Since the beginning of 2022, Emmaus’ life changed radically. From January, when the possibility of a military invasion was looming, we came up with an evacuation plan to move our beneficiaries from the most dangerous areas: some of the guys from the “Tenth Planet” project were sent in Italy to the Italian host family of the association “I Bambini dell’Est” to whom they had been going every summer for many years; the beneficiaries of the projects “The Flying home” and “Small Universe” were evacuated together with their tutor to L’viv (West of Ukraine).
At the outbreak of the war on February 24 with the support of Italian partners and friends, we decided to go to Italy with our beneficiaries and part of the Emmaus’ team; after eight days of travel we arrived in Novazza, a small town in Northern Italy, where we were welcomed by Anna Serena Pirola in Ca’ Rosei, a pilgrim hostel, from March 2 to August 31, 2022.
Once our beneficiaries were made safe, the Emmaus’ team continued their work. We continued the educational activities with our beneficiaries in Italy. In particular, we immediately resumed the activities of all our projects; with a special focus on jobs or school/educational placements in the Italian context customized for each one of our beneficiaries. At present, the majority of our beneficiaries live together with their tutors in a residence in Milano Bovisa, whereas others live in a host family.
In the first months of war we received many requests to help people leave Kharkiv and bring their children to safety. We responded to these requests and we started a project of refugee reception.
From the beginning of March to the end of April we organized transfers from the Ukrainian border to Italy and we found families that were ready to host refugees; we managed to welcome 113 people. Since March 2022 we have been accompanying Ukrainian refugees and helping them integrate in Italy, through daily support to each individual family. At first, we helped them in the adaptation to the new context and we supported them in their first needs (document registration, educational, healthcare, etc.) and in the relationship with the Italian families by visiting them, meeting the host families and helping them face the concrete problems that emerged. In a second phase, from the end of May to mid-July, we supported each Ukrainian family in making a plan for the future in the medium term through frequent dialogue with them and with the Italian host family and through psychological support to those who felt the need.
Currently, our activity is mainly aimed at supporting the projects designed by the Ukrainian families: we help them to find housing solutions, to find jobs, to learn Italian and, more broadly, to achieve autonomy.