I met CELIM in 1985 through a friend; they were looking for a person for administration. At that time there was only one part-time employee, Mariangela, who was hired the month before and with whom she will be feeling right away, and a board of directors consisting mostly of returned volunteers. On April 1, 1985, I was hired, 27 years old and a one-and-a-half-year-old girl, no joke, but it was still the beginning of a beautiful and rich adventure.

At that time young couples were leaving, moved by a humanitarian spirit, a desire for change, for justice. I remember “the missionary mandate” to the departors at the San Siro stadium, young people among young people, stadium cheers, the Spirit was blowing.

The style of CELIM is the encounter with the other, with different cultures, listening, without pretending to impose, but with the desire to come alongside each other to bring one’s professionalism and put it at the service of those who are more disadvantaged in order to reach a true development thought and acted together. Definitely a mutual enrichment. Families meeting families with joys and sorrows to share.

In Africa the first projects would start, then CELIM would open up to Asia, Eastern Europe, etc. Over time, cooperation has changed, the commitment required by the funders of the various programs has become more demanding, the staff employed has become more technical and expert in specific areas, the figure of the volunteer is mostly replaced by that of the cooperator, but the style remains and the relationship with the local population also remains a priority with a view to leaving the various activities undertaken in the hands of the trained local managers, this is the real goal of CELIM, not to build “cathedrals in the desert.”

Now that my work commitment has ended, due to age limit, I continue as a volunteer because I have always considered myself more of a partner than a worker and this common thread keeps me in the CELIM family in spite of those who say that the workplace cannot be a family.

Good life to CELIM beyond 70 years, good life to all of us who have lived and loved it.

Luisa Ranzani
Italy