The third Frontier City: Bolzano

Ok, should be the last picture of the Baobab crew!  This was our meeting in Bolzano.  I know you are laughing because all of our meetings are held in a bar, but when you have no office space, where else can you go?

The lady in the red coat is the 'director' of the grassroots group in Bolzano.  She is giving us a tour of her city.

Of course on our walk, you just happen upon this sweet scene.  Those dolomites were calling to us, but alas we had to leave that evening and start back to Rome because the very next day we were flying to Sicily!

The crew was watching a soccer game organized by the grassroots group.  The refugees all speak 'soccer' it's the universal language.  It's a great way for them to forget about their troubles, work with their teammates, forget about differences in culture and language, and burn off some energy.  We are allocating funds to rent a field in Rome for just that reason.

And soccer also helps the refugees to integrate with the local citizens.  As I said, we left for Rome that evening because we had a trip to Sicily on our agenda.  It was a good experience to go to the three frontier cities.  We learned a lot, met loads of people. saw a lot of caring devoted citizens helping and contributing.  We have a backlog of ideas and projects and people to keep track of, so all in all a very productive trip.

The Second Frontier City: Como

Baobab Experience:  The crew from left is Myrium, ?, Andrea, Tom, Rosaria, ?, Francesca, Nurit.  Andrea is the head guy(a stain-glass window maker by trade)  Roasaria is the accountant and the ''mother' (retired librarian, married and one son), Myriam is multilingual and keeps everyone connected.  Nurit is an Israeli, and works somewhere in the UN,  Francesca is a photo journalist.  All support Baobab with their talents and time and means.

We were invited to dinner at Andrea's family farmhouse.  Fireplace in every room.  The kitchen is of course the gathering place.

Fried anchovies.  I had never had them.  Eyes and tails left on.  Eat them whole.  Not bad really. 

Easter Sunday Lunch with the refugees from the camp at the Parish.  These boys have found jobs and want to stay in Italy.   One is a welder, the other are gardeners.  They have been here over a year and feel 'settled'...but they still live in the parish.  It's getting housing on your own that is tricky.  That's true for people everywhere~

We toured the camp at the Parish.  One of the problems is boredom!

They had to put in lockers for each of the men.  The Pastor said it's the 'war of the poor'.

They house about 50 permanent residents.  Then allow about another 50 to come and sleep in their large rooms by simply pulling out extra mattresses.  One of the needs is help in paying for their water bill.  Can you imagine the water used by 100 people in one day?  All those showers, and toilets, and sinks???

You don't see many babies, but many women arrive already pregnant on the boats.  One lady was pregnant on arrival and delivered twins.  We got to hold them:  Anita and Joy were their names.

The pastor uses this van to go around the city and pick up 'stray' refugees and bring them to his parish to feed and house them, and of course help them if he can.  Because of his efforts many of his parishoners don't come to church anymore.  The community also insists that the 50 men who come there to sleep won't be allowed to do that either, so by law that will have to stop as of May 1st.

The pastor's office.  He doesn't live in splendor that's for sure.

The chapel in Como.  We attended Easter Services here.  They combined Como I and II and it was like being at Stake Conference there were so many people!  Gorgeous building, well actually a chateau!

At the end of the day it was nice to sit back and enjoy the view.  All these problems right there in this beautiful city of Como.  You really don't see it on the streets but it's there simmering.  All you have to do is gaze at this scene and you felt that all will be right in the world.

The first of the Three Frontier Cities: Ventimiglia

Definitely a young group here.  We met in the Hobit Bar to hold our meeting.  Of course they have no office! Dad taking notes.  We met lots of people.  Lawyers, Doctors and just concerned citizens.

The girl in the grey sweatshirt is Danielle.  She is a lawyer and is holding her meetings on the terrace of the church.  Again, no office to meet in!  There is also the translator in the blue vest.

This is the 'office' space they hope to rent.  It's tiny but at least it would be somewhere for the refugees to charge their phones and use the internet.  It would be a place for the lawyers to explain 'rights' to the refugees and also a place for medical doctors to do basic exams.

The only place so far that we have found that accepts the help of volunteers to come in for a day or two to help out.  So if you want to sign up, go here and see if you will be accepted.  It's a camp that is in the local parish.  The volunteers help cook and clean as well as socialize with the refugees.  All the refugees in this camp are women and minors.  So if you are over 18 and a man, sometimes you have to find other arrangements, like the arrangements below.

The pretty stuff

We had an interview with a writer from the Desert News.  We figured he interviewed us so that when the news was really dry and stale and there was absolutely nothing else to report on, he could pull out 'our story' and put it on the back page somewhere just to fill in.  Or most likely, never print it at all.  At any rate, he requested a picture with the both of us.  So on Sunday we had somebody catch us doing out stuff.  

