www.fondazioneauxilium.it

We meet early in the morning, have breakfast and reach our destination.

We feel a bit embarrassed for a second. We know that Rosanna is waiting for us. She has been a volunteer for thirty years and she gets us involved right away. She shows us the house, telling us about its history, and how it used to be a convent. Then we go down to the “small house” and we meet one of the operators, and we discuss how life is in “that place” for more than an hour.

His name is Alberto and he tells us about the difficulties of living with homeless people. Their lives are always hanging by a thread. They are often fragile people who often refuse to integrate into society, even if they get help, and they can’t manage their own lives.

Then we split into groups. Some of us do the gardening, someone else sorts second-hand clothes, others tidy up the warehouse, do the ironing, serve in the canteen or refill the showers with shampoo and soap...

They offer us lunch and we eat with some of the workers. There is this wonderful volunteer, Rosanna, who keeps telling us about the experiences she’s had with the homeless people living here.

After a cup of coffee, everybody goes back to work. Later in the afternoon we meet the staff again who thank us for our work. They also thank IIT for devoting a day to volunteering every year.

Participants: Anastasia Bruzzone, Cinzia Pellini, Cinzia Neri, Chiara Lazzeri, Sara Pittaluga, Giuseppe Notaro, Thierry Nieus, Deka Sasanka, Stefano Taverna, Yousheng Yang