We continue our journey around the world, guided by schools that follow Mother Candida’s educational approach, to show how the Global Educational Pact takes concrete shape in each educational community. After learning about the experience of the Reina de la Paz School in Colombia with emotional education, today we travel to the Philippines. From Cebu, Rosalie A. Idulsa tells us how the students at Sacred Heart School—Daughters of Jesus have reached out to the most vulnerable to learn with them and from them.
A Classroom Without Walls: Meeting with Farmers
Ninth- and tenth-grade students at Sacred Heart School-Daughters of Jesus (Cebu City, Philippines) recently participated in a transformative interdisciplinary social activity called “Interaction with Farmers.”
This initiative aimed to bridge the gap between classroom learning and social reality by encouraging students to listen to “the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth” through direct interaction with a marginalized farming community in two remote, mountainous barangays in the city of Cebu: Maomawan and Sudlon.
Listening to Understand: The Dignity of Farm Work
The impact of this meeting on the students has been immediate and profound. Through dialogue, many shared profound reflections on the dignity of work and the enormous physical and emotional strain involved in agricultural labor. They recognized that farmers are the true backbone of the community, playing an essential role in ensuring food security for everyone.
The students sat down with local farmers to conduct in-depth interviews, which allowed the young people to learn firsthand about the daily realities, challenges, and aspirations of those who work the land.
This interaction opened their eyes to the urgent need for social justice, as they identified the systemic challenges and economic vulnerabilities these families face on a daily basis.
Seeds of Empathy and Spiritual Reciprocity
These students did more than just visit a farm; they also planted seeds of empathy and future social impact. As a gesture of gratitude and hospitality, the farmers offered the students tokens of their work and faith: fresh vegetables, flowers, rosaries, and images of Divine Mercy. Without a doubt, the day was filled with moving moments of reciprocity and spiritual connection that united the community and the young people in spirit.
The day was enriched by a visit from the parish priest, Fr. Temothy, who offered words of encouragement and expressed his sincere gratitude to the students. He emphasized the spiritual and communal importance of young people stepping outside their comfort zones to serve and learn from those living on the margins of society. The activity, organized by the English and Social Studies departments, was marked by active participation that went far beyond mere observation.
From Experience to Action: Proposals for Transformation
Drawing on their experiences and subsequent reflection, students will develop research-based action proposals to address the challenges they have identified. This exercise integrates academic training, social awareness, and a commitment to sustainability—the pillars of the Global Education Pact.
This activity has turned a global concept into a concrete experience: educating for compassion, justice, and the common good. By prioritizing the individual and recognizing the dignity of the most vulnerable, the educational community reaffirms its mission to prepare young people to transform society through empathy and service.
Rosalie A. Idulsa — Cebu, Philippines (original in English)
Let’s continue on this journey together
The Philippines teaches us today that the Global Education Pact is not signed with words alone: it is lived out by reaching out to others, listening, sharing, and allowing ourselves to be transformed.
This experience is an invitation to continue delving deeper into Commitment No. 5 of the Global Education Pact, which states:“Opening ourselves to hospitality: Educating others and ourselves in hospitality, opening ourselves to the most vulnerable and marginalized.”
This is the kind of education that, in the spirit of World Catholic Education Day, we continue to promote throughout our network of schools that follow Mother Cándida’s educational approach. We will continue to share more stories from this series, because every school has a story to tell and a world to transform.
