City folk often take a while to get in touch with the world of the countryside. Slowing down and observing are two elements in the process. Noting the phases of the moon might also be a question of city light pollution. For what it is worth, in the countryside one learns how the moon waxes and wanes. It indeed is worth a lot to biodynamic and to old Tuscan farmers who, one could say, move with the moon to determine times for sowing, transplanting, pruning, and harvesting.
For Casa Cares January is usually the slowest of months. In a way we go into hibernation. Staff takes well-earned vacation days and we tie the 2009 loose ends together in preparation for another guest season. For once in the year our daily work schedules are typically Monday through Friday, not dictated by the movement and excitement of our guests. That has not been the case this January. In fact, the phases of the moon seem to have rushed by, hard to notice in the frenetic activity and challenges that presented themselves.
The reason is that our Waldensian Church congregation in Florence responded to an emergency. We empathize with the public officials who have to deal with so many social problems, but this time it seemed that an unfair and sloppy job was done with a group of citizens. An issue in Europe, like so many other places, is the migration of people. The flows have changed drastically as the European Union has grown. A consequence for Italy is the particular influx for various reasons of Romanians, now free to cross the borders of the Union without restrictions, which means they are co-citizens. Italy is relatively close and richer than Romania; Italy has often had difficulty in regulating and absorbing immigrants; the two languages are similar; the climate is more attractive than some other possible destinations. Italy is now home to over a million East and Central Europeans, the big majority Romanians.
Housing is a difficulty and shantytowns develop on the outskirts of the cities. Often these are home to the Romanian minority group of “gypsies” known as Rom. In this particular instance our church responded to an emergency resulting from a poorly organized destruction of one of their camps, putting about 100 persons including infants and elderly in the winter cold without any sign of public intervention to respond to their needs. Our congregation put up 70 in the church building for a week and 20 others in our Florence guesthouse, but both responses were limited to a week.
Enter Casa Cares in our winter hibernation phase. Our friends in the church woke us up and asked us to be of help for 2 weeks to have more time to work with the public authorities on more stable solutions. Just the thought of twenty Rom in our quiet countryside disturbed many persons, but we accepted the challenge.
Much could be related and many observations shared, but suffice it to say that for us all has gone well. This includes having many of our prejudices, as so often happens, contradicted by a human contact. Talk together, laugh together, wonder about the future together. These guests are out of the ordinary for us. We can only hope that their brief stay will have been useful to them.
For Casa Cares January is usually the slowest of months. In a way we go into hibernation. Staff takes well-earned vacation days and we tie the 2009 loose ends together in preparation for another guest season. For once in the year our daily work schedules are typically Monday through Friday, not dictated by the movement and excitement of our guests. That has not been the case this January. In fact, the phases of the moon seem to have rushed by, hard to notice in the frenetic activity and challenges that presented themselves.
The reason is that our Waldensian Church congregation in Florence responded to an emergency. We empathize with the public officials who have to deal with so many social problems, but this time it seemed that an unfair and sloppy job was done with a group of citizens. An issue in Europe, like so many other places, is the migration of people. The flows have changed drastically as the European Union has grown. A consequence for Italy is the particular influx for various reasons of Romanians, now free to cross the borders of the Union without restrictions, which means they are co-citizens. Italy is relatively close and richer than Romania; Italy has often had difficulty in regulating and absorbing immigrants; the two languages are similar; the climate is more attractive than some other possible destinations. Italy is now home to over a million East and Central Europeans, the big majority Romanians.
Housing is a difficulty and shantytowns develop on the outskirts of the cities. Often these are home to the Romanian minority group of “gypsies” known as Rom. In this particular instance our church responded to an emergency resulting from a poorly organized destruction of one of their camps, putting about 100 persons including infants and elderly in the winter cold without any sign of public intervention to respond to their needs. Our congregation put up 70 in the church building for a week and 20 others in our Florence guesthouse, but both responses were limited to a week.
Enter Casa Cares in our winter hibernation phase. Our friends in the church woke us up and asked us to be of help for 2 weeks to have more time to work with the public authorities on more stable solutions. Just the thought of twenty Rom in our quiet countryside disturbed many persons, but we accepted the challenge.
Much could be related and many observations shared, but suffice it to say that for us all has gone well. This includes having many of our prejudices, as so often happens, contradicted by a human contact. Talk together, laugh together, wonder about the future together. These guests are out of the ordinary for us. We can only hope that their brief stay will have been useful to them.
Comments