change language
you are in: home - friendsh...the poor - the aged - visiting...ambique) newslettercontact uslink

Support the Community

  

Visiting the elderly along with the Dream Community in Beira (Mozambique)


 
printable version

Visiting the elderly along with the Dream Community in Beira (Mozambique)
March 9, 2011

The Dream Community of Beira after Easter last year started visiting guests at a center run by the Ministry of Social Action of Nhangau, about 25 km from Beira.

It is the only facility of this type of provinces of Sofala and Zambezia: 25 houses in the past military housing, lacking electricity and water, which now accommodate many poor families and elderly left alone.

It is Saturday: we move from Beira at 6 am with baskets of food and fresh fruit juices kept in the cool box. The journey is quite long and difficult especially for the last 16 km of gravel road, traveled by bicycle and by trucks crowded with people.

Guests are 73: 12 children, lepers 3, 4 disabled and 54 elderly. All have stories of poverty and neglect. Almost no one knows his age, older women do not speak Portuguese, but only the local dialects. The men, however traveled to work, even in the tobacco plantations in Zimbabwe, they speak Portuguese and a bit of English. Through their lives one can go throughout the history of Mozambique, the colonial period, the civil war and finally peace.

Pasqua tells of her seven children that the disease and the war took away. A young man tells us to be born in the center and never have gone out. Isabel shows her hands and feet marked by leprosy, and recalls that her illness dates back to colonial times. She is happy to see Leonor and does not stop to thank her for the fabric that she has given her and that she wears proudly. Also Chica is grateful for the precious jar of face cream, which was given with care and she had wanted for so long.

Most of the children are there with their grandparents, the smallest is about 2 years, everyone has a great desire to play.
The resources available are limited, food is scarce, some days, unfortunately, is not 'enough for all.
It is alive the memory of the Christmas lunch, a day of great celebration and good and plentiful food.
The visit ends with a greeting to Maguinezia who, by taking the hands of her young Dream friend says, "When I'm alone I think of you and I feel stronger ...".

The trip back seems shorter and less rugged, filled with the faces, the smiles, the plans for the future...


 

 
   
   

30 anni di amicizia
con gli anziani

RELATED NEWS
January 18 2018

Elderly: the creation of a Minister for Loneliness in the United Kingdom is an alarm bell


Enabling in Europe protection networks against social isolation and favour alliance between generations. The experience of the programme "Viva gli Anziani" ("Horray for the Aged!") and the movement of the Youth for Peace
IT | EN | ES | DE
October 4 2017
ROME, ITALY

A Conference remembering the 25 years from the signing of the peace in Mozambique: The Italian model that has given hope to Africa


A Peace made by mediators without vested interests and who believed that peace was always possible
IT | EN | DE | PT
October 4 2017

25 years of peace in Mozambique: the history of a country getting out of war and poverty

IT | EN | ES | DE | PT | ID
July 14 2017
MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE

The challenge of communicating the Gospel to a changing society: Andrea Riccardi visits the Communities in Mozambique


Representatives from across the country gathered at a convention in Maputo in preparation for the 50th anniversary of the Community of Sant'Egidio.
IT | EN | ES | DE | FR | PT | NL | ID
July 13 2017
LILONGWE, MALAWI

Let's fill the gap with the poor: Sant'Egidio in Lilongwe renewes the commitment of the poorest in Malawi


The Communities gathered in a meeting with Marco Impagliazzo. The visit to the Dream Center and to the street children
IT | EN | ES | DE | NL | ID
July 11 2017
BENIN

Benin: Sant'Egidio opens in Savé a Family House for elderly in need


Many people at the inauguration to give a warm welcome to the first guests of the house
IT | EN | ES | DE | FR | ID
all related news

ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 21 2018
Vatican Insider
Sant’Egidio si unisce alla Giornata di digiuno per Congo e Sud Sudan indetta dal Papa
February 19 2018
FarodiRoma
I 50 anni di Sant’Egidio. Intervista a Chiara Turrini, impegnata in Mozambico
February 10 2018
SIR
50° Sant’Egidio: Gentiloni (presidente del Consiglio), “dalla condizione dei più deboli si misura il benessere autentico di una società”
February 7 2018
Avvenire
L'Italia già «casa comune». Anziani e badanti, la forza di un abbraccio di debolezze
January 26 2018
Il Mattino di Padova
«Il dolore è lingua che accomuna»
all press-related

PHOTO

173 visits

193 visits

193 visits

187 visits

176 visits
all the related media