Category: Livelihood Training

When Goducate started its basketball program in Laguna earlier this year, Goducate staff were among the first batch of trainees. I was one of them and was privileged to be selected for training for the National Referees Accreditation and to officiate at the National Private Schools Athletics Association (PRISAA) league held in Cebu City.

The 3-day seminar that preceded the league and that provided me with the training for national accreditation as a basketball referee was especially wonderful for me because all the other participants were professional referees.

The league gave me a chance to meet many public officials. On top of that there were there were the perks of a hotel stay, allowances and a salary for the duration of the event.

However, most valuable of all was the tremendous amount that I learnt about from the training and from refereeing at the league and that I am now imparting to others in the Goducate basketball program.

Guest writer Jonathan, Goducate Staff

The music program in Laguna Province in The Phillipines has been very successful in getting kids off the street, in helping some get back to or continue school or college on music scholarships, in helping them earn pocket money by playing at functions or by teaching music, and in training in the students in discipline, teamwork, leadership, endurance and many other qualities.

There are about 250 students in the program now. However, musical instruments are expensive. But everybody has vocal cords. So Goducate intends to teach singing.

The first step was to send one of our music teachers, Abegael, for voice training. Abegael teaches the violin and is also a kindergarten teacher at a Goducate Learning Center. She has just completed a summer course at the University of the Philippines. Her course closed with a concert, at which she performed very well. She said, “It’s my first time to perform in a concert hall, and it is very exciting”. Her teacher has invited her back to take part in a concert in January.

Five of the first batch of trainees who completed the Goducate training program for basketball officials did not have to wait long to get their first jobs. And the jobs were not for matches at village level (where they had done their training), but at inter-university level. This job opportunity for out-of-school youth arose with the 10-day visit of the Indonesian Youth Team from West Java to play against eight colleges and universities in The Philippines.

The three serving as referees earned PHP300 ($ 7) each per game, and the two who were table officials received PHP200 ($4.70) each. PHP 300 is considered the daily minimum wage at provincial level. For these boys, the sums represent a great deal. For instance, Jay-R, one of the referees, had to leave college 2 years ago because of financial difficulties. His income as referee is sufficient for his personal needs. Erwin, who was unable to complete high school, became a trouble-maker in his family, but now is a trained table official.

Apart from the thrill of landing their first jobs, the boys had another memorable experience—their 10-day stay in a hotel was the first time they had slept in an air-conditioned room.

Our basketball training program is now being introduced in other villages. We hope that through it many out-of-school youth will be able to get back to schools or colleges through sports scholarships, or to be able to earn a living.