Academic research, based on the experience Gloria lived during her volunteer internship, recognizes the contribution of the Obras Educativas Padre Giussani to social transformation and education.
In March 2026, Gloria completed her master’s degree in Pedagogical Design in Services for Minors at the Faculty of Educational Sciences of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, graduating with top marks. Her thesis, which reflects dedication and academic excellence, was developed based on the experience she lived in 2025 at the Obras Educativas Padre Giussani, in Minas Gerais, Brazil. During her internship, Gloria worked with the maternal 3 class (three-year-old children) and took part in various activities, such as family visits, festivities, meetings with adolescents, mothers’ groups, and cultural and culinary workshops. She stayed with us for two months, hosted at Rosa Brambilla’s home in Belo Horizonte, attending the early childhood center every day.
Gloria’s thesis, titled “Educational Design and Family Support in Contexts of Social Vulnerability: A Study on the Obras Educativas Padre Giussani of Belo Horizonte/MG – Brazil,” examined a model of intervention that goes beyond resolving material emergencies and seeks to regenerate contexts of social vulnerability. It highlights how Obras Educativas Padre Giussani, through an integrated method, offer ongoing support to children and their families, treating them as inseparable elements in the growth process.
The research told the story of the Obras and the reasons that led founder Rosa to respond to the needs of the local population. It also explored the educational method adopted, with particular attention to the “experience of encounter,” which favors the relationship between educator and student, promoting the integral development of children and adolescents. It also emphasized the importance of families’ active participation, highlighting co-education as a fundamental pillar of the educational process.
In her conclusions, Gloria highlighted how, through steady and respectful support, it is possible to help families in situations of social vulnerability rediscover their important educational role. The study shows how this approach can generate real, lasting transformation, restoring dignity and hope to the people involved. It also stresses that, in contexts of marginalization, a model is needed that goes beyond immediate assistance. In this sense, early childhood centers are understood as spaces for “introduction to total reality,” where education happens as an experience of encounter, fostering the appreciation of children and their families. It also highlights the importance of educational continuity and integration with the community, strengthening shared responsibility between the institution and families and encouraging real social transformation. We congratulate Gloria on her dedication and on the excellent academic work that highlights the experience of the Obras Educativas Padre Giussani in education and social transformation. We thank her for this recognition of our method and for continuing to accompany us even after her return to Italy. Her experience helps us reaffirm that it is the power of friendship that changes the world, and we hope it can inspire more people to believe in the power of educating the person for the rebuilding of the family, the fundamental fabric of society.
Here is what she wrote in the volunteers’ notebook in April 2025:
“Dear early childhood center, it’s hard to find the words to describe what these two months have meant to me.
Today is my last day here and it feels like I arrived only yesterday, yet I’ve lived and seen so much that it’s hard to believe it’s been ‘only’ two months. From the very first moment, the impact was incredible (because I never expected it): as soon as I stepped through the gate, so many children ran toward me, hugging me so tightly I nearly fell over. It was a simple, overwhelming gesture. They knew nothing about me, they didn’t know me, and just moments before I had feared that not knowing the language would be too great an obstacle to connecting with the children and with all the adults. Instead, they welcomed me just like that, simply because I was there. And what more could one wish for in educating and accompanying someone, than for them to experience and recognize that they are already loved even before they do or say anything, simply because they exist and are in the world?
Recognizing that we are loved teaches us to love, to look at others with that same loving gaze we received. And these children already know it! Despite the hardships they live through (fragile family situations, hardship I couldn’t even have imagined), here there is a place that welcomes everyone (children, parents, families) and where they feel at home. Here, everyone is seen for their uniqueness. In the classroom there’s no rush to necessarily bring every child to the same point at a given moment, nor any performance anxiety: attention is given to the individual, to their own pace, to their own needs. There is incredible care in gestures, in words, in everyday moments (meals, play, bath time, and so on), and from that care, more care is born. I would have so many more things to tell, but this notebook wouldn’t be enough. I am deeply grateful for every encounter I had here. The people who work here, the relationships built day after day, the mutual esteem, discovering that even those who work here feel this place as a second home, the bonds with the mothers I met, Gleyce (the teacher of the little group I was with). In everyone, I saw a genuine desire to walk together, to learn, to enter into dialogue (perhaps even discussion), and to follow. What could be more beautiful? I hope to come back soon, and maybe stay a little longer.
I carry in my heart every face, every smile, every gesture and every act of attention from these months. I close with a huge ‘THANK YOU’ to everyone (though truly, as if I were saying it personally to each one of you) for giving me this stretch of the road together. A big hug, com Deus!”