Heritage Program Helps Youth Discover Old Cebu

“It was fun seeing how old the house is and how it reflects the way of life in the early times.”

This was how Ronith Politud, a University of San Carlos (USC) management administration student, described her experience strolling inside the Casa Gorordo Museum.

Politud is one of the hundred USC students who took part on the third Saturday activities of Kabataan, Kultura ug Kabilin (KKK) last Sept. 21.

Other sites visited by the students included Museo Sugbo, Fort San Pedro Sugbu Chinese Heritage Museum, Plaza Sugbo, Magallanes Street, Basilica del Santo Niño, and the Cathedral Museum of Cebu.

Politud said she was in awe on how different was the social life of Cebuanos in the Spanish era from that of today.

“They have a different social life starting from the way they dressed, like wearing long skirts. There is a specific place to entertain a suitor and a staircase only exclusive for a group of people,” she commented, referring to Casa Gorordo’s suitor’s corner, which was well-lit to give emphasis to the tradition of propriety and chastity among single adults at that time.

Dr. Jocelyn Gerra, executive director of the Culture & Heritage unit of Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI), said it is significant for students to be able to connect the theoretical learning in the classroom to the environment they are in.

“Other than learning theoretical aspects of education, we also need to synthesize them to what is around them. With KKK, we are trying to bring students and connect them to the actual experience of heritage, culture or issues of social development and really letting them feel what it is to be out here and then begin to imagine what they have learned in the classroom,” Gerra added.

The tour is not just a simple walking through the heritage sites as students have activity guides to answer.

When KKK started in 2009, it only had 150 student participants. The program had expanded overtime as 1,650 students were in attendance last year.

Gerra said they had to consult with USC to spread the module in all the Saturdays of September to accommodate the students.

The program generated interesting discussions among the student participants. Gerra shared how they would interact while boarding a bus going to their next destination.

“We were telling them that Cebu used to have a train, they were quiet amazed. In fact they said that if the same station had been developed probably we don’t have problems of congestion,” she said, adding that the train was taken away since it was destroyed in the war.

Reaching more students

On its five successful years of being an avenue of history immersion for college students, more schools and students have showed interest in joining KKK.

“A lot of students would like to join, and teachers are signifying that they’d also like to join but that’s a logistic factor that we have to look into,” Gerra said.

She also cited the need to create a program design suited to the needs of the requesting teacher or school for a more unique, wholesome, and enjoying experience for the students.

“We always have a concrete example or concrete experience that could help in the enrichment of Cebuano heritage and culture,” Gerra said.

KKK is organized by RAFI in partnership with the University of San Carlos (USC)-Department of Anthropology, Sociology and History, and the Cebu City Government.

The program aims to connect theoretical lectures on history, society, culture and heritage through visiting museums and heritage sites, demonstrate the value of museum and heritage sites or institutions as tools for education, encourage a dynamic dialogue between heritage groups, host communities and young people in the promotion and protection of the sites, and develop a sense of pride.

KKK is a program under Culture & Heritage, one of the focus areas of RAFI, which aims to help communities understand, value, and share their cultural identity with others. RAFI’s other focus areas are Integrated Development, Micro-finance & Entrepreneurship, Leadership & Citizenship, and Education.

For more information about KKK, please call 418-7234 local 703 and look for Florencio Moreño II or Karl Damayo, or visit www.rafi.org.ph or www.facebook.com/rafi.org.ph, or follow @rafi.org.ph on Twitter. (by Apple Ta-as/RAFI intern)