Lexon is from Indonesia (front row, extreme right). After finishing middle high school in his home place in Sumatra, Lexon migrated to the island of Batam to look for work. He found a manual job in an oil refinery.
I first met Lexon, over three years ago, when he lived in a little squatter shack opposite the refinery in which he worked. Like the other young men in that squatter area, he had come to Batam with dreams of a better life. However, without proper guidance he quickly fell into bad habits. Thankfully one of our workers Sam Quek took him under his wing and invited Lexon to live with him.
He was weaned from his bad habits, learned discipline, became more confident, learned to speak English and discovered that he could lead other young people. Today, he is in charge of the Goducate Learning Center in Batu Aji, Batam.
On the last day of our training when it was time to share our dreams, this is what he said in fluent English: “I was JUNK! Real JUNK! I smoked! I was a drunk! I played gambling! I was hopeless but today I have hope!”
There were tears in his eyes and in almost every one of our eyes! Then, one of our leaders who works with troubled teens in East Malaysia spoke up and said: “Lexon, you give me hope. I dream of all my boys becoming like you!!”
I could not hold back my tears as I remembered the old hopeless Lexon – and marvelled at how he is now a giver of hope to his students at Batu Aji and to all of us at Goducate.
Let’s help the helpless help themselves! Volunteer! Be a part of Team Goducate!
A nursing school that came to know about Goducate’s community work has chosen the Goducate Learning Center in Mabakan, Calaun, to be a center for practical training for their students. Hence 10 nursing students spent January training the locals in basic health awareness and doing health screenings.
Training session
Some 30 people, mostly mothers, attended… Continue reading
A fortnight ago parents of the children attending the Goducate Learning Center in Lalao, Laguna, were brought together to attend a session with their children. The session, called Mama and Me, was intended to emphasize to the parents the importance of good communication with their children and of teaching their children and supervising them while they do their homework and assignments. For the children, the intention was to impress on… Continue reading
Several of our Lifepegs volunteers have been spending part of their winter break in Singapore. Most of them are teachers of English at universities in northeast China. One of their evenings here was spent at the Goducate office. It was a time for them and the Goducate headquarters team to get to know each other, for them to tell us about their experiences in China, and for them to learn… Continue reading
Bravo, i can see a sustainable mission here.