A house that grows

Many young people have arrived this summer to live with us for a few days of service and training. Many young people have arrived at the Hermitage for a day and even a whole week. The Hermitage is a much smaller house than the Arsenale della Pace, but it has the same characteristics of a door open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, like a home, like a family: it never stops being one.

Certainly in one of the richest municipalities in Italy (Pecetto and Pino have among the highest incomes in our country), stories of material poverty do not often come knocking, at the top of the hill certain problems seem not to arrive, but we experience others and we share them together with our sick guests and people who bring us their suffering.
As at the Arsenale, the fraternity lives the house, but it is not the only responsible: we rely on many volunteers who help us and - sometimes - take our place in the various services or simply be a presence in case of need. The Arsenale dell'Armonia has the same face as the house in Turin in putting young people at the center. It is difficult to gather the kids of the area, busy with a thousand commitments, who still do not know us and struggle to reach us, but we try and, little by little, some are starting to trust this house, to give us a few mornings of service, come to the meetings.

Instead, during vacation times, groups come, even from far away, who want to have a full-time volunteering experience. So we hosted some kids who, getting to know us, questioned themselves on the meaning of fraternity, peace, generosity, availability, friendship.

Our friends with disabilities have helped a lot young people to ask themselves questions about the meaning of relationships. It is nice to be able to know and learn from each other, so we thank you for this time of greater sharing with young people.


The Sermig Fraternity in Pecetto
NP August / September 2024