As had already emerged from my last visit in 2019, the most problematic receptions remain those of some families.
Pasqualina and Simon, five children including the last one who arrived just a few months ago, also live in the Caritas Pace e Bene house in Santa Maria degli Angeli.
During my visit in 2019 Simon was not there; he had gone to Rome to look for work.
At that time they lived in the historic center of Assisi where they lived together with another welcomed family. The coexistence of the two families was immediately difficult, with continuous tensions.
Now Medhanie’s and Loito’s family, with their children, live 30 km from Assisi, even if none of the parents work or seem to want to work.
It is a difficult situation to manage.
Rossana tells me she feels resigned, not seeing a real possibility of independence for this family, which indeed seems to expect total assistance from Caritas.
For fifteen years they lived in a refugee camp without the possibility of a real job, constrained by uncertainty, which certainly does not help the beneficiaries take initiative for themselves or for their family, making external assistance the only path.
Add to all this, the trauma suffered, the psychological fragility, the lack of education.
Simon, for his part, tells me that he is still looking for work in Rome, but at the moment he cannot find a fixed job, so he has to stay at the Pace e Bene house. A new Eritrean family, which arrived at the end of 2019 with the second Corridors, is now staying there as well: mother and a seriously ill daughter.
Rossana informs me that they are communicating with the rest of the family still in Eritrea to organize a reunion.
The three minor children remained there with their families.
Towards evening we still have a visit to make.
We return to Assisi to greet Kuhulo, who now calls herself Rosa, and her three children.
They have recently moved to a new accommodation because the youngest, as I am told, has been diagnosed with asthma and needs a more airy and dust-free space.
The eldest daughter greets me from the window.
The house is in the central nucleus, in one of the magnificent alleys that lead to the church of San Francesco.
Until now Kuhulo / Rosa had lived hosted by the missionary nuns of a nearby convent.
Now, in the new house, she is more independent. And certainly even more serene.
She works as a cleaner in the Caritas cooperative and is happy.
She hugs me and then continues to prepare dinner for the children and for all of us!
During dinner, Rossana tells me that last year they also managed to reunite with her husband who had fled to Egypt.
A week after his arrival in Assisi, however, he disappeared again, causing her children further trauma.
I think about how difficult it is for operators to manage such complex situations.
Really difficult to understand how to move.
Despite this, the children are so joyful and happy to show me their new home.
On the walls there are many posters with religious icons that indicate the great faith of Kuhulo.
The children speak Italian perfectly, the eldest started the hotel high school and proudly shows me the work suit she has just retired.
As I take my leave, I ask Kuhulo how her Italian is going and she candidly confesses that at home she prefers to speak Tigrinya because she wants her children not to lose their language, their roots.
She promises me, however, with her usual smile, that she will try to study more, repeating to me several times how grateful she is to God for the gifts she has received from her arriving here in Italy.
