It is very important that when our beneficiaries move into the village, in less than a month, that they all have a deep understanding of respect for each other.
A lecture was taken by Professor Kareen Jay Lozada, and she emphasised to them all, that although they all come from different areas in Lemery, and have different backgrounds that, it is important they understand that the key to a harmonious relationship with each other will ultimately be respect for each other.ÂÂ
When they live together in the village they must all help each other, look out for each other and raise any concerns immediately.ÂÂ
This community have got to know each other well since the building project began. They have all been involved in different projects around the village and have had to work together, planting, decorating, building and cooking. It has been a fantastic way of them getting to know each other, so, we hope that the transition of moving into the village and actually living together comes naturally.ÂÂ
The weekend brought some heavy rain but this wasn’t going to dampen the spirits of the children and parents.ÂÂ
The children were so keen to attend their Saturday class and the heavy rain was not going to stop them getting there! Some of the internal roads are not complete so they had to be extra careful as the paths had become very muddy and slippery.ÂÂ
Once indoors, they firstly studied their academic work and then were able to enjoy story telling, games …….
……..   and finally finishing with a video presentation.ÂÂ
Whilst the children were happy and content in class, the parents sat and listened to speakers from the Rural Health Unit of Lemery, Iloilo.  The parents learnt about Health, Sanitation, Rabies, Self care and Disease.  It is so important that when the beneficiaries move into the village that they are aware of day to day health and safety risks.
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Saturday classes are the highlight of the week for the children.
Saturday’s in the village cannot come around fast enough for the children. They are so excited to see the teachers from the College of Education of the Central Philippine University. The children jump up and down in excitement as they see the teachers arrive. What have they got in store for them today?…….
The teachers started the day by teaching the children basic school work and then onto singing nursery rhythms and some dancing. They finished in the classrooms with some story telling which the children really enjoyed.  They were captivated by these fascinating stories which took their minds and dreams to far away places.  One day in the future we hope to be able to make their dreams come true.ÂÂ
The children were then given a lesson on hygiene and the importance of it. Starting with basic hand washing. To you and I such an everyday routine that we don’t even think about, but to the children of the village a totally new experience.
The teachers handed out combs, soaps and shampoos to the children to start using everyday.
The parents told Alya (our social worker) that they are so appreciative of what the children are experiencing every Saturday. They could not afford to send them to school and get this private tuition and they are so grateful to everyone for everything that the children are getting.
For us, this is just the start of our Education Program plans – stay tuned to find out more….
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Another busy week in the village – an update from DR our Project Coordinator and Alya our Social Worker.
With just the windows and doors being put on the 50-60th houses and a lick of paint, we really are over half way! Its all very exciting, and to be starting the land preparation for houses 61-70 means we are on track to be finished this year.  ÂÂ
Slope protection work still continues as the rains come, but we now have storm drainage systems in place to catch the water and make sure it funnels away in the right direction, to the bottom of the village!
DR tells us that work has also begun on the internal roads and he is just finalising the paper work with the engineers for the safety rails around the slope protection. ÂÂ
Alya’s week has been busy too! She tells us that the village feels alive and that the beneficiaries are loving helping each other fulfil their tasks with each group taking it in turns with the cooking rota. It is up to the group what they prepare and serve and the less money they spend the better. Most of their produce is from the gardens which are flourishing with all the rain! Last weekend, their menu was bamboo shoots with fresh coconut milk with fried dried fish and fresh salad of bittergourd and fresh tomatoes. It sounds and looks not only delicious but very healthy too!
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The beneficiaries have continued planting with the vegetable gardens too. In the picture below they are building a frame for the bitter gourd (also known as bitter melon) to grow up. Bitter Gourd is a unique vegetable / fruit as it is beneficial as both a medicine and food. ÂÂ
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Steve Rae gives us an overview of slope protection and water drainage at the village.
