Claudio, a 56 years - old Italian trucker, has been working along the route Italy- Germany since he was 18. A life and a job on-the-road, always driving the truck. Currently, his truck is out of order and Claudio has no choice other than using it as a shelter.Ever since he lost his job one year ago he cannot afford to pay the rent or to support his family.
His wife and his disabled son took refuge in the tiny guest room of a friend’s house. The room is too small for three people, thus Claudio and his family are kept apart.
A good friend helps the family as much as he can afford, but he is not better off. He’s a financially poor man who helps his fellows. It’s hard to live with your head held high when your life is stuck. To start off his life again, Claudio needs a new vehicle with which he can work again and sustain the family.
Silvia is employed, but her salary is not even enough for paying the rent and the household utilities arrears. Moreover she is facing forced eviction. She cannot fully provide for her two young children’s basic necessities. Mom cannot afford any goody bags either.
The economic condition in which those families hit by the financial crises lie, is a real emergency situation. The socio-economic disparities between different strata of the society both in Italy and in Europe are raising and particularly vulnerable groups are suffering the most.
Its’ hard to make it without economic support and in Italy it’s even harder. The country counts almost 9.5 million economic vulnerable and disadvantaged people among jobless individuals and informal workers (Unimpresa, January 2016).
Nove Onlus is a non-profit organization that since 2012 engages in humanitarian aid, education and socio-economic development in Italy, Greece, Ethiopia and Afghanistan. It made the choice to work in Italy in order to support those disadvantaged families that attempt to stay afloat without losing their dignity.
The project conceives both emergency assistance and support targeting social integration as well as the achievement of economic autonomy . It focuses especially on those people who fall into the ‘new poor’ category and do not rely on “welfare dependency”.
The pilot phase ‘Lend a hand to a Roman’ started in 2016 in Rome. This year Nove Onlus assists some families in need, by engaging into various activities such as rehabilitating dilapidated housing; paying for the rent and household utilities; providing a vehicle for business purposes; pledging for market-led vocational training courses.
The project’s innovative formula offers the donors the possibility of establishing a contact with the beneficiary of their contributions. This is to foster a quality relationship among the parties based on solidarity, which transcends the usual and rather impersonal benefactor-beneficiary scheme.
In order to best select the end beneficiaries of this initiative, Nove Onlus collaborates with various partners that know very well the local environment: the 13th administrative division of the Municipality of Rome, the organization Caritas in San Romano Martire and last but not least various local organizations.
SGB Humangest Holding also collaborated on the project by investing its professionalism. In fact it sponsored both vocational training courses and job creation initiatives for some beneficiaries.
This Nove Onlus’ innovative way of helping people goes on, there is so much to be done. The organization is still looking for funding. To join hands visit their webpage-
To follow the many stories from Rome and all the other places around the world where Nove Onlus supports the unsupported join them on Facebook.
Cover photo: Curtesy Nove onlus
