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Making things more meaningful

Recently a young lady contacted me and told me that she was going to celebrate her 21st birthday and wanted her guests to give donations to Goducate rather than give her birthday presents. She had heard about Goducate helping the helpless and wanted to be a part of it.

In her note to me, she wrote that she didn’t need any more expensive branded presents because they wouldn’t really make her any better or happier but she knew that the funds given to Goducate would make some poor kid much better and happier.

For many who are materially blessed, giving to the needy may be what gives them most pleasure and satisfaction. Another branded handbag or pair of shoes would be soon be “lost” in an over-loaded cupboard and forgotten. Another holiday trip would soon be forgotten because most five-star buffet breakfasts are more or less the same and another “great” shopping mall is amazingly similar to the past ones that were visited. Surely, for such people it is better to give than to receive.

May I suggest that you should consider how you can make your next celebration or holiday more meaningful? Why not consider following the example of this young lady and direct your friends to give to a cause? Better still, if you live in Singapore why not consider holding your celebration at the Goducate office? It certainly isn’t five-star (it’s 0 star ranking) but maybe your friends have already been to many five-star places but never been to an office that is a gallery of charitable projects! You wouldn’t even need to plan an entertaining program for them because the photos and write-ups on the wall will fascinate them.

For your next holiday (or family vacation) why not consider visiting a Goducate project? It certainly wouldn’t be fancy but will certainly be fascinating! In fact, it might even be life-changing! Several Goducate friends have already done this and they have told me that their trips to our projects were “awesome”! Those with special skills (eg. ability to teach English, computer, music) were able to volunteer to help our workers on the field. Others came back to tell others about their trip and to organize one for their friends.

Life is too short to be meaningless! Let’s make our life meaningful – and in the process help the helpless!

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Goducate Coordinating Center – a place to bring your friends!

MHC Management staff handing over the two vans to the Goducate Children's Home in Cambodia
MHC Management staff handing over the two vans to the Goducate Children's Home in Cambodia

The Goducate Coordinating Center is situated in the research hub of Singapore. Among its “neighbours” are the National University of Singapore (Singapore’s premier university), and Biopolis and Fusionopolis (which are two centers that house Singapore’s cutting-edge research organizations).

Goducate has been fortunate to get the use of this office space, through the kind generosity of one of our major corporate sponsors, a cutting-edge health-care group called MHC Asia Group Pte Ltd. MHC has not only provided this valuable space to us but also been a very generous donor to several of Goducate projects in Sabah (East Malaysia), Cambodia and Indonesia.

MHC staff teaching children at the Goducate Learning Center in Batam Indonesia
MHC staff teaching children at the Goducate Learning Center in Batam Indonesia

Several of their board members and staff have even visited our projects on the field. Earlier this year a MHC team was sent to Indonesia to teach English and provide basic medical screening. As Goducate lacks many of the IT and other high-tech skills needed to reach the world, we have been fortunate to have the support of specialists from MHC. MHC is indeed a model corporate sponsor that not only provides much needed funds for Goducate but also encourages its staff to be involved in charity work.

Our center has been designed with the purpose of being a command-center where we daily meet to dream, plan and execute our battle against poverty and hopelessness. The many photos of poor people surrounding us as we meet are a constant challenge to us of the importance and urgency of our work. And the many smiling faces in the photos that surround us are a constant encouragement to us as we face what seem like insurmountable difficulties.

I believe the same impact will be felt by all those that visit our center. Therefore, I believe that it is an ideal place to invite our friends to meet at the Goducate center. So if you have to meet someone in the neighbourhood (say, the National University of Singapore, Biopolis or Fusionopolis), then make the Goducate Center your meeting place! You may turn your meeting from one that is social or mundane into one that is life-changing!

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Goducate coordinating center

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The Goducate Coordinating Center is finally ready! A shoe-string budget was given to the design team and they managed to keep well within budget. The all-volunteer Goducate design and decoration team, led by Alina (an architectural designer who works in one of Singapore’s finest architectural firms) was given less than a week to finish their job and they did a day ahead of schedule!

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Since there is a possibility of us having to move to a new center next year, one of the specifications set for the design team was that most of the furniture and fixtures should be removable. They surpassed this target – only about 5% of total costs will not be removable to the new center.

The Goducate Board decided that the center should look like a command-center, ie, like the operations-room in an army at war. After all, Goducate is in a fierce battle against poverty and hopelessness. Alina also suggested that it should have a bare, rugged look to reflect Goducate’s operating environment and style. She also suggested that Goducate’s projects should also be high-lighted in montages so that visitors will have a better idea of the many and varied projects that it does.

During the few days of furious activity – most of which were done after office-hours and on the weekend because all the interior decoration team were Goducate volunteers – there was a great spirit of unity and fun. These high-energy and high-powered young professionals are the forerunners of what we hope will be a huge army of Goducate volunteers.

The final result was “awesome” (I heard this comment from several visitors) and has been an inspiration to all of us who work in the office and those who have since visited the office.

Our thanks to Alina and the Goducate decoration team!

Come visit us!

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