We have one refugee in our ward, Chris.  He doesn't want his picture taken.  We interviewed Chris:  he has been here almost three years and is still housed in a camp!  It's an hour train ride to come to church.  He lives in a camp with 50 other men, (15 Christians the others are Muslim)  His permit to stay in Italy expires in 5 months and he is worried . The reason he left was because two tribes were fighting over land and killed his father and brother, so he feared for his life and fled.  

Our first time to make it outside of Rome for a possible project in Florence.  It is with the MEDU team there.  Yes, MEDU is loved by everybody and this project will most likely be approved.  Florence team wants to get more help with psychological care for the refugees in their area.

How about the next visitors who come, we go on up to this little place for the week-end?  We checked out the hotel on the knob of the hill.  Rooms are teeny but the view is great!  We pulled off here to check it (on our way to Florence) because Dad read that a scene from one of the James Bond movies was filmed here (Quantum of Solace).  It's called Talamone.

Portovenere.  We stopped here the first night on our way up to Ventimiglia.  It's on the edge of the Cinque Terre.  All these pretty shots are from there.  Great little place for a stop over, don't you think?  They have a boat that goes to all the cities on the Cinque Terre for 33euros per person.  Next time.

One month in Rome

All friends!  Tom is LDS, Prof Nasso is Presbyterian,  Claudio Paravati is Methodist.  All working together for Mediterranean Hope and Humanitarian Corridors.  We had a great meeting with this group and hope to partner with them.  They will host us in Sicily to view their camps, one which is in Lampedusa which has the largest influx of migrants.  After our tour we will  then discuss the needs that we perceived and go from there.  Our trip will be in April.  

This is Barbara Ventura, who facilitated the meeting with Mediterranean Hope.  She is a gold mine of information and help.  We are as connected as we are because of her.  She is intelligent, hard working, bi-lingual, very connected, and very humble.  She is the Stake Public Affairs Director for Rome West.  She may have already been introduced but I can't give her enough credit.  Sadly, she is unemployed and is 'wasting' all of her money in a lawsuit against her former employer.  Today she had a court appearance and it all went haywire.  My heart goes out to her.

Hot chocolate you eat with a spoon.  It doesn't even drip off.  It's like eating pudding.  Doesn't really count as a drink. While on this senior day trip, one of the seniors said that their kids think they are on one big vacation because they always post their p-day photos.  So he started posting dirty missionary apartments they inspected, etc.  So if you think we are on one big vacation I'll start posting all the forms and emails and paperwork we fill out for our projects, and all the bus rides and metro rides we take to get to our meetings, and most impressive will be posting the frustrations of what we see and what we do that we can't fix!!!  I loved what the CES couple said:  "CES doesn't mean church education system, it means Cook Every Second"...luckily I am spared that!!!

P-day we went with the other Senior Couples to the Pope's Summer Palace.  Pope Francis (current Pope) opened this up to the public because he prefers to live more simply.  When the director of the church of Sant Egidio heard where we are living he said, "The Pope would be happy that you are living among the poor!"

The church presented the "Values of the Family Award" to Gianluigi De Palo (President of the organization of families), the meeting was hosted in the House of Representatives on Wednesday April 5th.  The presentation was given by Raimondo Castelllani (Public Affairs Director for Italy) and Alessandro DiniCiacci (our area 70)

After the meeting was over, I took this photo because the room really was cool.  It was on Via Seminario 76, just next to the Pantheon.  The bookshelves are full of real books!

After the presentation, we had two hours to fill because we were invited to a dinner downtown with Raimondo Castellani and the leaders of Sant Egidio.  Just walking from one appointment to another is sheer pleasure b/c Rome never ceases to supply gorgeous scenes.

Like this scene too.  I love that there is a peaceful walkway along the Tiber.

Before dinner we attended a Catholic mass:  Santa Maria in Trastavere.  Pictured is Raimondo and his wife Anita.  On the right is a lovely lady who hosted us at Sant Egidio.  We attended the full mass and sang the songs!

Dinner Italian style:  start at 9:30pm and finish at 11:30pm. (we stayed so late the metro closed and we had to take a taxi home!) This restaurant is just behind the Santa Maria Cathedral.  The Catholic church owns the restaurant and hires people that would otherwise be unemployable:  some with disabilities, another was a gypsy girl who wanted to escape her surroundings and change her life.  Claudio (seated far left) is the assistant to the President.  This was just an initial meeting and further partnering will happen after Easter!  They are much too busy with the upcoming Easter season.  Claudio is the one who thinks Pope Francis would be happy to hear we live in Montespaccato.

I am certain that you don't read most of this, but at least if you are wondering what we are doing and why we are so busy, this gives you an idea.  And it's my photo journal for the mission.  Thus the lengthy captions!  It's therapeutic for me to record where/how/what we spend our time doing.  I wouldn't trade this mission for any other mission in the world.  Tailor made for us.  We both love it.

Angel Moroni

Angel Moroni was placed on the Rome Temple on March 25, 2017.  Big Day for the Rome area saints.  We were not invited to attend, this photo was taken by our Mission President, which he shared with me.

