Dear Sisters of the Assumption,
At the end of September 2024, four of the Leadership of Rygaards School in Copenhagen, Elsebeth Trap (Principal), Kasper Stæger (Head of Danish Primary School), Brad Baudach (Head of International Secondary School) and myself, Shirley Jacobsen (Head of International Primary School), set out on the long journey almost halfway around the world to visit our Advent and Lenten projects from the past 15 years. We made the decision to do this when we met Sr. Jo and Sr. Irene at Auteuil two years previously.

We had been there under the excellent tutelage of Sr. Veronique who reacquainted us with the footsteps of St. Marie Eugenie around Paris, reminding us of the vision of Marie Eugenie and giving us a deeper understanding, and showing us around the wonderful new museum. Sister Anna Kristina had told us that we should go to visit Sr. Jo in the Philippines, and when we heard from Sr. Irene of the impact of the 3H project in Mindanao, ”Happy, Healthy and Holy” in sowing fruit and vegetables around the school and building an industrial kitchen to feed the children, and to sell produce in the shop to generate more funds for the school children, and how that had affected the whole community by giving them hope for a brighter future, a project that Rygaards had been a part of with our “Food for Thought” Campaign in 2016 and 2017, then we made a promise to Sister Jo that we would indeed go to the Philippines to see our projects for ourselves as no-one from Rygaards had ever been.
And so, after three flights, we landed in Iloilo to the joyful welcome of the sisters there.


Thank you so much to all the sisters in Iloilo; we loved sharing three days with you, trying all the exotic fruits at mealtimes, walking along the river, celebrating masses with you, and of course visiting the school where we were staying at the convent. One of the highlights for us was visiting the Maria Assumpta village which we had been a part of since 2014 through our Advent Campaigns, giving Christmas presents to the children and food to the families there through you, the sisters who continue to visit them and support their community.
It was such a privilege for us to stand and address the children, young people and adults in the very meeting room that we had seen on photos Sr. Jo had sent to us all those years. It was such a joy to meet such a wonderful, thriving community, and especially to meet the young people who had been only children back in the typhoon of December 2013, but who were now studying at college and university, and now standing before us giving such eloquent speeches.

We were to experience the same overwhelming welcomes on all our subsequent days, to the Barrio Obrero School to see the “Rygaards Playground” and experience the wonderful show of singing and dancing that the school had prepared for us, that had been our Lenten Campaigns of 2012, 2013 and 2014 to provide not only a playground, but also Sports equipment, Musical instruments, computers and a path and garden to the church.




Thank you too to the sisters in Manila for your very warm welcome and enjoying meals and Masses with you, and especially the very moving farewell gathering for Sr. Lerma. We were touched to be invited to be a part of that. It brought home to us the vital part you sisters play in your local community.
Again, it was wonderful to see the thriving school and enjoy the show the children gave at Malibay, and to see San Lorenzo and glean ideas for our own school. We loved the Marie Eugenie quotes along the walls, as well as the inspirational quotes of others. Malibay had been our Lenten Campaign for the rebuilding of the school and to provide for new desks made by a local carpenter when the school had been flooded.

Then we flew to Vietnam to our present Lenten Campaign, St Joseph Charity School in Bien Hoa, which have been a part of since 2018. Thank you so much to Lan (Principal), Huong (Her sister who drove us around), and the Sisters in Bien Hoa for your warm welcome too and sharing lunch with you. It was wonderful to see too the vital work you do in the St. Joseph Charity School on behalf of all those children who wouldn’t otherwise have a school to attend.


Our lasting memory will be how so little a contribution from our own children can have such a lasting impact on the children and communities you, the sisters, work with every day in changing communities for the better, in giving hope and a future. It also gave us a new network of Sisters to work with, in maybe sending to you some of our alumni in the future, and of course, a renewed impetus to spread the word here in Denmark, to continue to inspire our children at Rygaards to “Academic Excellence for Service” in the words of St. Marie Eugenie, in not what society can do for them but what they can do for society. We will continue your important work of sharing that with our children and families here in Copenhagen.
Together, we can make a huge difference. A drop can contribute to an ocean of goodness!
Thankyou again to all you Sisters who make us feel so welcome each time we visit you. Do come and visit us! We are proud to be part of the worldwide Assumption family.
With love and best wishes,
From all of us at Rygaards School (DK)
