became so interested and learnt to play the viola well enough to earn a place back at college on a music scholarship. The scholarship covers his college fees. Goducate gives him an allowance to help with his other expenses. He now also helps teach at the Goducate Literacy Center at Ulik every Thursday, exemplifying how Goducate beneficiaries go on to help others.
Fathers in the community are also chipping in to help at the Goducate Literacy Centers. As in Sabah, they help largely with the construction of the Centers and with making the classroom furniture.
The main objective of my visit to the Goducate Children’s Home (GCH) in Cambodia was to highlight areas that could contribute to the attainment of food security at the Home. Since Goducate aims to help the needy help themselves, it follows that GCH should be as self-sufficient as possible.
GCH is located 10 degrees north of the equator and sits about 15 meters above sea level. Its total land area is 66,851 sq m. Almost 45 % of the land has food-production potential and 25% is taken up by hardwood/pulp/fruit trees and other species endemic to the area. Small patches are grown with vegetables, corn, dragon fruit, pineapple, and dill.
80% of the land is level or gently sloping. The soil is predominantly sandy silt, highly alkaline, but suitable for fruit and timber trees. The highly porous soil lacks organic matter, which is essential for nutrient and moisture retention. Shallow-rooted plants, such as leafy, fruit, and root vegetables, are able to thrive but yield poorly because practically nothing is applied to improve the soil.
Lowland for conversion into rice production, duck raising, and. pangasius (catfish) culture
GCH has a bull and a heifer as well as seven goats, which graze on a free-range basis. No supplemental feeding is given for balanced nutrition. The poultry consists of 13 turkeys and 28 native chickens, which are also allowed to range freely.
For GCH to attain food security, it must focus on its comparative advantages. One area to consider is additional investments in goats and livestock. Forage grasses grow naturally in the area, so the cut-and-carry combined with forced feeding should be the production system of choice.
The very low organic matter content and fertility of the soil are good arguments for growing high-value vegetables through commercial hydroponics at GCH. In the medium-term, such constraint can be addressed by the application of vermicast and regular spraying of vermitea to the growing plants. This necessitates the sourcing of African Night Crawlers for vermicomposting. Morninga should be extensively planted to provide a source of nutritious Moringa-based foods and tea, and for animal feeds.
Also essential at GCH is a nursery for raising good-quality seedlings. The Home might even consider getting high-quality coffee and cacao seeds to turn the idle 1.15-hectare eastside idle space into an industrial plantation. The one-hectare remnant lowland, on the other hand, can be proportionately partitioned into parcels for rice production, duck raising, and catfish rearing.
Eroded soil with low organic matter content
The children at the GCH are already picking up agricultural and technical skills informally through their daily duties. A workshop has recently been built at GCH to train the children more systematically in technical skills. More systematic training in agricultural skills could also be considered. Two of the children from GCH are at present undergoing intensive training at the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo, The Philippines, to be community development workers. With good vocational training at GCH, more can be trained locally to be effective agents of change when they return to their respective communities.
