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Goducate workers in Philippines receive motorcycles

Eight Goducate community counsellors/workers serving in the Philippines provinces of Laguna and Baguio received motorcycles on June 24. The motorcycles will help these people to effectively minister to communities in far-flung hard-to-reach areas, where public transport is generally scarce.

The motorcycles were donated by Goducate partner, Motortrade Life and Livelihood Assistance Foundation, Inc.

Recipients had to sign a memorandum of agreement for partnership, giving Goducate the right to repossess the motorcycles if the recipients do not take care of them, and if they do not perform their assigned duties to our expected standards.

*Our guest writer is Rossa Mae Diaz Luceno, a Goducate staff.

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Goducate feeding programs in Laguna

Goducate’s mission is to help educate people so that they can escape lives of helplessness and uselessness. However, hungry children will find it difficult to absorb any form of education. Thus, in some places feeding programs have become a part of Goducate’s work (see blogs of July 2,2021, and Mar 18, 2022).

On June 24, 2022, a team from Singapore visited three Goducate feeding centers in Laguna, Philippines, and were entertained by performances by the children. Feeding at these centers, generally three times a week, is combined with an educational program.

Writer is Vivien Choo, a Goducate Director.

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Goducate teaches youths how to use social media

On May 30 some 30 youths from East Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia took part in a one-day Virtual Youth Camp on making a difference through social media. Most of the participants came from East Malaysia.

The day was divided into 3 sessions. Session 1 was about the principles of Digital Citizenship. This session emphasized that we are citizens not only of a country but also of social media, and that our behavior on social media can either build or break the people who see our posts.

Session 2, on Digital Outreach, was about dealing with the people behind every screen and every social-media account. These could be people with real needs, and good digital citizens should go further than random posting. Good digital citizens choose to add value, build relationships, and be intentional in what they do.

Session 3, on Digital Community, addressed the need for connectivity because, ironically, these days people are disconnected from each other. The session on Digital Community was about using social-media platforms, such as the Facebook Group, to connect youths who have shared interests. In our case, we want to create awareness of the power of social-media influence, and to equip youths who want to become advocates of positivity, hope, and many more good values.

There are 4.62 billion social-media users today—that is, 58.4% of the world’s population (https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2022-global-overview-report). So many social-media users are sufficient to spark a movement of youths going to places where people are—on Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube. We must be there to spread positivity, to generate good content, to publish purposeful information, and to do much more besides. 

The organizers of the virtual youth camp hope that they have helped to equip youths to be effective counsellors, not “cancellers”, in the midst of the rising social-media-related traumas, mental-health issues, and disconnectivity. Youths are and always will be the hope of the future—the future that is technology-driven, fast, and creative, but complex and uncertain. 

Our guest writer is Pam Dingal, Staff at Goducate Academy and Coordinator in Sabah Ministry.