By Sch Efrizidio Amon Alves Correia, SJ 
First Studies at Loyola House of Studies 

Every day except Saturdays and Sundays, we went to El Gaucho, a temporary settlement on Xavier University property that is home to informal settler families displaced by a government road-widening project. The University made available a portion of its 109-hectare property—originally intended for the College of Agriculture's farm laboratories—to provide the families with temporary shelter while working with the local government toward a permanent housing solution.

Beyond simply lending the land, Xavier University has formed a team to accompany the families through regular formation programs and close collaboration with the local government. In addition, XU assists in processing documentary requirements, conducting land surveys, and preparing the relocation site so that the families may eventually receive titles to their new homes. Just this week, the City Legislative Council approved the Deed of Donation from Xavier University for the City Mayor’s acceptance, marking another significant step toward the families' permanent resettlement.

In this community, we spent our days: talking with the mothers, meeting with the youth, and often playing with the children. There were times when it felt like we were doing nothing at all. The mothers were often busy bringing their children to school and waiting for them, while the youth were occupied with summer classes. But on those days that we got to meet: we were able to introduce ourselves, share stories of joys and struggles, of love, vocations, and aspirations, laugh over jokes, and play with the kids.

Communication, however, was not easy. We could not speak Bisaya, and many of them could not understand English well. This language barrier made genuine conversation a challenge. Yet despite the limited time we had and the words we could not exchange, I came to realize that simply being present with them was, in itself, a gift I could offer.

In conversation, in silence, and even in misunderstanding, I found that I could still grasp what they wanted to communicate—through gestures, expressions, and presence. I came to call this "Honest Language," a wordless yet sincere form of connection. Through it, I felt their genuine generosity and hospitality.

Witnessing this experience allowed me to see, in a very concrete way, how Xavier University lives out its commitment to cura personalis—care for the whole person, especially toward the marginalized and excluded. By offering space to more than 100 households of informal settlers and continuing to accompany them through formation programs for community leaders, parents, children, and young people, the university is doing more than providing temporary shelter. It is empowering these families to organize themselves, both now and in the future.

This work resonates deeply with the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus (UAPs), particularly the call to "Walk with the Excluded." Reflecting on this experience affirmed for me that Xavier University, as a Jesuit institution, truly goes out to the frontiers to accompany the poor and the marginalized. Formation at XU is not confined to the classroom alone; it extends outward, into lives like those at El Gaucho, where the university chooses to care for and to share with others.

As a Jesuit scholastic spending this intersession immersion with the community at El Gaucho, I have witnessed Xavier University's effort to help informal settlers secure their permanent homes, while offering them holistic and integral formation along the way. This experience has become, for me, an invitation to give myself more fully to others, wherever I am sent.

Everything I have is a gift. And in recognizing this, I hear the Lord calling me to serve Him by serving the people He has entrusted to me, especially the poor and the marginalized.

The three Jesuit scholastics spent weeks with the local community in El Gaucho as part of their intersession immersion in Mindanao. They were accompanied by XU community organizers, Chester Cotacte and Vincent Manus. Following their immersion experience, they will resume their Philosophy studies at Ateneo de Manila.