A team of Goducate musicians from the Philippines, and a team of children from Indonesia trained in Goducate’s Sing Your English (SYE) program were in Singapore to perform at MHC Asia Group Pte Ltd’s 25th anniversary dinner on Oct 7.
Musicians at MHC 25thSYE team performing
The trip to Singapore was an opportunity that the children might otherwise never have to travel out of their country. Through the generosity of Dr Low Lee Yong, founder and CEO of MHC, the children also had a few days enjoying Singapore’s attractions.
Performers having fun at end of program
The music program in Laguna, Philippines, began as a means of attracting out-of-school youth back into education by offering lessons on playing the recorder. It has grown into successful program, with children learning how to play a whole range of instruments. Not only has the team been invited to play at various events, but many individuals have obtained university scholarships based on their musical ability, and two are now university students majoring in music.
The SYE program is a popular program in Indonesia for giving children the confidence to speak English. Although students learn English in school, most do not use the language out of class, but learning the language through song somehow gets them singing English sentences wherever they happen to be.
For its 25th anniversary, MHC also donated a total of Sing$1 million to several organizations. Goducate, which received Sing$300,000, was the largest recipient.
Life in East Malaysia was hard, especially for me and my siblings, who were “undocumented aliens” there, and thus not entitled to state schooling. I had been born in a part of the Philippines where there was much civil strife, but brought at age 9 to East Malaysia by my parents, who went to seek work and a peaceful life.
For many years I envied the children in my village going to school every day in their uniforms and with their schoolbags. Life became brighter when Goducate volunteers from the Philippines arrived in our village. They taught mothers to teach literacy and numeracy, and later established a schoolhouse in our neighborhood. I was among the excited unschooled children who rushed to the schoolhouse. I studied there for two years before being given the privilege to join the teaching-facilitators training and becoming volunteer assistant teacher, helping to teach literacy to other children. I am so grateful to Goducate, for bringing us hope, teaching us to love education, and encouraging us to pursue our dreams in life.
In 2014, although it was hard to be separated from my parents, I decided to go to the Philippines to pursue my studies.
While doing this course, I also did some Goducate community work. Participating in Goducate’s Health Information Drive, I visited families and communities, taking and monitoring blood pressures, as well as sharing with people the nutritional benefits of Malunggay (Moringa). This community work has blessed me with confidence in dealing with and adjusting easily to people.
I faced many struggles, but I survived and adjusted well with the help of my parents and Goducate people. Goducate’s tagline is Helping Asians Help Themselves, and it has challenged me to help people regardless of who they are.
I was very pleased to receive a special award for “Best in On the Job Training”. And April 2, 2019, was a very memorable day for me. As I went up on stage to receive my Diploma, I was thankful to all who supported and encouraged me to pursue my dream. I thought of that village in East Malaysia, which challenged me to be an inspiration to other children and youth so that they too can dream and pursue their dream.
I am now working in a famous megamall in Iloilo and earning a stable income. As a wage earner, I am doing my best to help my family out of poverty and to ensure that my siblings will also finish their education.
Angelica during Graduation Apr 2019Angelica receiving her special award
*Our guest writer is Angelica Amodia. She was a Goducate scholar. Goducate scholars are deserving students who receive some financial help from Goducate for their tertiary education in the Philippines.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the Home for the Faithful was held on August 21. The Home is to be built within the grounds of the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo. It is intended to provide a place where long-serving volunteers who have nowhere to retire to can spend the rest of their lives with dignity. The idea is that the Home will also be a place where they can still contribute to the community, perhaps through activities such as simple gardening, giving talks, and mentoring and counseling younger people. How else they will be able to contribute will be part of a learning curve for Goducate.
The target date for the Home to be ready for occupancy is mid-2020. It will be able to accommodate about 40 people.
The Home for the Faithful also targets to inspire communities to care for the elderly and to motivate senior citizens to grow old with dignity and purpose. Furthermore, as with all Goducate projects, the Home will be the start of a movement—-in this case, that of helping needy senior Asians help themselves.
Participants in the groundbreaking ceremonyGoducate volunteers and members of the community who attended the groundbreaking ceremony
Our guest writer is, Carmela Damaso, a senior development trainer.
