Goducate … Go And Educate! – Page 98 – Helping Asians Help Themselves

2013-09-202013-09-21

Goducate musicians inspired by concert by Manila Symphony Orchestra

The Goducate music program in Laguna has enabled many students in the villages around Bay to learn to play a musical instrument. We now have a senior and a junior orchestra. Many of the senior students give of their spare time to go out to various villages to train others. The program has enabled some to get scholarships to tertiary institutions on the strength of their musical ability, and some to earn pocket money either by giving private lessons or by performing as a group at various events. Most of all it has trained the musicians in qualities such as discipline, perseverance, team work, and leadership.

What the Goducate musicians do not have much opportunity for is to listen to concerts by professional musicians. In my effort to help them find this opportunity, I wrote about our group on the Manila Symphony Orchestra Facebook. Two days later Mr Jeffrey Solares, the director of the Manila Symphony Orchestra asked me to meet him. The result was some tickets for a concert for our Goducate musicians, and an offer to help improve their skills.

Last week 17 of our musicians attended a concert by the Manila Symphony Orchestra. Before the concert they met Mr Solares, who invited one of our violinists, Liezl, to attend his violin class at the Scholastica College Manila. In 2011 Liezl was one of five Goducate violinists selected by Channel News Asia’s “Once Upon a Village” Program to spend a couple of weeks in Singapore being trained at the Wolfgang Music Studio. She was subsequently invited back by the Wolfgang Music Studio to prepare for her Trinity College Grade 5 examinations, which she passed with a merit. In June this year Liezl completed a 3-month TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) Performing Arts course at Arellano University

Our musicians were struck by the difference in level between their play and the Manila Symphony Orchestra’s. One of them, Aira Joy, who is one of the most promising of the junior musicians, said, “This is my first time to watch concert live and I am so much encourage. I want to be like the violinist. I want to play fast musical pieces”.

2013-09-172013-09-17

Girls’ workshop under construction at Goducate Children’s Home in Cambodia

The children at the Goducate Children’s Home not only attend school daily but also receive training in livelihood skills. Both the boys and the girls learn agricultural skills, which should come in useful when they return to their home villages. The older boys also learn some engineering and construction skills. A workshop for boys was completed in Sept 2012. The older girls have been learning to bake, and the arrival of community development workers from the Goducate Training Center in the Philippines has enabled them to widen the range of delicacies they can prepare.

A girls’ workshop is now under construction, and should be completed by the end of the year. We plan to introduce lessons in sewing, basic cosmetology, and other livelihood skills.

In recent months, teams of staff and older children from the Home have been going out to different communities to teach English. Those who attend these English classes can also benefit from learning livelihood skills. Thus we plan to use the workshop to train both residents and non-residents of the Home.

Exterior of girls' workshop under construction — Exterior of girls’ workshop under construction

interior of girls' workshop — nterior of girls’ workshop

2013-09-132013-09-16

New boys’ dorm being built for Goducate Children’s Home in Cambodia

Most of the children at the Goducate Children’s Home come from dysfunctional families. They may have been abandoned by parents who have left home to work abroad or for some other reason, or who are abusive. At the home boys outnumber girl primarily because it is the custom for girls to stay at home to learn how to keep house, and then to marry early. Under normal circumstances, boys are expected to be the breadwinner and to help the family should the father die.

The existing boys’ dormitory was intended for 15-18 boys, and it has a small room for the guardian. However, it is housing 23 boys and 5 guardians.

Some Goducate supporters who visited the Home realized the need for more space, and have raised funds for the new dormitory. Construction began 3 months ago, and the aim is to complete the building by December.

New boys' dorm in foreground, with existing dorm in background. — New boys’ dorm in foreground, with existing dorm in background.