Disappointment and Bright Spots
Dear friends of Ombre e Luci,
I am Stefano's sister. He is twenty-two, with significant motor and intellectual delays.
I have wanted to write to you for some time now—first, to tell you how much I admire your magazine. It strikes me as genuinely beautiful, useful, and lived. When you share experiences that others can recognize in their own lives, you offer real help and encouragement to keep going. The moments of crisis are always there, and so often we feel utterly alone in facing them.
Stefano suffered a birth trauma. He received no assistance because he was born on a Sunday at noon, when one obstetrician was leaving and the other had not yet arrived. He was born at San Carlo, one of Milan's largest hospitals.
He walked at four and a half, after grueling daily physical therapy. He spoke at eight, with ongoing speech therapy—though even now his speech is limited; he uses his mouth very little, perhaps because the effort is simply too great, or he is lazy. He attended school through middle grade, learning to write and read, though very slowly. When middle school ended, a very difficult period began. For about a year, Stefano stayed home because Milan had no suitable educational program to continue his development and help him master his abilities more fully—nothing except the centers for the most severely disabled.
We managed to place him in a day center, which he still attends, but it feels more like a holding pen than a real educational program. He can go there until he turns twenty-five. He'll be twenty-three in January. And then what?
I am writing to you not only to express my disappointment, but also to tell you about some deeply positive experiences—entirely funded by our family—that Stefano has had outside the center.
For about nine years, he has done hippotherapy, which has been truly valuable and rewarding for him.
For about four years, he has taken part with real enthusiasm in track-and-field competitions, coached by the Milanese Sports Association. This organization, sustained almost entirely by volunteers, trains young people like Stefano in the gym once a week. The results are remarkable in every way.
I am enclosing some informational materials, and I remain available for any further questions.
About a month ago, Stefano began attending a three-year program in applied musicology, directed by Monsignor Sequeri. The program will bring a small group of young people with disabilities to perform in a classical music concert. Stefano is genuinely excited.
I am enclosing some photographs of Stefano.
Maria Carla Farioli - Milan
(1) We will provide information about this sports association in an upcoming issue.
I Do Many Things
Dear Ombre e Luci,
You do your duty—wonderfully. You are skilled, you work well. In your magazine you think of all the disabled people, you include them, and the sick too, and it is clear that you give your life to everyone, you let them all have a voice.
I have become part of you. I would like to be in the magazine—is that possible? If not, that's all right.
I am doing many things. I stuff envelopes, folding them and then putting them in the addressed envelope, then I seal them and take them home to mail.
Sometime I will come and see what a magazine office is like.
See you soon. I send you my best wishes for health and good work.
Your collaborator,
Silvia Fiumano
A Small Flame
Dear Ombre e Luci,
Since I began working as a social worker at a center for people with intellectual disabilities—ANFFAS in Agrigento—a small flame has slowly kindled in my heart. Little by little it has grown, reaching such intensity that today it gives me the courage to accept human suffering with greater peace.
The group of young people I work with in theater workshops, along with all the young people at the center, have become part of my social and emotional life, not just my work. They have become my small great friends.
For about a year now—since I discovered your magazine—I have felt a strong need to witness what I have experienced. I want to tell you that I am ready to collaborate, and I am sending you photographs that capture moments when our young people come together.
Regarding exclusion, my hope is that from now on no one will feel left out or alone in the world, and that everyone will be able to share their experiences with others. This is why I ask you not to stop your work: you give us readers an emotional intensity that stirs us to work in the social sphere with authentic dedication and genuine solidarity.
Sabrina Alletto - Agrigento
Paolo Is Very Happy
I want you to know that Paolo, besides being a devoted supporter of your magazine, is also someone with a disability who has been part of the Don Bosco community since 1983.
Paolo is very happy to be part of Faith and Light. He looks forward with real excitement to gatherings with friends, especially to the Sunday days spent together, which bring him such joy.
I will send my contribution for 1995 in good time.
Wishing you good work and a bright future for your magazine, I send you warm greetings.
M. Concetta D'Andrea