"More than teaching" is one of the phrases that characterizes Adventist Education because it is not only about providing academic content but rather a whole educational experience that also includes Christian values and principles.

Nowadays, people's needs are becoming greater and greater. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC), there are 5.9 million poor children in Argentina; that is 54.2 percent of those under 14 years of age in the whole country. In the second half of last year, another 400,000 minors fell below the poverty line, and almost half of those under five years of age live in a household that does not cover the basic food threshold.

More Love at Easter

The project to collect donations for a soup kitchen was born in the hearts of the faculty and administration of the Adventist Institute of Mar del Plata, located in the province of Buenos Aires, as well as students and their families. It is a plan that was also carried out last year and the students adopted as their own, since they are not indifferent to the needs of their peers and families.

According to Angie Davila, chaplain of the institute and promoter of the project, the students from kindergarten and the primary and secondary levels, as well as teachers, participated in this program called “More Love at Easter.” "For a week we were collecting non-perishable food to be taken to the Cecilia food pantry in the southern area of Mar del Plata," said Davila.

In total, they managed to collect more than 300 kilograms of food, including vegetables, noodles, cereals, powdered milk, oil, and dozens of other products; and more than 30 articles of clothing. The Alimentos Granix warehouse also helped with the logistics. "On Saturday, April 1, we divided the food by category, bagged it, and then a group of teachers, parents, and students went to the family's home where the picnic area is located," said the chaplain.

Regarding the collection by the students and the contact with the soup kitchen, Davila pointed out that "the school children always participate happily and enthusiastically. Each class has its own box to deposit. We had contact with Cecilia, who runs the picnic area and was the one who delivered the food to the families the next day. The reception was very warm and with a lot of gratitude because the task she carries out is a volunteer one. Forty families benefited since they take [sic] care of the children of all these families.” This help, according to Davila, was very significant. "They all received the missionary material."

Education and Solidarity

"Adventist Education considers the educational process in an integral way and promotes the interaction between theory and practice, thinking and doing, reason and emotion, individual and collective, cause and effect; it understands that both educators and students can teach and learn," points out the Adventist Network website. Solidarity transcends hierarchies.

Speaking about the benefits obtained by the students from the gesture of solidarity that accompanied this project, Professor Ricardo Cerdá, director of the Adventist Institute of Mar del Plata, points out that "the children obtain many benefits from carrying out solidarity activities. In the first place, because there is a detachment from the self. We live in a society that is extremely centered on the self, hedonistic, in search of pleasure, and that thinks little of the needs of those next to it. So, if the school can carry out this type of activities, obviously it does a lot of good to the one who receives the help, but also and fundamentally, which is our task as educators, it does good to our students, to those who participate by collaborating with those in need."

Adventist Education emphasizes the solidarity actions of helping others because Jesus reflected it in His life. Cerdá affirms that "if there is something that the Lord Jesus left us, it is precisely the idea of love. And love does not think of oneself, but of the needs of others. Our society is increasingly psychopathic, and the characteristic trait of psychopathy is the lack of empathy, so doing solidarity activities thinking of our neighbor is precisely helping us to get rid of our own egos and see that around us, there are people who really need our neighbor, who need help, who have many more needs than those we have, and we are also helping our students to be channels of blessing from above."

Towards the end of the dialogue, Cerdá reflected on what is to come, since "as an institution, we think about the future, we plan to continue promoting, motivating, and carrying out this type of activities because we are convinced that it is the mission of the church, not only to proclaim the Gospel, the message of salvation in Jesus Christ, but also to help our neighbors in their most essential needs. So the school will continue to carry out these activities."

Adventist Education

The pedagogical proposal of the Adventist Educational Network is respectful of the educational policies and curricula of each country, with the fundamental objective of forming reflective, creative students. In addition, it facilitates the transformation of knowledge into attitudes, through the resolution of students' daily problems.

The pedagogy is based on the premises of a Christian education and the commitment to guide all didactic activities towards quality in the teaching-learning process and the natural integration of faith and teaching.

The curriculum promotes academic excellence and includes all the essential contents for the practice of responsible citizenship. It aims to develop students' spiritual, intellectual, physical, social, emotional, and vocational lives in a balanced way.

The original version of this story was posted on the South American Division Spanish-language news site.