Posted on

Weekend visit to our literacy centers in Sabah

This Friday about a dozen Goducate supporters from Singapore will fly to Sabah to visit our literacy centers. The team consists of about seven Goducate volunteer workers and 3 or 4 staff members from our corporate sponsors, MHC Asia.

The last time we visited the centers in February, there were just 2 centers with about 400 students. This time the team will visit all 5 centers with about 1000 students. These students are unable to attend normal schools because they are “undocumented aliens” who have fled from the poverty of war-torn southern Philippines to the peaceful shores of Sabah.

It will be a lightning trip over a weekend because most of the Goducate volunteers have to return to work on Monday.

We will arrive on Friday evening, in time to enjoy a lovely seafood dinner in a restaurant built over the sea. On Saturday, we will start off early to visit the centers. Two of the centers are short distances from the road, one requires a 30 minute walk up a jungle path, another requires a 20 min walk over a soggy swampy ground, and another is a balancing act on a narrow plank walkway over a swamp.

On Sunday morning the team will return home – hopefully able to share what they saw and experienced with other Singaporeans and convert them into becoming supporters of these poor children because Goducate believes that every child deserves a decent education.

Posted on

Rain cannot stop the children from going to school

It was 2pm in the afternoon as I went to another khampung, it rained so hard that time. To my surprise, the children were busy mopping the floor with their own clothes.

I asked them why? They said “teacher, we need to have class but how can we do it if the carpet is wet we cannot sit down. (Actually, students are just sitting on the floor while having their class to save space and observed discipline.)

I felt proud of my students they are really eager to do things even to turn their clothes into a mop for them to continue their class! They continue what they were doing until the rain stopped and start their class with their brilliant ABC sounds and “rain, rain go away song.”

Next day, to my guilt I brought them a mop for them to use in times of rain. They were very happy with it. In such simple things we can help them. These children really amaze me everyday. Who is able not to love these children? Not even one.

The good thing they are dedicated to do the necessary in order to continue their studies.

Posted on

Alternative learning system (ALS)

Many people have asked me “After your students graduate from your Goducate literacy program, where do they go?” This is a very needful question to ask, seeing that we presently have almost 1000 undocumented alien children (ie, illegal immigrants) in our Goducate literacy programs in East Malaysia. As almost all of these kids are originally from the Philippines or descendants of Filipinos, we hope to help them to get an education that will allow them to go back to the Philippines to finish their education and hopefully get gainful employment there or in other countries.

We hope that all our graduates who have already learned to read and write and mastered elementary mathematics will be able to continue their education through a program that has been developed by the Philippines Department of Education (DepEd). This system called “Alternative Learning System” (ALS) was developed because only 65% of Filipinos who enter Grade 1 finish Grade 6 and only 45% finish high school. A major reason for this is poverty and the need for children to help earn income for their families. Many children in farming communities are pulled out of school by their families to help during harvest season, and are then unable to return to school because they have fallen out of the formal schooling system.

ALS allows children to catch up according their own abilities and diligence using modules produced by DepEd. These modules are made available in soft-copy for the user to download. Past experience has shown that matured students can cover much ground at great speed because of their motivation, more matured minds and prior non-formal learning experiences. For example, one of our Goducate students was able to go from illiteracy to Grade 9 in just over a year!

ALS students can take DepEd approved tests that qualify them for a Philippine nationally recognized high school diploma, which will allow them to apply for college entry.

Our dream is to see our first Goducate student from Sabah enter a college in the Philippines in the near future. A kind Filipino businesswoman has promised to sponsor Goducate students who gain entry into college.

The dream of helping every poor child get a decent education is fast becoming a reality!