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24 29 28 VI T A PI U ` VI T A PI U ` CANOSSIAN FOUNDATION CANOSSIAN FOUNDATION The future of our Mission depends on walking with the less fortunate Afterschool help for children in Encarnacion - Paraguay. Canossian Community of El Obeid, Sudan. A street child - El Obeid, Sudan. unexpectedly it may open up possibilities of new life. How can we not hear, in the midst of burning sands, impassable roads, refugee camps that have survived domination, the cry of these peoples in flight? There is a constant stream of people of all ages, fleeing from unending wars, without a destination or safety, with only the risk of falling once again into even more distressing situations. Politics, culture, religion are more important ... not the person and his integration! Expressing words of commiseration or pity does not help when the situation has already precipitated. A young boy, Paul, after three days lying on dirty rags in a hut, suffering from a severe headache and finding no help, died at the age of 23. How can we silence our conscience? By remaining in silence alongside those different from us without asking, without defending oneself from judgement, without demanding answers. Silence teaches us true partnership and illumines big or small initiatives, without the need for explanations. Love is a sense of wonder even in the face of atrocious suffering and helps to re-design paths on the front line, adapting to the fast or slow pace of every brother or sister. Would you like to be a part too? The Canossian Foundation already looks forward to your contribution! Sr. Liliana Director of the Canossian Foundation ONLUS and poor hygiene. I see crowds of kids without shoes in refugee camps who roll up their out-sized trousers to enter the water. Which water? A muddy puddle denied transparency to reflect the colours of a clear sky. Jumping around happily, their arms wide open to the infinite and, for those few moments, they feel part of the world and forget their daily hardships. I stopped in the narrow alleys of a slum to talk with a teenager whose face was half covered, marked by strange wrinkles. She did not know whether to respond to my greeting, then she smiled. A simple exchange of words that revealed her world where indifference, lack of affection and ignorance reign ... It was as if I found myself faced with a life extinguished at its very beginning. The clouds in the sky, the leaves on the trees, sunflowers ... did not arouse any emotion in her; it was as if she were wrapped in an invisible net with fine mesh, no voice, no light, without the chance of prolonging her gaze or the pleasure of living close to one another. No consoling word could explain that moment. Fortunately the world is always bigger than our powerlessness and A chance to reflect? Perhaps yes, we need to! “The Canossian mission urges us to serve, prevent and defend rights- duties by promoting joint projects, being inspired by the same values and involving everyone.” 2,802 TIMES THANK YOU A sincere and cordial thank you to the 2,802 people who, in 2010, chose to destine their tax returns to the Canossian Foundation. The sum of 82,139.10 Euros which we received will contribute, in a substantial way, to the realisation of our projects. T he less fortunate are our reference point for discussion. How can we re-think “gratuity” in a continually changing society and “gap” between generosity and selfishness? Canossian Communities everywhere are a true sign of the attention constantly given to promotion: action which is intelligent, informed, tireless and has nothing to do with sporadic voluntary interventions, but is motivated solely by the “greatest love”. It is the gift of self, in gratuity, the fruit of one’s labour: a gift that has no economic value nor boasts of quantity; rather it has the value of credible witness which knows how to transform reality and instil passion. Passion, shown through the goodness of our initiatives and the availability of our service towards others, is an encouraging virtue and opens us to hope. Travelling around the world I see “many good things”, but they are reserved for the few, while the needle of the global scale marks stagnancy in numerous situations of poverty, infant mortality due to malnutrition “Hope is demanding, hardworking, patient and able to bring out the best in ourselves and others.” A. Riccardi
