American Field Service-Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines
at Hope Channel-Gateway TV 25
through an AFS YES Alumna, Mazuin Quiachon
I am Mazuin Quiachon, an alumna of AFS YES batch 2006-2007 that was hosted in Washington D.C. I am now pursuing for third year college this coming enrollment in June at Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, Cagayan de Oro City. Since from my freshmen year, I ranked as 1st and 2nd honor at the dean’s list in our college which is Bachelor of Arts in International Studies. Aside from maintaining at the honor’s list, I am also a staff of the Department of External Affairs of the Central Student Government. But above all, one of the biggest affiliations that I have is being one of the line producers/producers of Hope Channel- Gateway TV 25 in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines network branch.
In general, Hope Channel is a family friendly television network that spans the globe. The world headquarters is located just outside of Washington, D.C. in Silver Spring, Maryland USA. It also have several offices, television studios and uplink centers in places such as Philippines, Brazil, Germany, South Africa, and California, USA. The global network broadcasts to every inhabited continent via satellite and is widely re-distributed by terrestrial rebroadcast, cable, internet and direct-to-home TV. Hope Channel programming appeals to people of different nationalities and languages. Since the 40 studios are located in the countries where it broadcast, it is able to provide a rich variety of culturally relevant programs that appeal to all ages. Viewers of its many channels appreciate the positive programs. As a spiritual values network, shows are considered for broadcast if the content will improve its viewers' relationships, health, careers, intellectual knowledge, and spiritual well-being. Hope Channel is governed by an international board representing 13 countries, including Aruba, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Norway, Nigeria, Philippines, Russia, and United States of America. Its international leadership provides a global perspective and expertise that influences the growth of the network and its programming.
When it comes to the Philippines based network branch, Hope Channel-Gateway TV 25 is a non-profit, non-commercial TV station that offers program that will lead to better lifestyles, health, and spiritual outlook in life. Hence, it is more on volunteerism work and duties. Our studio is located at 4th floor SPUC Compound at Upper Carmen, after Pryce Plaza and Lantaw Cagayan, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines. Hope Channel programs are shown through channel 25 (local) and channel 85 (cable). We are also in video streaming at www.hopetvph.com and our live shows can be seen live at
http://hopetvph.com/. We are seen in Cagayan de Oro City and some countries over Southeast Asia. Every Saturday and Sunday at 7 pm, Dynamic Youth and Dynamic Living are shown live at the said channels respectively. This is where I render my service as a volunteer but my position is a line producer and sometimes a producer too.
Being an AFS YES alumni, it is a lifetime responsibility for me to build and strengthen bridges of understanding among people of different cultures. Although Hope Channel is run by the community of Seventh Day Adventist, it not a secular network. Hence, it welcomes anybody of different religion. I took this opportunity to help the AFS to promote its program, mission and vision for the better world. I, myself produce an episode about building the bridges of understanding and promoting peace by the active participation of wonderful programs specifically the American Field Service(AFS) and other program such as Youth Exchange Study (YES) Program, Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths (JENESYS) Program and Year Program (YP). I had invited the AFS YES alumni, JENESYS alumna, YP alumna, the host families and the foreign exchange students like Lucas of Germany and Iris and France of Belgium that were currently hosted and lived in Cagayan de Oro City. Each one of them talked and share about their AFS experiences and they promote the respective program where they belong. By this, many televiewers got interested about the said programs. Some are interested how to apply and avail the study exchange programs. But the most overwhelming are the televiewers who are asking on how to apply in order to host foreign exchange students. In this manner, it only proves that the power of media is a big instrument and tool in order to promote the wonderful programs such as mentioned above. Hence, many people will be aware and will eventually participate in order to make a difference in the community and in the society in general!
By Mazuin Quiachon
Hosted in Washington, DC
AFS YES Batch 2006-2007