I think the bird's eye view of the Rome Temple complex is really cool.  You can see clearly the temple.  Straight across will be the visitors center, which will have the life size statue of the Christus, as well as all 12 apostles, all made in marble from Carrera (where Michael Angelo got his marble for the Pieta!)  On each side of the temple with the red roofs:  the stake center and the patron housing...I'm guessing the larger building is the patron housing.  The parking is in a semi-circle around the complex. (which is also cool).  The one tid-bit of info that you might find incredulous:  there were no historic ruins found when they dug the foundations!  Impossible in Rome!!!  Also built AFTER they had the land for the temple is a huge mall across the street which has 8 million visitors a year!  And from the mall terrace is a bird's eye view of the temple.  Now how about that?

On the same day that Moroni was placed on the temple, we (along with the couple that was training us in refugee aid from Frankfurt, the Stays) went to the east coast to a village of the name of Pescara.  There we took part in a service project putting together hygiene kits.  The Red Cross were the first to arrive and be welcomed.

Tom talking to Angelo Melone, now in the Stake Presidency but prior was the public affairs director and the man who organized the service project.  So on the same day we met Angelo Melone was the same day that Angel Moroni was placed.

 Angelo Melone....Angel Moroni.....

There was a great community feeling about the project with lots of good feelings and comradery.  Red Cross, Civil Protection, Psychologists for the People, and San D'Egidio (Catholic organization) and the Mayor's Office.  The Stays are the Europe Area Refugee Specialists and they gave a presentation on the Church's humanitarian efforts.  Very nice to have that overview, for members as well as non-members.

The assembling of hygiene kits.  It was chaos to the max, but in a couple of hours it was all organized and ready for delivery.  Amazing.  Everyone participated.  It was inspiring.

Sunday.  A member of our ward Hanim Shakir (far right) brought her investigator friend.  He only spoke Arabic so she translated for us.  Both are Egyptians.  He was a refugee who arrived back in 2012, before the huge influx of today.  His story was of becoming a Christian and being tormented for his beliefs, to the extent that he had to flee to protect his life.  His wife was unable to join him and has since passed away in Egypt, and of course he couldn't be with her.  Hanim's story:  Two marriages and two children and then joined the church at 54 (missionaries first talked to her in the park!), after which her family disowned her because of her Christian beliefs.  First son shot by the police b/c he was on drugs and doing illegal things, second son slowly took all her money.  She has served temple missions to Switzerland, London, and Frankfurt and also a mission to Manchester!  She is now 74!  Amazing woman with a burning testimony.

The Stays who came from Frankfurt for specific training in refugee aid.  Here we are for a simple lunch after church on the terrace of our small temporary apartment.  We loved that place:  right by the metro stop!  Aaargh, we miss the convenience b/c we find we have meetings almost every day downtown!

Sunday evening Senior Potluck dinner (every 6 weeks at the Mission Home)  This was our first time to attend.  It was great fun to meet all the other couples.  Most are actually working on the temple.  Front and center is Anziano Simmoncini and he does all the procuring of apartments and their upkeep.  Second row from right:  the Fenns who are the directors for the temple building: They have been here SIX years!!! Then next to them is a couple from Deseret News (Taylors, and they were just visiting). They are also the Branch Pres for the missionaries going to Rome at the MTC.   They were here to report on the placing of Angel Moroni and are good friends with the Mission Pres.  Too hard to explain everyone else, just know it was super fun to chat and get to know so many other couples here in Rome!

We were back at Tiburtina Train station to visit with MEDU and also had a meeting with the Director of Baobab:  Andrea Costa.  It was a very fruitful meeting in that we identified ways that we could help their efforts.  They truly are hands on with the refugees and are doing a lot of good. Here they are lined up for food which volunteers bring in three times a day!

  I wanted to share just one story that is printed in the MEDU booklet:
  "Today Vos Hestia Ship arrived in Pozzallo Harbor together with 300 rescued persons from two different operations.  Migrants are mainly coming from West Africa, some of them are also coming from Pakistan, Sudan: there are 105 not accompanied minors.  Many report fuel burns. Almost all the migrants said they had suffered violence and torture in Libya.    An 18 year old boy from Ivory Coast referred to the MEDU team spent more than 7 months in a Libyan prison where he was brutally beaten every day and forced to hard labor.  The boy shows clear physical signs of violence on his body and says:"My body is full of scars but larger wounds are in my heart.  I do not know if I will return to the person I was before."
A 30 year old woman from Ivory Coast lost 2 daughters, aged 14 and 6 just before boarding.  The woman told us that traffickers entered the connection house and started taking people, and they took the 2 girls.  These stories were collected by Flavia Calo, coordinator of MEDU team in Sicily. 

I like to end my posts on a lighter note.  Just a pretty hilltop town outside of Rome.

A small lake just outside of Rome.  Our P-days are really P-afternoons.  The luxury of a full day seems just that, a luxury.  Maybe it will slow down when the Italian heat sizzles?