In Lima, the Isabel Flores de Oliva School (CIFO) holds a Solidarity Week supervised by a committee of teachers. This year it took place from 24 to 27 October.
Solidarity Week has a clear objective for our education community. It is to be experienced as a celebration of solidarity and encounter, where we all know that we are invited to bring to life the words of Father Poveda: “You don't have to be rich in order to give; it is enough to be good”.
The purpose this year 2023 was to support the soup kitchens in the district of San Juan de Lurigancho in Lima and thus join forces with the CONVIDA campaign.
The common pot
In our country, as well as in many other Latin American countries, a ‘common pot’ is a self-managed space that provides food aid or assistance to people and families in vulnerable situations. It is managed through voluntary and collective work, especially by women and mothers within a community.
To tell the story of how this link between the common pots and our school began, we need to look back to 2020 and the COVID 19 pandemic. That was when the country's serious food problems became more evident. At the school, we joined the work of various common pot committees in order to respond to the times we were living through.
This led to the launch of the CONVIDA campaign. It is still going on today as a response to the aforementioned situation and also to the report of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) which states that 6.8 million Peruvians are severely food insecure, i.e. they can be without food for a day or more.
Multiple activities
In order to achieve our objective, the committee, together with the school pastoral team, organised activities such as solidarity recreation and clothing that were carried out in collaboration with the students and the voluntary participation of the teachers. We also had a solidarity cinema led by a group of students who are part of the Student Council (COES) of the school, accompanied by their advisors. In addition, we organised a solidarity breakfast every morning, an activity that brought families together in an atmosphere of collaboration and fellowship.
The first class pupils made solidarity bracelets. The children, together with their teachers, designed and created bracelets and then put them on sale. This activity was very well received by the families.
Finally, the commission proposed some awareness-raising activities with the student body as part of their spiritual education. This is, after all, the underlying basis for action.
Solidarity week was experienced with joy, togetherness, involvement, commitment and, above all, with many gestures of service and generosity. The CIFO community witnessed the miracle of sharing. All of us feel new hope that education can advance humanity and care in society.
María del Carmen Marin Rojas. Teacher at CIFO, Lima.
TA Translators Team.
Published in News