On your feet again

'Hello Sermig? It is the Consulate. Here is a lady who arrived in Italy two months ago to be next to her daughter who has psychiatric problems. Her daughter segregated her in her house, mistreating her. She has bruises on her body and face, she has lost 20 kg. You have no residence and social services cannot help you. '
“I'm pregnant, my partner doesn't want me to keep the baby, he sent me away from home. I don't know what to do ».
«The company where I worked a year ago has closed down. For a while I managed to go on with the savings, but then I couldn't pay the rent anymore.
I've been sleeping in a cellar for a week. I can not handle it anymore". "I don't want to prostitute myself anymore, I would like to go to school and find a job."
Police. "There is a lady here with her three children, she has just filed a complaint for mistreatment of her partner, we accompany her to the hospital for the report. We are looking for a place for you ».
Hospital. "We call for a lady with leukemia, she lives in the Roma camp, she has to have a bone marrow transplant, the conditions in which she lives are not compatible with the operation. Doctors only work if there is a reception available to host them ".
"I'm cold, I have a fever, I'm sleeping in the cold emergency containers, I haven't washed for two weeks. Please I need a warm place and someone to tell me what is right and what is not. '
Prison. "G. she is released from prison on Monday, she has been in for two years, she has no family who can host her. You have made a good journey, we would like to prevent you from relapsing into substance addiction, can you accept her? ».

These are just some of the requests that come to us every day.
Behind each one there is a person, with his life, his story, his fatigue, her hopes. Over the years, the welcome at Sermig has changed a lot, we started with that pointing finger: "You, Olivero, where are you sleeping tonight?" providing a space for the nocturnal welcome of people in difficulty and then, little by little, opening ourselves to listening to the lives we met.
We have broadened our gaze, our heart, our home, our possibilities. In the many encounters we have experienced that for God no one is lost, ever! And it is this gaze of him, his knowing how to go beyond appearance, and at times the evidence, that has fallen in love with us and that is educating us to care, to take care of each other, just as he knows how to take care of us. .
Every day in the Arsenals we welcome many people, but each is welcomed in a personal way, everyone is called by name and for each there is the possibility of building a path together starting from his life situation, his resources and peculiarities.
Taking care of others means knowing how to confront those we meet with an attitude of openness, respect, listening. And listening is not easy, sometimes the burden of suffering that the other brings scares us, other times the anxiety of not knowing how to help prevails. Yet we have learned that the first cure is presence and that many times the other does not seek solutions, but a contact, a relationship in which to be able to be, in which to express oneself.
The cure passes through listening: we cannot love a person we do not listen to and, a person not listened to, she will never feel loved, because she will never feel understood. Every time I listen carefully, kindly, and not in a hurry, I create a bridge between myself and the other, I open up the possibility of a communication that allows me to reach him where he is and, if he wants, to start a journey together.
What we try to do every day is to work alongside people who are willing to walk a stretch of the road together, sharing everyday life under the same roof. For some this stretch of road is the search for work, for others the house, psychological support, the documents to be able to stay in Italy, being able to free themselves from the slavery that has nailed their lives for years. For everyone, it means returning to value life and trying to trust it again.

It is important to learn to take care of the "air" that is in our home in order to offer an "oxygenated" place to those who arrive: a peaceful, friendly, open place, without judgment, where those who live it can gradually breathe again. , to feel like a human being, to find his step to return to being the protagonist of his story.
In this "caring for the air" there is also an aesthetic dimension, caring for spaces, offering clean, welcoming, dignified places: it becomes very important because beautiful care, restores dignity, tells the person that it has value.
The desire that moves us is to help people get back on their feet and get life back in their hands to get in touch with that part of themselves that will help them to sprout despite the difficulties. In reception we have a diary that gives a voice to friends who, after a period of stay, end their journey with us. I let Dora conclude: «I'm going!
But not entirely ... because here it is a part of my heart, of my happiness, of my tranquility, of my family. I had the privilege of living days full of sweetness, respect, I felt valued and I felt really good! I am leaving but without leaving because I will be there when you need me as you have been there for me ».

Simona Pagani
NP November 2021