Dec 19, 2014, saw the graduation of the 5th batch of trainees attending the Goducate Training Center (GTC) in Iloilo. These 30 community development workers (17 ladies and 13 men) successfully completed 6 months of training to prepare them to serve Asian communities, especially needy communities.
This batch was unique in several ways:
Firstly, unlike previous batches that were trained by both university lecturers and community workers, the teachers and trainers for this batch were all seasoned active community workers.
Secondly, this batch was exposed to much more community work than previous batches. The large amount of real-life opportunities for these trainees was largely the result of Super Typhoon Haiyan’s destruction of thousands of villages.
Thirdly, unlike previous intakes, which were limited to college graduates, this batch included non-graduates who had shown an interest in serving the poor.
Fourthly, this batch took in 8 trainees from Sabah, all of whom were “undocumented aliens” (aka illegal refugees) who had fled from southern Philippines to Sabah. All these 8 trainees had been through Goducate Learning Centers in Sabah.
Every one of the 4 above “firsts” was assessed to be good and will be continued in subsequent batches. The next batch starts training this month.
About half of the graduates of this batch have volunteered to continue serving the poor villages that they were assigned to during their training. A few are planning to serve other needy Asian communities and are in the process of getting their passports.
We are proud of these 30 newly graduated CDWs. We believe that they will keep up the good name of Goducate Training Center wherever they serve and continue to help needy Asians help themselves.
