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history of the Foundation began in 1988, thanks to the providential
meeting of
Giorgio and Zeninha (Lusenice) at FAMEB, a centre for minor
infractors. Giorgio recalls: "I was invited to give some talks
to the resident adolescents and it was here that I got to know Zeninha,
a volunteer worker who was giving literacy and numeracy classes.
Very soon we were on the same wavelength because we were both very
willing to extend a helping hand. |
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After talking to the children individually and sharing the different
moments and stages of that reclusive life, we were both very sad
having to abandon them to that inhuman situation, without any future,
we decided to do something to help them, set up a new way of attending
to them, an alternative to the street life and reformatory. This
is how we began this experience. |
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The Count Franco Gilberti
The first five years convinced us that in order to help a person grow,
real and profound changes can be obtained in the "long term",
and above all with God's Providence. In fact, we had to change locations
three times in order to protect the children, due to death threats and
the continuous attempts made to get them involved in drug trafficking;
this was made possible thanks to the providential and extraordinary intervention
of Countess Maria Teresa
Gilberti from Milan. In 1994 our experience was consolidated becoming
a Foundation, and we dedicated it to the memory of her husband, Count
Franco, a person much esteemed for his kindness and generosity to
the poor. |
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A
great opportunity
During all of these years we gave shelter to hundreds of children and
to single mothers. A lot of them returned to work with us as "house
parents" and other opted to live alone once having found work and
a house to live in. Unfortunately some of them returned to street life
again getting involved in drug trafficking and finally ending up being
brutally murdered. In our Oratory we kept their pictures as a reminder
to all that these tragedies could have been avoided if they hadn't been
misled, so if we can be sure of receiving help from friends and benefactors,
we can offer these children the opportunity of a new life.
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Our
mission
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A SOCIO-EDUCATIVE AID GROUP THAT COMBATS HUNGER, ILLNESS,
ILLITERACY, VIOLENCE, MARGINALIZATION, INFANTILE-JUVENILE
EXPLORATION AND PROSTITUTION, TOXICDEPENDANCY, RACISM, SOCIAL
EXCLUSION, FAMILY AND PERSONAL DISORIENTATION.
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"Its main priority is to permanently serve, without lucrative
ends, regardless of religion, race and sex those adolescents who
have severed links with their families, do the utmost to orient
them in an educated, healthy, Christian and family atmosphere,
offering them a psycho-affective and professional formation with
the view of re-integrating them back into society and where possible
back into their original families. Where viable, the Foundation
will offer shelter to single mothers, young adolescents along
with their off springs until a more permanent and dignified solution
is found to their problem."
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(Second
Article of the Statutes)
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