Others – Page 11 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2019-03-082019-03-14

Goducate’s Go Basket Philippines Program Helps in “Bola Hindi Droga”

Go Basket Philippines is a Goducate program in the Philippines that seeks to draw youths away from undesirable influences. Dabbling in illegal drugs is one of such influences. Go Basket Philippines thus helps the Philippines government’s efforts to promote sports among youths as a means of eradicating drug addiction. The government’s tagline for its efforts is “Bola Hindi Droga”, which literally translates to “Ball not Drugs”.

Go Basket Philippines has been building partnerships with different barangays (villages), Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council) and Barangay Captains. It has been conducting free basketball clinics in the barangays, at which participants are taught not only basketball but also good values such as discipline, teamwork, punctuality, etc. Some participants are also trained to be coaches.

Recently, Go Basket Philippines ran two basketball tournaments. The first, a knockout tournament, held on Feb 2-3, was a 3×3 Challenge. The 24 participating teams came from different municipalities of the province of Iloilo. The 3×3 format of basketball is a much trimmed version of the traditional game, with 3 players on each side, and the game is played on half a court, with a ball that is different from the traditional ball, and with its own rules.

On Feb 9, Go Basket Philippines ran a league, with games played according to the traditional format. 8 teams took part.

Both tournaments enabled players, who had received training from Go Basket Philippines, to meet others who had also received such training. Some of the teams that took part had been formed by those who had been trained by Go Basket Philippines to be coaches. This is an example of how Goducate likes its programs to work—whereby those who have been trained by Goducate go on to train others.

*Our guest writer is Carmela Damaso, a staff member at the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo.

2019-01-302019-02-04

Goducate Training Center in Laguna upgraded

The Goducate Training Center in Laguna has undergone a massive upgrading to become a posh event center.

The Goducate Training Center in Laguna had consisted of a roofed hall with a wall on only one side. It was used for all kinds of Goducate activities, from basketball, to music, to trainings of all kinds.

However, Goducate tries as much as possible to be a self-sustaining organization. By enclosing that hall, making it fully air-conditioned, and providing Wi-Fi connections, the place is suitable to be rented out for events such as weddings, birthdays, seminars, conferences.

The hall can seat 500 people, and there is plenty of parking space. There are few such facilities in the town of Bay, where GTC Laguna is situated. The income from fees for booking that hall can go towards Goducate’s community projects. When not rented out, it can still be used for the usual Goducate activities, except basketball, which is now held on a court in the village.

The upgrading took about 4 months, and was completed in early December. The first rental was for a wedding held on Dec 15. The income from that wedding reception helped to pay for a basketball league held later in the month.

2018-11-232018-11-27

Goducate musician in Philippines starts university life with three performances

Sandra Guatche, a member of the Goducate music program in Laguna since she was 10 years old, has been admitted to the Philippine Women’s University in Manila to study for a Bachelor of Music, majoring in music education with an emphasis on the classical guitar. While in the Goducate music program, Sandra had started off with the recorder before moving on to the violin, and for the past 6 years she has been teaching the recorder and the violin in the Goducate music program.

To Sandra’s surprise, in August this year, just about a month after starting her university course, she was selected to take part in the inaugural event celebrating Lucresia R. Kasilag’s centenary. The late Lucrecia Kasilag (31 Aug 1918 -16 Aug 2008) was an educator, composer, performing artist, administrator and cultural entrepreneur of national and international calibre. She was known for fusing ethnic music with Western influences, and incorporating indigenous Filipino instruments in her orchestral works. She was also chairperson of the League of Filipino Composers for 30 years, Dean Emeritus of the Philippine Women’s University College of Music for 25 years, and president of the Cultural Center of the Philippines for 17 years. The year-long centenary celebration will include a series of concerts, workshops, exhibits, and conferences in different venues in Metro Manila.

Performers for the inaugural concert came from the Philippine Women’s University’s School of Music, showcasing a variety of Kasilag’s solo and ensemble compositions. Sandra played, as part of a group, a bamboo percussion instrument called a “bungkaka” in one of Kasilag’s compositions. The bungkaka is one of several traditional instruments from the Kalinga province in the northern part of the Philippines. To add to Sandra’s delight, the celebration concert was held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, where many Filipino musicians dream of performing.

Sandra also played the bungkaka in another event of the centenary concerts, this time on September 22, and again at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. She played the same Kasilag piece as previously, but this time with performers not only from the university but also from the Philippine Harmonic Orchestra.

Sandra (extreme right) and some fellow students with the angklung

Sandra’s third performance was at the Indonesian Embassy. It started with a visit by two Indonesians to the university to hold a workshop on playing the “angklung”, an Indonesian instrument made of bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo frame. After 3 days of practice, the students performed in front of fellow students, after which they were invited to play at the Indonesian Embassy.