Xavier University undergraduate Mary Joy Conquilla never dreamt that she would ever build a house as a gift, but she recently did just that in a Jesuit education programme conceived to encourage students to apply Ignatian pedagogy in their everyday lives.
“I never thought that in my whole existence, I’ll be doing things like mixing cement, painting and cutting steel bars, putting cement on walls and those kinds of things for a family that I did not know well. … The construction experience for me was THE BEST experience for me. I was like another person doing those heavy works just for the Casungcad family, my desire for them to live comfortably. It was not easy though, my body was already complaining but my will was still so strong so I never gave up,” she said.
Mary Joy was one of 33 students and seven faculty members from nine Jesuit institutions participating in this year’s Service Learning Programme (SLP), in which the housing building project was the main service activity.
She had worried about missing lessons during the 20-day programme, but decided to do it anyway and let the experience reveal itself. “SLP made me into a PERSON, a Person For others and With others. … I can never learn those things inside a classroom or by just reading it. SLP made me realize that we are all poor in different ways but we should not dwell and be sad about it. Instead, do something about it and maybe completely change it,” she said.
Her comment is apt given that “Love for the Poor”, the theme of this year’s SLP, was chosen to mark the 40th anniversary of Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ’s “Men for others” speech on the goal of Jesuit education. The SLP is an initiative of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Asia Pacific (AJCU-AP) and was, this year, hosted by Ateneo de Naga University. The other participating institutions were Elisabeth University of Music and Sophia University in Japan; Sogang University in South Korea; Universitas Sanata Dharma in Indonesia; and from the Philippines, Loyola College of Culion, Palawan; Ateneo de Davao; Xavier University; and Ateneo de Zamboanga.
The participants spent the first week and the early days of the second week seeing the context and experiencing poverty through rural and urban exposure. Keynote addresses from two Jesuits – Fr. Robert Rivera SJ on “Who are the poor?” and Fr. Xavier Alapsa SJ on “What is Love? “ – provided thinking and feeling background on poverty, while Dr Emelina Regis, Director of the Institute of Environmental Research and Conservation at Ateneo de Naga aided the participants with the science to better understand the environment that affects the poor.
To complete context and experience, the participants had two and a half days of immersion with poor families from the communities of Balongay and Balatasan in Calabanga, Camarines Sur. A typhoon stuck while they were there, adding to the experience of the participants with their host families.
Interaction and reflection were integrated into the daily schedule. The participants had opportunities for dyad and small group discussions, and country/school gatherings to share their experiences, feelings and learning.
In the middle of the second week, the house building project commenced in the community of Balatasan. The group worked from 9 am to 5 pm on the first day but was split into two shifts on the second day.
Every morning after breakfast there was a short inspirational message related to the house building that ended with a mantra: Finish the House. In only three days, the house was half-completed. When the house was 65 percent completed, it was handed over to professional workers to finish.
The 5m by 5m house was built to be a “green” house, with the provision of a solar panel by Ateneo de Davao University, and a rain-catcher system. Completed in just 10 days, this was the fastest house built among all 23 of Ateneo de Naga’s house building projects.
The house was officially turned over to its owner, Mrs Corazon Casungcad and her family, on August 23. The students prepared country presentations of their house building experiences and gave symbolic gifts to Mrs Casungcad and her family.
The SLP participants did have some time to relax and enjoy beautiful surroundings. The group from Sophia University planned a day at Pasacao Beach, but cancelled their boat trip to a nearby island because of strong waves caused by the typhoon. The Sogang University group invited everyone to join them for a visit to the Malabsay Falls in Mt. Isarog.
On August 24, the SLP concluded with a mass with the Fr Primitivo E Viray Jr SJ, Ateneo de Naga University President and a closing programme that included videos of major activities during the programme to help them recall what they had done in the three weeks.
To find out more about the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Asia Pacific (AJCU-AP), visit www.ajcu-eao.org.