Friday 23 December 2016

Manila, Philippines - "Then they opened their treasures and offered gifts" ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the Lord who is coming. 

A gift for each and every one at the Christmas lunch, a thought and personalized gift ...

Thursday 22 December 2016

Mtwara, Tanzania - "Let's go and see the event the Lord has made us know"

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the Lord who is coming. 

A Christmas lunch that is announced in all the languages of the world ....

Wednesday 21 December 2016

Rome, Italy - The children's crib in the streets of the suburbs ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the Lord who is coming. 

A living Nativity scene set up by the children of the School of Peace in the streets of Primavalle and Montespaccato areas.

Tuesday 20 December 2016

Mbabane, Swaziland - If you can't wait for living the Christmas lunch ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the Lord who is coming. 

Some Christmas lunches are a bit in advance ....

Monday 19 December 2016

Lagos, Nigeria - An invitation you can not refuse ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the Lord who comes. 

Invitations for Christmas lunch ....

Friday 16 December 2016

London, United Kingdom - Approaching the Christmas lunch ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the Lord who is going to come. 

In London community members are preparing the decorations for the hall that will host the Christmas lunch with the poor.

Thursday 15 December 2016

Lima, Peru - A meeting that gives warmth and confidence ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the outskirts. 

The beauty of the meeting, in the evening, in the old town square, with the people living on the street. The gratitude and the joy of those who realize themselves no longer invisible. The discovery, for everyone, that you are not alone in a not easy world.

Wednesday 14 December 2016

Goma, Dem. Rep. of Congo - Together you can go further ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the poor. 
May Christian love be "concrete, with the works of mercy", a love "touching the flesh of Christ," said Pope Francis recently. 

Some days ago the Community of Goma has brought a wheelchair to Godelive, a woman 104 years old (an age truly remarkable in Congo!). Let her keep moving towards the future!

Monday 12 December 2016

Rome, Italy - Italian and Chinese people, a prayer against violence ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and prayer. 

In the church of St. Vitus in Esquilino area the Community of Sant'Egidio, along with many Chinese people, national ones and Italians of Chinese origin, prayed yesterday for the young woman Zhang Yao, a student who died tragically as a result of a robbery.

Sunday 11 December 2016

Ostia, Italy - The strength of the years (and of a thousand other fragilities across lifetime)

Yesterday in Ostia, near Rome, the President of the Community of Sant'Egidio, Marco Impagliazzo, presented the awards for the top rated works of the exhibition "The strength of the years". 

It gathered the fruit of the work of the Community Art Laboratories.
Dozens of artists with disabilities had worked along the past year on the themes of old age and on the possibility of living at home, not in an institution, the last part of everyone's life, following the motto "Let's close whatever closes" .

Saturday 10 December 2016

Comayagua, Honduras - Gestures against the death penalty

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the commitment against death penalty. 

In many places in the world, in recent days, initiatives and ceremonies have sought to explain the inhumanity of capital punishment, that there is no justice without a protection of life.

Wednesday 7 December 2016

Lecce, Italy - Friend hands, friend hearts, in a house for the elderly ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the poor. 

In a house for the elderly, where loneliness makes life a sad path, the miracle of friendship, which breaks down every wall, leaves behind all kinds of indifference. To visit the elderly, for young people, is a gift, an opportunity to discover the strength of the years, the power of sharing.

Monday 5 December 2016

Madrid, Spain - Words against the death penalty ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the commitment against death penalty. 

In many places in the world, in recent days, speeches and conferences have sought to explain the inhumanity of capital punishment, that there is no justice without a protection of life (in the picture Tamara Chikunova, mother of a young man executed in Uzbekistan, speaks in a high school in Madrid).

Friday 2 December 2016

Rome, Italy - Safe and sound with the #humanitariancorridors ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and peace.
The experience of the humanitarian corridors is one year old. Its anniversary has been celebrated by welcoming other men, women and children fleeing the war that has bloodied Syria (in the picture the arrival at Fiumicino airport). 

Thanks to Sant'Egidio, to the Waldensian Board, to the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy, 100 new people have been able to find a peaceful landing place without risking their lives in the Mediterranean Sea.

Thursday 1 December 2016

Rome, Italy - An artistic and cultural center in the town far eastern outskirts ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the outskirts. 
In the far eastern outskirts of the Italian capital, in Tor Bella Monaca area, a small artistic and cultural center was born, with a nice museum. 

It's a complex of activities and initiatives (in the picture the painting workshop) which refer to the "Friends", a movement of disabled people, expression of the Community's link with many stories of difficulty and hardship that find in the involvement with art their own ransom and a way to the future.

Wednesday 30 November 2016

Bukavu, Dem. Rep. of Congo - On stage for the elderly ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the poor. 

Youth for Peace in Bukavu taking a picture with the elderly for whom they are going to stage a drama ....

Monday 28 November 2016

Barcelona, Spain - Praying for peace the Lord who "is concerned about" peoples

The Community of Sant'Egidio and prayer. 

