AMONG THE EXCLUDED

Between desolation and misery, encountering the most difficult situations, and taking charge of them consistently: homeless children, families or what remains of them, peripheries of the soul.
Where life sinks into despair, the good goes further, to build new people, despite everything.

Baia Mare is a city in the northwest at the foothills of the Carpathians. Once many mines, exploited by all means, now only a few foreign factories give little work. A deep East, substantially statical, close but very far away, where tourists come little. On the other hand, there are many who leave here. Economy takes over from politics. Much desolation.
The presence of the Somascan Fathers began in 1997, with the opening of the Fundatia de Voluntari Somaschi which took charge of the most difficult social segment, street children, poor and abandoned children, gipsy children and their families and many other types of great poverty.
The soul of this 'frontier' commitment is the great heart of Father Albano, who lives day and night the charisma of being close to abandoned young people and out of any form of social integration, going to look for them in the street where the cobbler's glue is the companion who deceitfully promises relief from despair, in neighborhoods populated by violence and degradation and where no one gets in, welcoming and guarding what remains of families in disarray, situations unimaginable if they weren't true and repeating every day. “We try to make them new people, despite everything…”. Where life sinks into abandonment, the good goes further.

LOOKING FOR WHO HAS BEEN LOST

Many services, aimed at different situations.
A ready-to-welcome home in the harsh winter months, open to 50 street children and teenagers: take a shower, dine and have a bed and a warm place to spend the night. During the rest of the year, the children are followed several times a week in their meeting points, where they receive an evening meal, medical check-up, or other services thanks to a group of young and adult volunteers.
A family home for 10 abandoned children or teenagers, with continuous hospitality.
A day center for 30 children from disadvantaged families.
The literacy school is open to more than 80 children who do not attend school or have abandoned it, with drug problems, poverty and without any kind of education. A very 'creative' beginning, a challenge to try to recover a bond, an interest in learning, self-esteem.

But there are also many hundreds of people who get life from Fundatia. All the initiatives arise from a relationship with people in the most disastrous and forgotten neighborhoods where they live in very small spaces, shacks, without hygiene or heating, but with a lot of misery. Hundreds of families are offered aid of extreme necessity, even in nearby villages: wood to survive the winter, clothes, shoes, school supplies, food ... A pharmacy for the poor of the city has been operating for some time, and also collaborating with hospitals and Red Cross; a group of doctors offers consultations to those who cannot afford them. The help gives rise to perspectives on people, families. So that the children, with all the strength they carry inside, no matter how poor and hungry they are, continue to be children, who want to play, who like to learn… aiming to build an educational and social integration project for each beneficiary.

AN EFFORT TO SUPPORT

Taking care of street children and poor children means working long-term and at a slow pace. From the very beginning, the activities of the Fundatia had to think about their sustainability through aid but also from their own income generation initiatives. Which are also a response to the great need of girls s to work - various tailoring and other tailor-made packages - which, however, can take the children with them; to the boys who have to 'learn the job' - a sawmill, and the sale of firewood. An important service is then that of the shop where donated materials - clothes, shoes, and more - are offered for sale to people who can thus satisfy basic necessities, transforming them into resources for the maintenance of services and charities, in constant growth.
But obviously the arduous challenge is also to grow a community of operators who carry them out, with care and responsibility; much is invested in the training of volunteers, suitable and capable of such a complex job, and which represents opening up to a mentality of generosity and commitment, a novelty in this scenario.
For twenty years, his friendship with Father Albano has led Sermig to be a constant and important supporter of this precious service, in various ways. Approximately 2,800 tons of materials were sent by monthly shipments. Allocated resources, equipment for laboratories, structures and furnishings for reception, contributions to the organization of activities and search for working orders.
Friendship and support that we intend to keep for everything that we’ll be able to do.

Associazione Sermig Re.Te. per lo Sviluppo – Arsenale della Pace, Piazza Borgo Dora 61 Torino

IBAN: IT29  P030 6909 6061 0000 0001 481   Banca Intesa SanPaolo