Goducate … Go And Educate!

The music students at the Goducate learning center in Lalao have bonded well. They not only learn and play music together, but they also have fun together, eat together, and play sports together.

Recently two of them, Lailanie and Gennilyn have been going to SitioBagongPook, a village about 2.5 km away, where they have recruited 15 children (3 high-schoolers and 12 from elementary school) for music lessons. Lailanie and Gennilyn will be assisting Abigael, one of our staff members, to teach these children.

As is usual in villages where Goducate has no learning center, lessons are conducted in the open.

An event was held for the children attending the kindergarten at the Goducate learning center in Lalao, Laguna, to observe “Buwan ng Nutrisyon” (Nutrition Month) and “Buwan ng Wika” (Language Month) . The theme of this event was “Wastong Nutrisyon Tungo sa Malusog na Kaisipan Upang Maging Huwaran” (Right Nutrition For a Healthy Mind). .

To help them learn about good nutrition in their daily lives, the children were fed some root crops and other good foods.

What most interested the kids and their parents, though, were their fancy dress outfits. As part of teaching them about their country and their national language, the children turned up dressed as national heroes or as past or present presidents of the country.

When Ric Patricio, Agricultural Director of the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo, visited the model farm at Laguna last week with another agricultural expert, Vic de Paz, also from Iloilo, they were greeted by the sight of a farm flattened by typhoon Nesat (known as typhoon Pedring locally).

It was a very valuable visit for the staff at the model farm. The consultants identified how waterlogging at the farm was hindering effective utilization of the farm, and suggested several simple measures that could be taken to relieve the waterlogging. They also suggested the kinds of crops that could then be planted once the drainage systems and the new beds have been made.

We also brought the consultants to Dayap, the resettlement village for victims of the 2009 Typhoon Ondoy, where 6 families have been participating in the veg@table program. They have already enjoyed the fruit of their labour. Apart from the problem of lack of water during the dry season (which will be in part relieved by the new pump installed in the summer), these villagers have to contend with very poor soil. Our agriculture consultants have suggested that the solution could be container gardening.