Goducate … Go And Educate! – Page 96 – Helping Asians Help Themselves

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Goducate musicians in Laguna attend music workshop

A few weeks ago the Goducate musicians in Laguna attended a concert by the Manila Symphony Orchestra, courtesy of Mr Jeffrey Solares, the orchestra’s executive director. Last week he kindly invited our musicians to attend a workshop held at the Philippine High School for the Arts in Mt Makiling.

13 of our musicians attended the half-day workship. Jeffery Solares taught them about proper posture and preparation of the body while playing, coordination of the body with the instruments, proper handling of the bow during and after playing a piece, and how to relax mentally while playing. Next 5 of the musicians were asked to play a piece individually in front of him, and later the group as a whole did so.

The musicians learnt much and hope that they will be able to attend more such workshops.

Later this month the Goducate musicians will hold a recital for their families and friends. The day before the workshop, an internal evaluation was held for some of our musicians (10 very young children, 9 beginners, and 7 juniors) to decide which of them will be moved up to the next level. Those chosen to be promoted will be announced at this forthcoming concert.

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Boys at Goducate Children’s Home, Cambodia, learn vermiculture

With additions to the staff, the Goducate Children’s Home in Cambodia is now busy implementing new projects. One of the projects that the home wishes to jump start is organic farming. A fertilizer used by most successful organic farmers is vermicast, the manure produced by earthworms. Vermiculture is the art of growing worms, which in turn produce the vermicast..

Five months ago, with the help of Goducate’s consultant for agriculture, the home started vermiculture with 20 earthworms of the African night crawler species, obtained from the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo, Philippines. The older boys at the Home are being trained in vermiculture, and the estimated population of African Night crawlers is 2000. In a year’s time, there should be enough worms to produce sufficient vermicast to satisfy the fertilizer needs of the children’s vegetable farm, which occupies about 120 sq m of the grounds at the Children’s Home. In another year’s time, we expect to have sufficient vermicast to sell to the public.

The plan also is to include the girls in the training in vermiculture.

2013-10-042013-10-04

Goducate arranges training in massage as a livelihood skill

One way by which Goducate helps the needy help themselves is to train them in a livelihood skill. Spa and wellness services are now popular in Iloilo, Philippines, which is gearing itself for the tourism industry. Thus Goducate arranged for some members of the communities adjacent to the Goducate Training Center to undergo training in massage.

10 people from four neighboring communities plus 3 Goducate Training Center staff underwent a 2-month training course sponsored by TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority).There were lectures on the rationale behind the practical steps. Staff and trainees of the Goducate Training Center were the guinea-pigs for the practical training. It was a very satisfactory arrangement by which one group got to improve their skills, while the other ended up feeling relaxed and refreshed.

All 13 students passed their assessment. Goducate hopes that these certified masseuses and masseurs will soon be able to use their newly acquired skills to earn money to support their own families, and with further training perhaps be able to train others.

Practising cupping, and ancient Chinese technique of using a heated cup (ventusa) to reduce tension in muscles

Practising correct strokes for back massage