Christmas, the “new poor” at lunch with the Community of Sant’Egidio

The first night on the street, at the Termini station in Rome, Pietro, 66, remembers it well. “I do not wish anyone the experience of sleeping on the street, not even dogs. I ended up there after my father died, bedridden due to a serious illness. We lived off his boarding house in a small apartment ». For years Pietro, who in his life had always made do by working as a laborer, but also in a bakery and in a typography, was the caregiver of his father. Then he could no longer pay the rent and was evicted. “I felt like crying, because I was afraid of being beaten or robbed. One night they took everything away from a neighbor of mine: money, documents, cell phone ». Thanks to the volunteers of Sant’Egidio, Pietro literally got back on his feet. «I found friends to talk to about everything and they helped me a lot, especially when they offered me to go to sleep in the church of San Callisto in Trastevere. I don’t forget the good feeling I got when, for the first time in months, I slept warm in a bed“. Today Pietro has a house of his own, an apartment that he shares with another person and of which he is proud.

Sandra is a young grandmother. She is 55 years old, lives with her two children, whom she raised alone, and an 8-year-old granddaughter, who attends the School of Peace, one of the completely free educational centers opened by Sant’Egidio in the outskirts of many Italian cities for support children in school integration. Sandra has lived all her life in the Laurentino district, a difficult suburb in the south of Rome. Her life was tiring, in which she got by with many jobs without ever getting a fixed contract. Recently she has started cleaning some elderly people’s homes. For some time Sandra has been helped by Sant’Egidio and, with the pandemic, the friendship has deepened. In fact, Sandra knows everyone in Laurentino and, when so many families have found themselves in difficulty, it was she who spread the word, indicating the door of the Community headquarters as a safe haven. «In Sant’Egidio – says Sandra – they listen to you, they are kind and they always give you a hand».

Thanks to the vaccinations, the next one 25th December the friends of Sant’Egidio will meet again for the traditional Christmas lunch in the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere smell. A #ChristmasToAll to which you can contribute by supporting the solidarity sms campaign.

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