To compose a 70-year-long biography, CELIM is adopting the method of an explorer, in order to filter every juncture, every experience, and then finally succeed in consolidating seasons of stories, tales and memories. To a lesser extent, to Mattia and me, looking back on our smaller history of service in Africa, thinking back to our first approach, now 15 years ago, brings to mind CELIM and the flight that, with universal civil service, took us to Mozambique.

We remember how strong the emotion of the impact was; as soon as we stepped off the plane the depth of the experience we were about to begin flooded us: heat, humidity, smells, sounds all came to our hearts at once. From Maputo we went straight to Inhambane on a beautiful overland journey that took us to the bay: I would be on one side, to Maxixe, and my future husband on the other, to Inhambane.

After each day spent visiting rural communities, working with women and children on food security techniques and child nutritional health, the sweetest hour would push us onto a boat to get to the other side for a meeting with one’s partner. The small house that welcomed us was like our service: essential, unobtrusive, simple. And it was the setting for some of the happiest days of our lives, in which our commitment to work and relationships, both as a couple and as a community, was then the track we wanted to follow in our other life and work experiences.

CELIM taught us, from a very young age, that what counts in cooperative work is yes, professionalism and impeccable technical assistance, but also and above all the ability to weave relationships. Human contact with the beneficiaries was rich and lively every day: with them we sang a song to call the village together, with them we prepared fires and cooked together highly nutritious recipes for children with nutritional deficiencies, with them we transported into theater and smiles the content to be taught. Hard to say who learned the most, impossible to forget the warmth of the project women and the care for each of those children. The enchantment of that year of community service shaped us, as workers and as a couple, and the memory still cradles us, like boats on the bay at sunset.

Chiara Scaraggi and Mattia Grandi
Mozambique