Prayer for peace in Les Corts, Barcelona. Every country at war, every place where people suffer from widespread violence, is remembered before Lord's face, before Him, the one who looks on the peoples' condition "and is concerned about them " (Ex: 2,25).

Friday 25 November 2016

Naples, Italy - Helping Africa is a breeze (like a children job)!

The Community of Sant'Egidio and cooperation.
"Rigiocattolo" ("Re-toy") is the name of the campaign of used toys sale that the Country of the Rainbow movement organize in December in Rome and in many other Italian and foreign cities. 

Children and teenagers bring the toys they do not use anymore and involve their classmates to do the same. The principle is simple: not everything has to be thrown away, there is much that can be reused, contributing to the education of the younger generation and environmental sustainability.
Not only. With the money that comes from the sale of the old-new toys at a discounted price it is possible to support humanitarian and cooperative initiatives in Africa and elsewhere.

Thursday 24 November 2016

Milan, Italy - A meeting, a concert, a gift to the prisoners ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the outskirts.
A picture of Emis Killa's concert with the young inmates of San Vittore, on 14th November; an initiative of Sant'Egidio. 

The rapper wrote on his Facebook profile: "Yesterday I celebrated my birthday by making a gift to those who are in prison. It was an experience that gave me a lot in human terms: being welcomed as a brother got me excited".

Wednesday 23 November 2016

Moscow, Russia - The anniversary of a friendship ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the poor. 

The home for the elderly in Moscow is ten years old. Ten years of human warmth, of mutual support between those who are getting older, of togetherness between generations.

Monday 21 November 2016

Antwerp, Belgium - Young people's dream is peace ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and prayer. 

With Youth for Peace in Antwerp: reading the names of the countries at war, waiting that "spears are changed into pruning hooks" (Is 2:4).

Thursday 17 November 2016

Lima, Peru - Outside, to experience hope and faith ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the outskirts.
Dozens of elderly go out. They are leaving the institution where they live in order to pass through the Holy Door of Mercy. 

This going out, that passage, are the sign of a hope stronger than resignation, the ransom of a life that is not sentenced to closure and abandonment.


Wednesday 16 November 2016

Rome, Italy - Elderly and young people together, an experience that grows up ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the poor. 

An afternoon together, the elders of the family-house of "Zion" and the young students of the "De Amicis" vocational school. To remember, to talk, to smile, to think, to work, to build. Because every generation can find in the other one what it is missing. 



Monday 14 November 2016

Paris, France - Keeping alive the light of memory and hope ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and prayer. 

Remembering the ones who passed away, in Paris. Youngest and less young people keep alive the light of memory, affection, hope.

Friday 11 November 2016

Islamabad, Pakistan - Close to those who had to leave everything ...

In the evening, in Islamabad, Sant'Egidio community members visit Afghan refugees who settle as they can in the hidden folds of the city. 

Contrary to popular belief, the majority of refugees in the world are not welcomed in rich countries, but in the countries close to the areas of crisis.

Thursday 10 November 2016

Olomouc, Czech Rep. - Picnic and games with the friends who live on the streets ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the outskirts.
Friendship with those who live on the street means visits, faithfulness, food and hot drinks, blankets and sleeping bags. It also means to take your time, going around together, chatting freely, having fun. 


Tuesday 8 November 2016

London, United Kingdom - The bread shared with the poor has the taste of friendship and joy

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the poor.
At the afternoon soup kitchen of the London community - "our cup of tea together", as they call it - everything has a new flavor, that of friendship and joy. 





Friday 4 November 2016

Goma, Dem. Rep. of Congo - A better future for the children of refugees ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and peace.
It has been officially open, with the delivery of notebooks and other school supplies to the children, the schoolyear of the primary school Floribert Bwana Chui, in Mugunga, at the far outskirts of Goma. 
The school is named after a member of the Congolese Sant'Egidio Community, killed for saying "No!" to a bribe proposal. 
It is the only opportunity for the children of the near refugee camp, where live thousands of people fleeing the militias and the fightings that still jeopardize North Kivu.

Thursday 3 November 2016

Lausanne, Switzerland - Not to make life more difficult for the poor, but to fight poverty

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the outskirts.
A committee made up of parties and associations organized a referendum against the law passed in September by the Grand Council of the Canton of Vaud in order to ban any begging. 

Sant'Egidio in Lausanne supports this referendum, because the aim of Government action should not be to make life more difficult for the poor, but to fight poverty.

Tuesday 1 November 2016

Barcelona, Spain - A light in the darkness of the street ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the poor.
The difficulties of a life on the street are alleviated by the light of memory, by the warmth of friendship. Remembering a birthday together means that you are not alone in front of a dark future. 

Monday 31 October 2016

Yaounde, Cameroon - Prayer for the victims of tragic rail accident ...

The Community of Sant'Egidio and the prayer.
A terrible accident occurred about ten days ago in Cameroon, on the railway between Douala and Yaounde, not far from this city. The last wagons of a train split from the rest of the convoy, hurtling into a ravine. More than 150 deaths were counted. 

The Yaoundé community gathered in prayer remembering all the victims.