Today the area is surrounded by damaged houses, cold, and in many cases insufficient and lacking hygenic services. These shambles certainly do not offer homely spaces for families which are rather big. It might be also for this reason that our kids turn to the street for space. The street is an occassion for much transgression and micorcriminality. Other problems are created by the lack of water and of cleanliness. And all this supplimented with lack of education regarding personal and social hygiene and with lack of information about one's rights and duties.
Poverty is caused by the high percentage of unemployment. Where work is lacking, all the family feels insecure, tensed and anxious especially if they are victims of usury. In many cases food is insufficient and there is no fixed meal where all the family is gathered. Health, even the children's, is not looked after very well and during the holidays, child labour is common.
Family crisis, ufortunately, is widespread. Families are numerous, lacking basic education caused by cultural and material poverty. The family is exposed also to frequent imprisonment of its members, especially fathers and elder brothers. Another problem is the lack of preparation of young couples which form through fuitine - when two young people decide to run away since they are not given the consent of their parents to marry. They retrun after sometime and usually the girl is pregant and therefore marriage seems to be the only solution. In many cases, delinquency finds in the families the necessary stimulus and the young are generally its victims. The young are those who suffer at the end of the day and some of them suffer emotional instability, have a gang/clan mentality and they have no role-models to whom they can look up to. This situation pushes them to become aggressive and to hurt others... and themselves.
For many, school is the only educational and social alterantive and which transmits values of peace, justice and solidarity. In many schools there are the services of equipes with psycholgical and pedagogical expertise and these are very supportive for the cildren and for the family. The schools also organise activities with social targets and awareness, like the cleaning of beaches, and also cultural activities where the children can appreciate their heritage and their city.
The quartiere has its positive aspects too. There are close friendships among the families, people help each other in times of need, the closeness of one house and another thus people do not feel alone, the opportunity to play in the street among friends. People in La Kalsa feel they are living in a small village in a big city. When there is a climate of trust, the children are open and affective, the families are welcoming and human relationships are warm. This is where we live our experience. The children teach us a lot and although they are quite a bunch to control, they make our day a happy one. We try to give them much love and affection and to instil in them values that will help them to build a better society.
The Experience is of human value. The contact with the poor helps us to face life with more optimism. The children, who have nothing, teach us how to appreceate what we have. They teach us to strenghthen our values and principles and how to appreciate them more. Although the experience is a short one, it becomes a landmark in those who experience it.
The Experience teaches us to be humble. The presence of the residents in the house of the sisters teach us how lucky we are not to be alone in this world. These residents have nobody apart from the sisters. Often they are elderly and some don't even remember where they come from. They are people who crave for love and attention. The group is always ready to make them happy.
In order to make the best of this experience, one must give without expecting anything in return. Also the will to share everything with others must always be present. At the end of the experience we realise that what we gave is outweighed by what we received.
