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.
GTC Laguna before upgrading
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.
Entrance of event center
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.
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.
Sandra with her bungkaka
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 avisit 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.
The university angklung ensemble at the Indonesian embassy
The first child to be taken into the Goducate Children’s Home in Cambodia was Samuel Chuck. He joined the Home in November 2005, several years before the Home became part of Goducate. Since August of 2016, he has been a student at the American University of Phnom Penh, where he is pursuing a 4-year course in Bachelor of Arts, with a major in Global Affairs and a minor in Law. His tuition fees are USD9000 per school year but he has been awarded a half scholarship, and he works in the university to earn the rest of his fees.
Samuel, front row second from left
Two others who have also started their tertiary education in Cambodia are the twins John and Jacob Phin . They are in a government vocational school doing 3-year courses, John in management, and Jacob in refrigeration and air-conditioning.
Two others from the Home went abroad. Joshua Kong completed his studies in a bible school in the Philippines, and returned to Cambodia in April this year to help in the Home and at a local church.
Adam in his new uniform
Adam Noo also went to the Philippines. He attended the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo from July 1 of 2017 until March of 2018. After his training at GTC, he transferred to Iligan City, a town in southern Philippines, and was able to complete two courses run by the Philippine Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). One was on masonry from April 16 to May 7, 2018, and the other was on electrical installation and maintenance from May 22 to June 25, 2018. He is still in Iligan, doing a six-month TESDA course on gas acetylene welding. Adam has been fortunate in getting a scholarship for this course, as well as for his two other completed courses.
