donation – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2009-11-202009-11-20

Saving our precious worms from the flood

About 6 months ago, a few sponsors pooled together US$360.00 for our Goducate team in Laguna, Philippines to start a vermiculture (“vermi” is high-class word for “worms”) livelihood project.

Prior to this our Goducate team had been studying different methods of helping the poor to help themselves. They did feasibility studies on raising tilapias (a type of fish) in backyard farms, of producing quail’s eggs in backyards, of raising goats, etc.

At the end of about 4-5 months of feasibility studies, we came to the conclusion that using worms to produce fertilizer was most suitable for the people of Laguna. Laguna is the place where the famous International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is situated – this is the place where the rice hybrids of the world are produced to feed Asia’s growing population. The University of the Philippines at Los Banos (UPLB), with its agricultural research departments, are also situated in Laguna.

Our friends at UPLB suggested that we use worms (a special species called “African night crawler”) to turn waste vegetation (eg. grass, banana trunks) into top-quality organic fertilizer. The advantages of this project are many.

Firstly, the price of fertilizers will rise in the long-term because it’s pegged to the price of petroleum. Secondly, fertilizers will always be needed in farming communities. Thirdly, the financial investment is low and technical know-how simple.

So with the funds provided by the kind sponsors, we started our pilot project with a few kilos of worms. The objective was not only to do a feasibility of this method of livelihood but also to produce more worms to pass to other poor people – who would also agree to pass worms on to others. It was in effect, a rural version of a pyramid-scheme in reverse!

This pilot project went on well and met our expectations…. until the typhoon (codenamed “Ketsana” internationally or codenamed “Ondoy” locally) hit Laguna at the end of October 2009. Almost all the worms in about 10 different worm-beds were drowned by the flood!

As our workers were busy surviving the typhoon and busy helping others who were badly affected by the flood, the poor worms were drowning!

When I arrived in Laguna, I witnessed a “salvage” operation to save the worms that were still alive.

Dr Choo and Goducate team salvaging worms

Thankfully, there are enough survivors to re-start the project. Several lessons have been learned from the pilot project and from the flood and these will be put in place to improve our efficiency.

I believe that vermiculture is a good project which can help many poor people help themselves.

I believe that it can be used in most agricultural communities throughout Asia.

I believe that it will be more and more useful because the price of oil (and therefore the price of synthetic fertilizers) will rise.

I believe that organic fertilizers will not only provide a source of income for the poor but that it will also produce healthier food for all of us.

More photos (click thumbnail to view photos):
[nggallery id=6]

2009-11-162009-11-16

Opening Goducate’s first learning center in Laguna

I was in Laguna, Philippines at the beginning of this month. This province has been badly hit by three typhoons – one after the other.

While I was there, the latest typhoon codenamed “Pepeng” hit. Our Goducate team was sitting under some coconut trees discussing our plans when the sky darkened when strong winds blew and bent the coconut trees around us. Thankfully, we were not in the direct path of the typhoon. I was told that this typhoon packed winds of 240 Km/hr. In other words, its effect is like that of a gigantic sports car running over an entire town. Can you imagine the devastation? But then, this is only the beginning!

The winds usually bring along plenty of water and bury towns and fields in the process. As I drove around Laguna, I saw newly formed lakes. I could imagine that under those lakes were the victims’ hard-earned possessions, livelihoods and dreams!

The purpose of my trip was to monitor the use of relief funds that some generous Singaporeans had given to feed the hungry victims. The leader of our Laguna Goducate team, Leo, had asked me for permission to set aside PHP40,000.00 (US$860.00) of the fund to start a Goducate Learning Center. He felt that it was not only important to feed the hungry but also to help them help themselves. The donor readily agreed to allow a part of his gift to be set aside for this new purpose.

Ground breaking at the new Goducate Learning Center in Laguna

A widow, Sophia, had offered to transfer a part of her land to Goducate to build a learning center. It was hard to imagine that this poor widow, with two teenage kids, who lived from hand-to-mouth was giving us about 500 sq feet of her tiny land to help others! The land that she donated is right in front of her front door of her simple house. In other words, she will walk out of her front door and literally step into the learning center!

We plan to use the funds to build a simple structure with a cement floor, half-height hollow-brick walls (to allow natural “air-continuous” ventilation) and a zinc roof.

We held a simple ground-breaking, with the neighbours as witnesses. Then we had a lovely lunch of native chicken soup, sweet-potatoes and rice-cakes. Over lunch we dreamt of the day that this little center would be filled with kids learning their ABC’s, mothers learning hygiene and preventative health and the whole community learning livelihood skills (eg. vermiculture).

A dear couple, Jonathan and his wife Gina (and their year old son) have offered their services to help run this learning center. Jonathan loves the poor and Gina is gifted with teaching little children. They are willing to relocate to this community. And we hope to build a little house for them at the back of Sophia’s house.

I believe that the dreams of this little community in Mabakan, Laguna, can be a reality, if we all do our part.

Let’s help the helpless help themselves!

More photos (click thumbnail to view photos):
[nggtags gallery=laguna-lc]

2009-11-132009-11-12

Our man for Laguna

While in flood-devastated Laguna, Philippines, I met a group of Filipinos who were determined to learn to help themselves. I had the privilege of meeting one of them when he was in Singapore for a brief visit. He had been invited by a friend of his to visit Singapore.

During his stay in Singapore he was lost and asked me for instructions how to get back to his friend’s house. As I was going to drive in the direction of where his friend lived, I told him to hop into my car. In the car, I asked him what he did and he told me the many interesting things that he was doing and planning to do.

The car ride was barely five minutes and when he I dropped him off at his friend’s house we exchanged emails. Though I was quite impressed with what this young man (aged 27 at that time) was doing, I didn’t think much about him because I did not think that I’d ever meet him again.

Shortly after I received an email from him and photos of the projects that he had told me about. I am used to receiving “impressive” reports from overseas – and have become a little sceptical because many of such reports are exaggerated and sometimes downright dishonest. So I didn’t bother much with that email.

However, he persisted in sending more reports and photos of his projects. I began to think that maybe he was really as creative and productive as he claimed to be. So I decided that on my next trip to the Philippines to visit him.

When I visited him in Laguna, I was impressed by what I saw – the team of earnest young people that he had, the network of friends that he had cultivated, the livelihood projects and potential projects that the had for the poor. That was two years ago. Since then I make a point of visiting him each time I visit the Philippines (say about 3 times per year).

This young man graduated as a civil engineer in a top university in Iloilo, Philippines but decided to give up his profession to help the poor and needy. He has built up a team of young men and women who have the same dreams as him.

He has the ability to reach the poorest of the poor and also to make friends with the rich and powerful. He mobilizes the resources of the rich to help the poor – often holding seminars for poor kids in top resorts for free. He knew how to be the voice of the poor to the rich and a channel of the rich to the poor.

After several visits and many hours of dreaming together, I was convinced that he was to be our Goducate man for Laguna’s poor and helpless.