Friday, January 15, 2016

TDI-Magdalena Alumni: Where are They Now?

Five alumni of the CCT Training and Development Institute (CCT-TDI) in Magdalena, Laguna are now instructors at the newly opened TDI campus in Rodriguez, Rizal!  Here is the story of one of those young men, Niel Sususco.  

Niel grew up in Davao, the middle of three children of an electrician and a sari-sari store owner.  His mother was (and still is) a community partner in CCT’s microfinance program.

In 2012, an offer was made exclusively to male family members of CCT community partners to study at TDI. Niel was employed then at a banana plantation as a packer and dispatcher after having finished a two-year agriculture course.  Although due for a promotion, he resigned, thankful for a chance for further studies. He joined the campus’s second batch of students.

Niel completed the plumbing, electrical and masonry courses in a year, and was invited to join the TDI staff as an administrative officer and cashier. One of his earliest assignments was procuring basic construction industry hand tools and transporting these to Tacloban City where other TDI staff were training survivors of Typhoon Haiyan how to rebuild their houses.  Later on he worked on document requirements needed to secure government recognition for the TDI campus in Rodriguez, Rizal.

Starting January 18 2016, he will teach Electrical Installation and Maintenance at TDI Rodriguez.

Niel says he is grateful for the spiritual nurture he received at TDI. “I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ through the ministry of CCT,” he says. “Back in Davao I used to join illegal motorcycle drag races. I started to use marijuana at 17.  All that is in the past now. My perspective on life has totally changed.”     

And Niel's hopes are high: in a few years he hopes to go back to college and study to become a civil engineer.