On Monday 12th June we celebrated the 119th Philippines Independence Day, in partnership with Learn to Trade.  Celebrations were held worldwide in Learn to Trade offices in the UK, South Africa, Australia and the Philippines.
Traditional Filipino Dancers from The Lahing Kayumanggi Dance Company came to the Learn to Trade London offices at lunch time, and put on a spectacular display of dance. Employees were then encouraged to ‘have a go’! Well done team – great effort.ÂÂ
Traditional Filipino food was then served at lunch, all prepared and cooked by Rosario. There were a lot of empty plates and empty serving dishes! Thank you Rosario it was delicious.ÂÂ
Thank you to our Learn to Trade offices all over the world for putting on such great events and celebrating with us a very important day for the Philippines.
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The Vegetable Gardens in the village are taking shape.
With 60 houses now complete, it really is not long now before our beneficiaries are ready to move in.  With this in mind, Alya, our social worker rallied the beneficiaries together and has set them some weekly gardening duties. She has told us that the atmosphere is fantastic and the beneficiaries are so excited about maintaining their gardens and the prospect of harvesting them too!
Every Saturday and Sunday the beneficiaries come together to work on their gardens. The fathers (and even some children helped) started with cultivating the land, adding some compost made of hay and animal manure to make sure that the soil was rich and full of nutrients.
A fantastic variety of vegetables and fruit bearing trees such as tomato, ladyfinger, squash, bitter gourd, red chill, eggplant, sweet potato, ginger, pineapple, sugarcane, papaya and banana trees have been planted. The garden is a fantastic project to help them reduce their food costs in the future. It is all about sustainability!
Every week each group is assigned to cook a meal for the others. They were sharing their packed lunches to those that did not have any so decided that this was a better way of making sure that everyone gets to eat together. What a fantastic community spirit.
And as one of our beneficiaries said, “Eat Healthy Meals for a Longer Lifeâ€Â.
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Alya our Social Worker, organises a General Assembly at the Village.
Last weekend, our Social Worker, Alya organised a General Assembly at the Village.ÂÂ
The aim of the assembly was to:ÂÂ
Introduce Alya as the new Social Worker for the beneficiaries.
Form core groups within the beneficiaries to facilitate easy access to them.
Give each group areas of responsibility within the community.
Announce increase of  hours to 650 per family over the year. (This is the beneficiaries way of working in the village without any pay so they feel they have earned the house through their hard work. They can do any work that is available in the village.) Once the houses are complete and they move in, they have to start maintaining the houses as the official owners.ÂÂ
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After the assembly finished, games were organised for the children; Longest line and Music stop game. Even the parents enjoyed the games!
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Steve Rae a qualified Engineer from Sydney, visits the village and whilst there meets one of our beneficiaries.
Steve Rae became involved with the Foundation, through a ‘Learn to Trade Business and Entrepreneur Conference’ in Sydney. He started trading with Learn to Trade and a year later at a Tradeathon met Greg. Greg spoke about the Foundation and the problems they were having with regards to the heavy rainfall and slope protection.
With a background in engineering, Steve offered to visit the site and with his expertise advise us on how best to approach the problem. It was while he was visiting the village that he met one of our beneficiaries Sabet and learnt of her story.ÂÂ
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Please watch our video on the Foundation Facebook page to hear what Steve had to say.
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We welcome our newest member to the Greg Secker Foundation: Ms. Alya J. Araez.
We would like to welcome our newest member to the Greg Secker Foundation team, Ms. Alya J. Araez.  ÂÂ
Ms. Alya joins us as our Social Worker and will be based at the Greg Secker Foundation Village. She will act as our lead community organiser and carry out the phases and activities in the community.  She will also develop and implement skills training and other relevant activities for the growth and empowerment of the beneficiaries living in the community.
Ms. Alya is the main point of contact for all our beneficiaries and will deal with any issues or concerns that they might have.
We are thrilled to have her on board as I am sure the beneficiaries are too! We look forward to working with you Ms. Alya.ÂÂ
  
