Recently I attended the wedding of our Indonesian Goducate staff worker, Lekson. The wedding was held at our Goducate Learning Center in Batam. The hall that normally is full of noisy kampong kids learning English was transformed into a “grand” wedding hall.
It was a joy for me to see Lekson, in his formal suit, standing next to his beautiful bride Yuli resplendent in her native Batak dress. As I looked at this fine-looking couple standing before me, I couldn’t help reflecting on how much Lekson has been transformed in the past 3 years. I still remember the Lekson who used to attend our Goducate sessions with blood-shot eyes, smelling of alcohol and tobacco, looking bored and distracted in class. I remember the angry, ill-disciplined young man who wasted his hard-earned money on gambling. I remember how he was always late because he couldn’t get up on time.
Today, Lekson speaks to me in fluent English. He even teaches English in our Goducate centers. When we opened a new Goducate Center in Batam, he was appointed to head it. Today, he is a model of diligence and discipline. I felt like a proud father at this wedding!
I dream of the day that this new Lekson will reproduce many more little Leksons, not only through his dear wife but also through his life-example to the hundreds of children who come to our Goducate centers!
Goducate, with its mission of helping young adults in China to help themselves, has opened a second Lifepegs student activity center in southern China. The new center is located in one of the city’s major campus districts with a student population of 60,000 to 70,000 from 8 universities.
The core team of 3 native workers trained by Goducate worked hard to renovate and get the center started within 28… Continue reading
Five of the first batch of trainees who completed the Goducate training program for basketball officials did not have to wait long to get their first jobs. And the jobs were not for matches at village level (where they had done their training), but at inter-university level. This job opportunity for out-of-school youth arose with the 10-day visit of the Indonesian Youth Team from West Java to play against eight… Continue reading
Goducate believes in encouraging the students at the literacy centers to read. However, it has not been easy to set up a library, or somewhere to store books securely. For one thing the centers are scattered over a wide area. For another, many centers are the living rooms of the locals into which the students squeeze for their lessons, while others are very basic structures consisting just of a roof… Continue reading
english is the mainstay of working languages worldwide, and will continue to be dominant. w/o literacy skills, how can a poor asian lift himself out of poverty?
the poor needs education to stand a fighting chance.