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Goducate at ActivAid 2010 Conference

Goducate was a part of ActivAid’s inaugural conference held last Saturday at the National University of Singapore. Goducate founder Paul Choo led one of the 15 workshops, while the co-founders and other volunteers manned the Goducate booth in the exhibition area.

ActivAid is a conference targeted at health-care students in Singapore and elsewhere to educate them about humanitarian efforts and to spur them into volunteering for such efforts. The conference is organized jointly by the National University of Singapore Medical Society and by Healthcare Expeditions International (HealthEx), a Singapore-based non-governmental organization that identifies, develops, and executes expeditions that health-care students can join to help the needy in various countries. The plan is for ActivAid conferences to be held annually.

Paul Choo asking a keynote speaker a question
Paul Choo asking a keynote speaker a question


For many people, going on a humanitarian expedition is a one-off affair, an experience of a lifetime with wonderful photo-opportunities, but then what? This kind of involvement means much effort and organization for the people on the ground in the host country and much disruption to their work, but in the long run makes little difference to the needy people out there. To drive home this point, the theme for this year’s conference was Sustainability Issues Facing Student Volunteers. Participants thus not only learnt what goes into humanitarian missions, but they were also challenged to think about how, after their return home, they can keep up the good work.

The topic for Paul Choo’s workshop was that merely doling out help to the needy is not charity. Doing so and doing things for them robs them of their dignity and self-worth and makes them overdependent on others, while giving the helpers a false sense of superiority. True, sustainable, charity is helping the needy to help themselves.

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First Goducate Leaders Conference

Goducate will hold its first Project Leaders Training in Singapore from Jan 18 to 22. About 40 leaders and workers who are serving in 6 countries (Philippines, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore) will be attending the course.

The aim of the conference is to emphasize the Goducate vision of “helping poor Asians help themselves.” As many of our leaders have been so busy in their particular projects and somewhat isolated from the other Goducate workers, they may have lost sight of the bigger picture. Certainly it is needful for us all to realize the magnitude of the task that is before us. Half of the world’s population live in Asia! And half of them need help! And we do not intend our vision of “helping poor Asians help themselves” to be a frivolous slogan but a clear goal which we hope to achieve.

Another objective of the conference is to help our leaders to bond together and share ideas. Though the delegates come from 6 different countries and are involved in seemingly very different projects, they are all involved in “Education.” And whether they are involved with a children’s home in Cambodia, or a learning center in Sabah or a university in Indonesia, or a youth training camp in Philippines, or migrant workers in Kuala Lumpur, they will probably be teaching the same subjects of English and computers. Similarly, if they are teaching Filipinos to use earth worms to produce organic fertilizer, the same skills can be useful in Cambodia, Indonesia or India.

Outside experts will also share with us on how to utilize the internet and Youtube, how to think creatively, how to use computers to track our data and expenses, how to write interesting blog articles, how to take good photographs, how organize group tours to visit our projects, etc. Most importantly, we will learn how to build bridges of love into the lives of individuals and communities.

Goducate realizes that just providing English, computer and livelihood skills will not be sufficient. More importantly, we must provide hope for these neglected people. And the best way to do this is to show them that we care for them and love them.