Philippines – Page 80 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2012-06-292012-06-29

Teaching basic electronics to underprivileged youth in Laguna

Unemployment and underemployment continues to increase in The Philippines. Out of 100 children who finish elementary school, only 14 proceed to college. Thus 86 do not have the requirements for a stable job.

High-school graduates in our area tell me that they do not proceed to college because their parents cannot afford to send them there. Hence, although my main responsibility in Goducate is the music project, I thought that I could try to pass on to them whatever basic knowledge I have on electronics, to help them find jobs.

I started the class with 3 students, but by the second session 4 other boys and some fathers joined us. The classes are held in the porch of the home of one of the students. I hope that this little start will help needy students to eventually help themselves.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Joined by others at subsequent class

2012-06-222018-09-23

Goducate staff member gets national accreditation as basketball referee

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

2012-06-08

Goducate trainees finish first module of their course

On May 25 the Goducate Training Center celebrated the completion of the first training module taken by its first batch of full-time trainee community development worker (CDW).

These 33 trainees, from Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia and China, had
undergone a rigorous 2-month program in agriculture, teaching methods, literacy teaching, counseling, etc. Before they took a well-deserved one-week break before returning to finish the remaining 6 months of their course, they presented a Culminating Program to showcase what they had learnt.

The guests included officials from San Miguel town (the town in which GTC is situated), parents of the trainees, and supporters of Goducate.

To me the highlight of their presentation was the ability of the trainees to work across cultures, to produce creative items, and to express themselves articulately. The master of ceremonies for the day was an Indonesian trainee who spoke confidently in English. Having known him before he came to GTC, I was amazed how much had changed in a mere 2 months. The Chinese and Cambodian trainees also comfortably fitted into their English-speaking roles. Filipino trainees spoke in accent-perfect (almost!) Mandarin and Khmer (Cambodian) in preparation for future work in China and Cambodia.

After watching them, I was confident that they had the potential to be effective CDWs — who could enter needy communities to help them to help themselves.