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Goducate Training Center in Iloilo serves as quarantine center for OFWs

One of the many effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) from different countries all over the world. They had been working in cruise ships, restaurants, tourist establishments, hospitals, cargo ships, etc.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) had to ensure that the returning OFWs do not bring in and spread the infection in the Philippines. The OFWs had to undergo several polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests in their country where they had been working, and after arrival in the Philippines they had to be tested in Manila as well as in their hometown. They also had to be housed in a quarantine facility for a few days while awaiting the result of their PCR test.

At first, the government used public schools as quarantine facilities, but these turned out to be unsatisfactory for maintaining physical distancing and hygiene. Thus, hotels and resorts were used instead.

Since May this year, the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo has also been used as a quarantine facility for batches of OFWs. Food and other necessities are delivered to the OFWs at drop-off points. A few days after the arrival of a batch, Department of Health staff arrive to do PCR tests on the OFWs.

Department of Health staff with OFWs

The OFWs have also been given unlimited access to wifi throughout their stay, to enable them to communicate with Goducate personnel as well as with their families. Because there had been reports of OFWs in quarantine elsewhere having mental-health difficulties, including two cases of suicide, each Goducate staff member who volunteers to be a friend is allocated one or two OFWs to befriend via Messenger. Children of GTC staff have also been preparing pretty notes with lovely messages for the OFWs.

Notes made by children of Goducate staff for OFWs

*Our guest writer is Carmela Damaso, a Goducate staff member.

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Goducate starts third center in the Philippines

Goducate Baguio was launched on March 2. Baguio is located in the Province of Benguet, a part of Luzon, which sits at the northern end of the Philippines. Although once the capital of Benguet, Baguio is now a chartered city in that it is administered independently from the province.

Present at the launch were Goducate founder Paul Choo from Singapore and teams from Goducate Iloilo and Goducate Laguna.

At the half-day conference attended by community leaders from Baguio and Benguet, Paul Choo explained the goal, mission, and vision of Goducate. Carmela Damaso from Goducate Laguna then described the platforms used there for reaching the community. Finally, Leo Decinal shared about the partnership between Goducate Laguna and the Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB) Calabarzon. Calabarzon is an administrative region made up of five provinces, one of which is Laguna.

After the conference, courtesy calls were made on the Commander of the RMFB of Cordillera, which is an administrative region on Luzon, and on the Mayor of Baguio City. Both expressed their approval of Goducate’s goal of developing leaders, who then will help others.

Already community leaders in Baguio trained by Goducate have been helping the Philippine National Police with the Enhanced Revitalized Internal Cleansing Strategy (ERICS). ERICS is a re-training program for members of the police force who have erred in some way. The aim of the program is to have a clean, disciplined police force.

Leaders learning about Goducate from Paul Choo
Our Team with the team from RMFB-15 (Cordillera).

*Our guest writer is Cristine Joy Capsula, a staff member at Camp Goducate, Laguna.

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GoTeens Bukidnon hits its 10,000 student-mark for Student Leadership Program

Ten thousand students have participated in the GoTeens platform in Malaybalay City in Bukidnon Province in Mindanao (the second largest island group in the Philippines), in the year since the Student Leadership Program was introduced in Malaybalay City in September, 2018. GoTeens is a Goducate Philippines platform targeting high-schools, to educate the teenagers on the effects of premarital sex and illegal drug abuse. The platform’s tagline is “building the next generation of leaders”. The idea is to get youth leaders to educate their peers about pressing issues of teenage pregnancy and illegal drug abuse.

The GoTeens Malaybalay City team is composed of volunteers from different sectors, headed by Mr Daniel Asuncion and his wife, Dr. Ruth Asuncion. The milestone reached in Malaybalay City has been one of the long-term goals of Goducate as a whole in its efforts to get the more than 42,000 communities in the Philippines to mobilize more volunteers for the youth movement. Some of the volunteers are housewives, company drivers, doctors, and church leaders who aim to reduce the rising number of teenage pregnancies and illegal drug abusers in the country.

Goducate’s aim is to create movements with its existing platforms among various communities in the different parts of the Philippines. Trainings are offered to partners interested to collaborate in reaching their own communities.

Student Leadership Program in Managok National High School

Student Leadership Program in Bangkud National High School

Student Leadership Program in Can Ayan Integrated School

 

*Our guest writer is Carmela Damaso, a staff member of Goducate Laguna.