From Zambia comes this reflection written by Marco Trovò, a volunteer within the civilian service project ‘Caschi Bianchi per l’educazione e la formazione (White Helmets for Education and Training)’. His words reflect the sense of the work he is carrying out together with CELIM’s staff at the Mthunzi Centre, a structure dedicated to rescuing street children as part of the project Street Children. Social inclusion of street children in Zambia. The hardships experienced by these young people are mitigated by a climate of friendship and solidarity that will help them overcome the traumas they suffered and reintegrate into society with their head held high.
‘We belong to each other’ is the inscription hand-painted by the kids at the entrance of the Mthunzi Center welcoming those who enter.
This sentence summarises the centre’s real philosophy of action and its meaning is immediately clear. At the foot of a huge Jacaranda tree growing in the middle of the Mthunzi’s courtyard, children and teenagers spend their free time together. The spirit of belonging and sharing among them can be easily seen in their eyes and shows itself in a multitude of actions the children perform at the foot of that large tree: from telling their own life stories to helping prepare lunch and tidy up the various utensils used after consuming their meals.
‘We Belong to each other’ is a genuine hymn to a sense of community that is renewed within the Mthunzi centre. The children frequenting the structure are former street kids raised in the streets of Lusaka far from their family among addictions and abuses, but also illiteracy and lack of education, who live from hand to mouth with the little money they can get through begging and petty thefts. The Mthunzi Center’s facilities offer them a second chance, providing a safe place where they can rest at night and have three hot meals a day and, above all, giving them access to education in a friendly and stimulating environment where they can spend their leisure time, practising recreational activities, sports, as well as the focusing on personal development. All this helps them develop a strong sense of community – the concept of ‘belonging to each other’, as opposed to the harsh and highly individual street life.
It is precisely this sense of community that welcomed me from my very first visit to the Mthunzi; when I was presented with a dish of hot nshima (a type of cornmeal porridge that is a traditional Zambian dish), my wishing the young guests of the centre ‘enjoy the meal’ was all it took to become their ‘Italian brother’ straight away.
Being part of this project, which gives a second chance to children and young people who would otherwise be socially excluded by guaranteeing them the essential human rights, such as access to education, a roof over their heads and a healthy balanced diet, is undoubtedly a great challenge that needs to be met by using every single available resource, but that fills my heart with hope and motivation for this new adventure of mine.
via Donatello 5 B
