M comes from Mali. When he was accepted in the Casa Famiglia he did not speak a word of Italian and was afraid of everything. Slowly he began to trust the educators, to play football, to go out and about with the other boys, even Italians, and especially with a Rwandan boy, also in Casa Famiglia, who had lost his hearing due to meningitis.
When his Italian improved, M made numerous friendships with volunteers from the Family Home; he also established close relations with two families of the Movement of Foster Families of the Borgo Ragazzi Don Bosco who involved him in their activities. Not without difficulty, he obtained his middle school diploma and gained some work experience, but his goal, or at least the one entrusted to him by his family of origin, was to go, once adult, to Spain, where he had a cousin; there they believed there was more money to be earned there, and according to his parents' plans, M would help them build a house for himself and his family in the village he had left in Mali.
On turning 18, the educators of the Family Home guided and accompanied him towards an adult structure that welcomed him in and helped continue the project that they had started. But despite his reference families' warnings of the dangers and opportunities he was leaving behind, M left for Spain. As was to be expected, he did not find anything he had hoped to find. They took his money and documents from him and sent him to work as a day laborer. He began to send desperate messages to the Family Home that had hosted him as a teenager. As soon as it was possible, a plane ticket was purchased to have him return to Rome.
Once in Rome, M understood the error, and with the help of another family he found a job in a building site. He worked hard and soon obtained two pay raises for his efforts. Thus he started sending money to his family to build the house. M continues to spend his free time at Borgo Ragazzi Don Bosco and the other teens look at him as an example.
