Caritas Don Bosco School celebrates Christmas helping others

(MissionNewswire) Caritas Don Bosco School, located in Santa Rosa, Philippines, celebrated the Christmas season with outreach projects and home-made gifts. Almost everyone at the school participated. Teachers and school employees took part in the annual Christmas outreach challenge, while students prepared messages in hand-crafted cards and gifts.

Groups from the educative pastoral council came together to bring joy to marginalized youth and Indigenous people. Outreach activities were planned to support the local community, along with helping to support others within the school. During the school Christmas party, individuals who participated in the challenge showed videos of their projects and shared reflections from what they learned. One teacher noted that it was not difficult to reach out and it is good to be the source of joy for others.

The parent-teacher council also conducted Christmas outreach activities within the school community and in the local surrounding community. Within the school, the council supported security guards and non-teaching employees and provided gifts to poor communities.

Students got involved with outreach activities as well. Student leaders and alumni organized a Christmas fellowship for marginalized youth and provided items that met their basic needs. The Voces Inspirare School Choir and robotics team collaborated for a light and choral show to benefit the school’s Batholomew Garelli Project, an education fund for poor senior high school students.

Throughout the Philippines, Salesian missionaries offer a variety of educational and social development programs for youth. The goal is to provide the opportunities necessary to gain an education and skills training to break the cycle of poverty and retain long-term employment.

More than one-quarter of the population of the Philippines lives in poverty, according to UNICEF. Poverty is most severe and widespread in rural areas where 80 percent of the population — close to 88 million people — make their home. The poorest Filipinos are Indigenous populations, small-scale farmers who cultivate land received through agrarian reform, landless workers and fishermen. In addition, poverty rates are higher for women than men.

Illiteracy and high levels of unemployment contribute to the elevated poverty rate. With more than 11 million out-of-school youth in the country and dropout rates doubling as children reach secondary school, access to education becomes a critical step in breaking the cycle of poverty.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Philippines – What Christmas Means at “Caritas Don Bosco School” in Santa Rosa

Salesian Missions – Philippines

UNICEF – Philippines