Daily hope

Despite the war nearby, at the Arsenale dell'Incontro we want to build peace by meeting boys and girls every day who only ask to be loved and cared for

We are living in a very particular time, a daily life where everything seems normal despite the war a few kilometers away.
If you pay attention, however, you realize that this normality is only apparent. A few weeks ago the skies lit up with many lights that were not stars or even airplanes... It seemed like we were inside a video game, but it was actually the sound of war produced by the disintegration of those lights! Something that gets inside you and begins to dig deep, bringing fear, instability, intransigence, hatred.
In this scenario we feel the responsibility to stand alongside people without too many speeches, with a closeness that becomes attention, consolation, courage, that tries to sow peace in the simplicity of everyday life. Yesterday, a group of young people from the best university in Jordan, future doctors, engineers, dentists, came to visit us and to offer hours of games, celebration, and lightheartedness to sixty children with disabilities.

The children were accompanied individually by a student. Divided into five teams, they tried their hand at different games, from tug-of-war to gymnastics courses, from drawings to face painting, to muffin decorations. A truly beautiful show of integration, the mothers rejoiced to see their children happy… At midday, children, siblings, mothers, young volunteers, teachers, all at lunch together like one big family!
Afterwards, sitting in a circle with the volunteers, we asked: what are you taking home? The initial response, “everything is fine! We were happy”, hid something else…
Little by little, the worries and fears of the present time emerged, which risk turning into hatred in many. Even if they do not experience war directly because they live in a country at peace, in their hearts they host another war, underground, that leaves its mark, that digs and sows darkness. Even if we are at peace, we are at war! Yesterday our mission became even clearer to us, to be a meeting place between diversity, a place of dialogue, of listening, of respect to build a daily peace together.

Cristiana Capitani
Focus
NP November 2025