"Every day, at home, we put at the disposal of the children everything we have," says Ilenia, "from our professional skills to our being women and men, with our strengths but sometimes also counting on our weaknesses. When I arrived, what immediately struck me was the familiar climate one breathes: the children feel this apartment as a real home and this makes them active protagonists and permits them to develop potential for their autonomy."
The GAF of Palermo is a structure designed to welcome and accommodate young adults who, according to Italian law, are forced to leave their family homes. At GAF, they can continue to receive support towards their adult life choices.
"The Don Bosco Apartment Group," says Mauro, "is a place where children face a daily life made up of small commitments and responsibilities, a path in which sometimes the worst enemy to face are the ghosts of the past, the figures of absent or even negative adults. As educators, adults of reference, we have a dual responsibility: to succeed, with words and above all with deeds, to restore their trust and hope in life."
In Italy, there are about 800 qualified operators who work every day within the Salesian network for Social, which for 25 years has chosen to be close to those young people who are alone who have received less from life. "Our kids," Ilenia concludes, "know that we believe in them and that ours is not just a job, but it is a mission: because their future is close to our heart."
Education is a thing of the heart ... but also by profession! It cannot be improvised, especially when one is next to young people who have had to face personal or family difficulties in life.
For more information, visit the Salesiani for Social site.
