Background: As part of the Education and Social Justice Project, in July 2012 undergraduate student Lisa Frank interviewed Humberto Portocarrero, a physics professor at the St. Ignatius School (Colegio San Ignacio) in La Paz, Bolivia. This summary of the interview features his thoughts on the students' annual service trip, ways the school prepares students for service in poor and rural communities, and how the service trip initiative began.
Tell me about the students' annual service trip.
In their senior year, students of the Colegio San Ignacio spend three weeks doing a service project. This happened for the first time in 1969, so students could have a glimpse of the life lived by the rest of the country, especially the poor and rural communities. The projects vary but typically involve building roads and sewers, water connection, improving courts and schools, or other community projects that are needed.
The school sees service work as part of the apostolic mission, to "go where others don’t." It's an experience based on Ignatian faith and justice, which go beyond theory and into action; the spiritual cannot be divorced from the social. Ignatian justice seeks equitable opportunities for all. It asks students to be "for others," and this means being "with others." Also, the concept of magis enters into this work.
Participants have a transformational experience because of the different context in which they live for three weeks and the work they do there. In the first week, they have an apostolic experience in going to a place far away and different from what they know, where they have an encounter with themselves. This means that students—who are not used to camping, making all their own food, getting up at 4:00 a.m. in the morning and using latrines—start to reflect and think about their life and the privileges they have. In the second week, they think not only in themselves but also about the people living this reality who are working alongside them. They talk about God and why they are having this experience. This process continues in the third week, when the project ends.
How do you prepare for the service trip?
The school has an office called the Community Participation Unit (UPC). Students and their families participate in social events and service every year, not just when they go on the trip. For example, each year begins with a solidarity campaign, calling for in-kind donations from younger students and families. Humberto said, "It's harder to do it this way, instead of asking for money to buy the things you need for the project, but this way the younger students can participate." The campaign is based on what it means to be an Ignatian family—one that is committed to the education of their children, and others at school.
This campaign also serves to motivate the students. They spend 12 years in school hearing about the service trip, from peers and older siblings, and also from the teachers who participate on a rotating basis. In the year they go on the trip, students run a bingo fundraiser and are responsible for the solidarity campaign. They also watch presentations to motivate them to write their chapter of the story. There is a strong sense of legacy and a feeling that now it's their turn.
Another form of preparation is social action, which takes place in the fourth grade. It's a shorter trip to Corpa, to give students a vision of what the service trip will be like. The UPC is also responsible for several working groups and projects throughout the year, with student leaders. For example, there are the Ignatian Workers, who do solidarity projects with those who work in the school, like the janitors. There are workshops for leadership training, student leaders in all programs, various activities, and lots of "experience and celebration," like the first communion, in which the catechesis is given by the students themselves.
What is the history of the service trip?
The program has evolved greatly over the years. At first, students traveled to Cochabamba, but the school wanted the experience to be harder and more different from what they knew. The project moved to the Altiplano, but parents were uncomfortable with this and visited the students, bringing food and other supplies. The school began working with OSCAR [Obra Social de Caminos de Acceso Rural, or the Roads for Rural Access Social Project, a Franciscan institution] in 1982 to go further in terms of places and projects. Unfortunately, there was an accident in 2000, and the school stopped working with OSCAR.
In the years 2001 to 2007 the school organized their own trips, but it was very difficult because although the community wanted the support of students, sometimes they did not have the materials ready for the projects. Then, San Ignacio formed an alliance with Fe y Alegría and the Yachay Wasi [House of Knowledge in Quechua] to improve the experience. Sometimes, the challenges and risks involved in service work, or parents, or the school, or the Jesuits wanted to end the program, but students and alumni always fought to keep it, with great success. The only year in which there was no service trip was 1980 because the Ministry of the Interior would not allow it.
Now the school has a good relationship with Fe y Alegría. Sometimes, students ask if the projects they do are what the communities want, or what Fe y Alegría wants. They have discovered that, as Portocarrero said, "You cannot separate Fe y Alegría from the community. What's good for the community is good for Fe y Alegría, and what Fe y Alegría wants is what the community wants.” In addition, although the school, with Fe y Alegría, provides labor, tools, and materials, people from the community also work on the project, so that it is a shared and valued experience for everyone, not just an act of charity.
