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English – the key into every Asian country!

As I travel through the different countries in Asia, I realize that Asia is amazingly diverse. Yet there seems to be a common thread that runs through the different countries, in spite of their different cultures and levels of development. And that is the fact that in almost every Asian country there is a desire to learn English. This desire is both top-down and down-up, ie, it is a desire of the leaders for their people and a desire of the people to their leaders. In other words, it is a real desire that seems to be printed on the minds and hearts of this generation of Asians.

I grew up at a time when most Asian countries were determined to promote their national languages, at the expense of the language of their colonial masters. Today, even the most nationalist Asian country is determined to promote the use of English.

I grew up in a time when being a doctor meant that one would be welcome into almost any Asian country to serve the poor. Today, my medical degree will not allow me to practise medicine in almost every Asian country – thanks to Asian medical authorities protecting their professional “turf.” However, today an English teacher (especially one that is a “native-speaker”) will easily find a job in almost any Asian country. Thankfully, the term “native-speaker” is being expanded to sometimes include Singaporeans, Filipinos and Indians.

While most Asian countries include English as a subject (often a compulsory subject) into their national curricula, the reality is that almost every Asian country does not have enough competent teachers. In fact, in my experience most English teachers in Asia can hardly string a grammatical sentence together or carry out even a basic conversation. In other words, almost every Asian country needs help – and they know it and are not ashamed of it! More importantly, many Asians realize that the ability to speak English is often the passport to a better job.

Ironically, it is often the poor who need to learn English to survive rather than the rich because the poor often have to find work in factories owned by foreigners, or work in service industries serving foreigners or even work as domestic helpers where English is the “common” language. In fact, for many poor Asians knowing English is often the only way out of poverty because with their own people they might need “connections” to get a job but with foreigners all they need is an ability to speak English.

Goducate believes that teaching English is one of the best ways to help poor Asians help themselves.

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Wanted urgently!

Goducate is a new non-profit organization. It has yet to develop a culture. But it cannot develop the right culture until it has the right core-team. In any organization, its people are critical to its success. A new non-profit organization has no rich share-holders, large assets, valuable patents or brand-name products. Therefore, the quality of its people is even more critical.

Goducate urgently needs people who are PASSIONATE to help the helpless help themselves. Passion is what drives a non-profit organization.

Goducate wants to help poor Asians to help themselves. More than half of the world’s population live in Asia, and most of the poor people in the world live in Asia. Therefore Goducate needs PLENTY of people with a passion to help the helpless.

Unlike countries in other continents which share commonalities (“Christian” Europe, “Protestant” North America, “Hispanic” South America, “Black” Africa, “White” Australia), Asia is very diverse racially, linguistically, culturally, religiously, economically, politically, etc. Therefore, to help the helpless Asian help himself will require plenty of passionate people who are CREATIVE.

If you have a passion to help others help themselves, please contact me at paulchoo @ goducate . org

I look forward to sharing with you my passion – and who knows, this might be your first step to being a part of building bridges of love to Asia’s billions?

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Volunteers raise funds for Goducate

Over a hundred volunteers raised funds for Goducate at the Christmas Fiesta on the eve of Christmas and Christmas day. The Christmas Fiesta was held in conjunction with a Christmas Musical held at a local Singapore school. The organizers of the musical had generously decided that the proceedings of the fiesta would go to help Goducate.

The volunteers set up booths in the school canteen to sell food, clothes (used and new), health-products and play games. About 20 booths were set up by the volunteers. Many of the volunteers were doing such work for the first time. The youngest volunteer was a ten year old boy who was determined to help Goducate with his simple “pick up marbles in a bowl with a chopstick” game. Though he raised only a few dollars for Goducate, it was a joy just to see his spirit of volunteerism!

As the audience spilled out of the school auditorium at the end of the musical and entered the canteen, they were greeted with many zealous (and sometimes over-zealous) sales-people from the various booths hawking their products. It was a quite amazing to see the zeal of these volunteers – to see normally quiet house-wives become enthusiastic sales-ladies selling some home-baked cookies, to see big bosses of big corporations sell Goducate stickers, and to see so many people just empty their pockets to “help poor Asians help themselves.”

The booth that raised the largest amount of funds was the Goducate booth. Car owners were encouraged to buy Goducate car-stickers, so that they could advertise the Goducate name as they drove. Office workers were encouraged to buy a photo-frame with a Goducate picture of a child to place on their office desks, so that they could advertise the Goducate brand. They were also encouraged to buy Goducate post-it pads. Many also bought Goducate post-cards to send to their friends or to stick on their office notice boards.

The booths raised almost US$4,900.00 for Goducate. This amount was sufficient to pay for the recent renovation of our Goducate coordinating office and for almost all the start up costs of Goducate. But much more important than the funds raised, was the spirit of volunteerism generated that night. As a non-profit organization that runs on a shoe-string budget Goducate will need a strong core-group of passionate volunteers. The passion of the Christmas Fiesta volunteers was a great encouragement to us.

Also, more important than the funds raised from selling Goducate merchandise is the fact that hundreds of cars, offices and homes will be advertising the Goducate name! For a brand-new organization like Goducate, visibility is very important.

To us at Goducate, we consider these dear people who bought and display these Goducate products as more than mere customers – they are valued Goducate volunteers!