Where is "home"?

Dostoevsky, in "Crime and Punishment, puts in the mouth of one of his characters these words: "Every man should have a place to go.". And in very few words he manages to concentrate the measure of the infinite need inscribed in our deepest fibers: the need and desire for a house.

Y "home" is the one that has a roof and walls, inside which we can feel sheltered, be ourselves to the core without fictions; but home is also the place where we are welcomed without objections when we go through difficulties or flee from situations of war, hunger, persecution; the place where we are healed, a web of relationships that are good and special for us.

With this in mind, in order to facilitate its task of responding to the concrete needs of people living in situations of vulnerability throughout the world, AVSI has launched the following campaign Tende 2017-2018 on one question: where is "home"? which provokes and invites you to support four projects to help in crisis situations.

These projects are as follows. In Iraq, the reconstruction of an asylum in Qaraqosh, the population of the Nineveh plain to which the inhabitants expelled by Isis in 2014 are returning; asylum proposed as a place of education and child protection (it hosts 400 children), but also an engine for the reconstruction of a wounded community.

In Syria, Open hospitalstwo in Damascus and one in Aleppo, to ensure care also for the most destitute. In Uganda, an integrated system of actions for the reception of refugees - more than 1.5 million from South Sudan - and the accompaniment, education and job training of young people. In Italy, Portofrancoa network of centers that offer free tutoring and study support to young people in difficulty, Italians and foreigners, thus promoting welcoming and integration.

But the basic intention of this campaign is to combine concrete help with a sharp, personal and common reflection on the issue of poverty. "house", central core for our plural societies to yearn for and be inclusive and free.