Iloilo – Page 2 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2011-04-062011-03-29

Goducate Training Center’s fish pond

On our recent trip to Goducate Training Center in Iloilo, Philippines we had the opportunity to catch the tilapia in our impounding lake.

The primary purpose of the impounding lake is to provide a source ofwater for our rice fields. Though there are 5 fresh-water springs on site, high-yielding rice requires lots of water to produce optimal yields.

Since the impounding lake is large (about half an acre) and deep (about 5 meters). we decided to stock it with fast-breeding fish. A local fish research institute gave us an hundred tilapia fingerlings a few months ago. Today, there are over 10,000 tilapia of various sizes.

Food to feed the tilapia is obtained from a local meat producer and bakery. Their “spoiled” meat and bakery items are fed to the tilapias.

We were handed bamboo fishing rods and we began pulling tilapia out of the lake every minute. The little tilapias were thrown back into the lake and the large breeders were also thrown back.

photo(23) — A visitor to GTC fishing for tilapia

photo(24) — A visitor with his tilapia (this size of this fish is made much larger because it is held near the camera!)

These fish will be the main source of animal protein for the Goducate trainees when they begin their training at the end of April.

The Goducate trainees will also learn to breed tilapias so that they can help poor communities find another source of protein and income.

2010-11-262010-11-26

The “Software” @ Goducate Training Center in Iloilo, Philippines

Having met and worked with many teams in various corporate companies or organisations from different countries, diverse backgrounds, multi-racial, cross-cultures over the last 25 years, I must admit that the team of key personnel/volunteers at the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo, Philippines is very different!

May be different is not a good word to describe this group of people. Let me think of a more appropriate adjective … passionate, well, more than that. Committed, yes that’s what they are. United, definitely! Bold, creative, dedicated, energetic … the list goes on … but one thing that comes up all the time is FUN!

Whether is the construction of buildings/huts, the irrigation lake and canals, plant-nursery, green-house, vermi-culture beds, activity fields, hiking trails, clearing of land, terracing of slopes, planting of hybrid rice or vegetables and fruit-trees, the FUN element never seem to cease!

I can’t quite describe what makes this great team of workers so unique, but there is certainly something special in them! So much excitement! So much enthusiasm! So much zeal! … that it is influential and spreading to those around them!

It was great to see the “hardware” (training centre) shaping up but it felt better to see the “software” going strong and progressing on the right track! Indeed, “People makes the difference”!

As we discussed the business model and first phase of training programmes at the Centre to groom community workers when the multi-purpose hall is completed by end of this year, each minute did not go by without extreme excitement from these core workers. They are so willing to adapt and be flexible, going all out to make it work!

We are hopeful that this training centre project will excel because these people are having a great time developing and implementing their plans, or rather dreams to help their own needy community to help themselves!

2010-09-202010-09-17

Goducate Training Center takes shape

The Goducate Training Center in Iloilo, Philippines, is taking shape nicely. In just three months of development, 11 hectares (about 25 soccer fields) of forest is being converted to an agricultural and livelihood training center for hundreds of Goducate community workers.

We hope to complete Phase 1A of the training center by the end of this year. Phase 1A includes all the basic infrastructure of gates, fences, roads, irrigation canals, impounding lake, land preparation, planting of fruit trees and vegetables, plant nursery, green-house, vermi-composting beds, etc.
Phase 1A also includes the Multi-Purpose Hall (MPH) which can sit 500 trainees ad have administrative offices and a canteen for 240 people.

If funds permit, we will also build an elevated tent-city in the mahogany forest to accommodate 100 trainees. Otherwise, the trainees will have to rough it out in the MPHall as their temporary accommodation.

We hope to take in our first pilot batch of trainees at the end of the year.