The value of conversation

Once a week we go to Casa delle Genti together with our Caritas mentor Margherita. Casa delle Genti, translated as "House of the People", provides accommodation and meals for homeless men for a period of 15 days. During this time, Caritas staff also provides guidance to the guests to work out what options are available according to their needs.

When we go there, we offer our company. The residents are invited to sit with us, play games or talk. Open and informal. Our Italian language skills are only basics, but it's nice to talk in a mix of Italian, English and gestures with people and get in touch with them. For us ESC volunteers, it brings us closer to the people we work for in the kitchen, warehouse and the clothes distribution. The small talks turns the faces into personalities.

With Margherita, the residents can have real conversations in Italian. They can share their thoughts, talk about their worries and tell stories about their lives and families. Even though I understand almost nothing of these talks, I see the value of it in their faces. And I'm beginning to understand the importance of conversation for the quality of life. What it means to be able to share and get rid of what has accumulated inside you. What it means to have someone there to listen to you. It's kind of strange that I'm only realizing it now, during our visits at Casa delle Genti. Because it's no different for me. The value of conversation probably affects us all.

Comments

My experiences with migrants in Caritas

Hello everyone! It's Louise. Today, I'd like to share with you two actions in which I recently participated. They taught me a lot, both on a human level and in terms of the concrete challenges involved in welcoming and supporting migrants in Italy. Welcoming migrants on their arrival at the port Two weeks ago, I went with Marco D’Aurizio (President of Caritas Jesina) and other workers of Caritas Ancona to welcome a group of 276 migrants who had arrived on the Ocean's Viking (a boat that rescues migrants at sea) at Ancona’s port. We were there at 8am, under grey skies and a cold wind, ready to hand out breakfast: a bottle of water, an apple, a filled brioche, and tea for those who wanted it. The reception was very closely supervised by the police, which made the organisation very rigorous, but also a little tense. At first, we let people sit down, take time to eat and warm up. But soon, the police were pressing us to get the migrants onto the buses waiting nearby. So, we h...

Hello everyone! I'm the new volunteer

Hi! My name is Louise, I'm 26 years old, and I'm from France. Ever since I was a child, I wanted to go abroad to see what life is like elsewhere. Two years ago, in 2022, I graduated with a Master’s degree in Law, specialising in European Law. That’s how I first heard about the European Solidarity Corps (but only from an academic perspective, as we were studying several European programs). During my studies, I volunteered every summer with a French organisation that supports migrants in different aspects of their lives. The first Summer, I helped organise activities for children living in a refugee center. And the following years, I joined the legal advice service, where I assisted migrants with their administrative process to obtain or renew their residence permits. It was a truly rewarding experience that helped me grow personally. After graduation, I felt lost. I knew from my volunteering experience that I wanted a job that had a positive impact on society, but I wasn't ...

Volunteer Oct24. organizing the new house for volunteers!

Ciao, Hola and Hi! I’m Rio Rojas Mayorga, and I’ve been helping set up the new apartment for volunteers. Let me tell you about the process of organizing this future home for us! In case you didn’t know, ESC volunteers previously lived in an apartment within the Caritas enclosure. However, for various reasons, it was decided to move us to a new place in the city center. The person in charge of preparing this apartment was Fabiano, a 65-year-old volunteer. Since he had multiple apartments and projects to manage, progress on this specific one was quite slow. So, to give him a hand, I offered my time and enthusiasm to compensate for my lack of any real knowledge of construction or renovation! The house had almost everything we needed, but the problem was that it was all disassembled. It took a couple of months of assembling furniture, deep cleaning every piece, and rearranging the house fittings over and over. For most of the process, the end felt so far away. We started first w...

From Europe to Jesi

Search This Blog