One with the Earth, One with each other: Lessons I learned as a delegate in AJCU-AP 2025

“In a world where the wail of the earth and the cry of the poor often go unheard, we chose to listen.”

Guided by Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’, service-learning became more than just a program but a commitment to live as “one with nature”. As a delegate of the 14th Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities in Asia Pacific Service-Learning Program 2025 (AJCU-AP SLP), my two weeks became a commitment to care for our common home, filled with experiences that truly explained the depth of the concept to me. From meeting environmental advocates who explained pressing ecological issues to immersing ourselves in nature and seeing what it truly needs from me, these experiences were real eye-openers that deepened my sense of responsibility.

There were quiet realizations in every moment of the journey. From every ripple of water that brushed my skin at Malabsay Falls, every stray dog that walked beside us through Naga City, every mangrove we planted and tree nurtured, and in the conversations with my foster family during the community immersion, there were silent whispers urging me to place love and service where they matter most. These places are found in the parts of Mother Nature generously shared with us, and in the people we encountered; whether they stay with us for a lifetime or only for a moment.

Beyond the places I visited, the program redefined how I see my role in the world. I unlearned the idea that caring for the environment must always be grand or dramatic, as it truly just begins in the simplest daily choices rooted in awareness and concern. Whether it is something as simple as being intentional with how I dispose of waste and opting for more sustainable everyday choices, what matters most is not the scale of our actions. True service lies in how much we allow ourselves to be transformed by the commitment to care.

The experience also made it clear that environmental degradation and human suffering come deeply hand-in-hand. When nature is neglected, it is the most vulnerable communities who bear the heaviest burden first. Listening to their stories revealed how much they depend on nature for survival; hence, they suffer when we selfishly and unconsciously destroy the planet for our own convenience. Moreover, I realized that protecting our common home ultimately means guarding those who depend on it the most, and in truth, that includes all of us. Even if we do not always recognize it, our dependence on nature is deeply embedded in our lives. With that, I am most grateful for the people I met along the way more than anything else in this program, people who are part of nature itself, and with whom we are deeply interconnected and unable to survive without.

By the end of the entire SLP, I knew that the journey does not end with my return home. It is now carried within me as a life-long responsibility to apply these lessons in my everyday life; to choose compassion and service even in unseen ways, and to live as one with Mother Nature just as she lives within us. Love and service are most powerful when we listen to the earth and the people it shelters, and when they continue long after the experience itself has passed.

Inspired by Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’ on caring for our common home, Ateneo de Naga University hosted the 2025 Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities in Asia Pacific (AJCU-AP) Service Learning Program (SLP) from August 2–16, 2025, with the theme “One with Nature.”

Over thirty students from Indonesia (Sanata Dharma University), Japan (Sophia University), Thailand (Xavier Learning Community), Timor-Leste (Instituto São João De Brito), and the Philippines (Ateneo de Davao University, Ateneo de Manila University, Ateneo de Naga University, and Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan) participated in this year’s SLP. Read more about the 2025 program through Ateneo de Naga University’s official website. 

Applications are now open for the 2026 AJCU-AP SLP! This year’s program will be held from August 2 to 16, 2026, in Timor-Leste, hosted by Instituto São João de Brito (ISJB), with the theme “Peace and Reconciliation: A Perspective of Post-Conflict Country Experience.”

Interested undergraduate students may complete the application form here: http://go.ateneo.edu/2026-AJCU-AP-SL. Applications close on March 31 at 11:59 PM to allow the selection committee to begin the screening process.