When I told you about the Blue Room, I mentioned there are so many good things that don't get talked about enough. For instance: volunteer associations. Just as not everyone knows Faith and Light, there are people who've never heard of Sant'Egidio. I learned about them thanks to Marco Ciucciarelli (and I'm grateful!) after spending a long time searching to expand what I know. Because I love being around many people, but mostly I love discovering new things. That said, Sant'Egidio is very much like Faith and Light: they too work to support people with disabilities. I'm telling you this because, like many other associations, they struggle to find support from outside sources. Take the art workshops they organize, for example (some run twice a week, others just once). These workshops survive largely through self-funding: it's us who contribute money to keep things going.
On June 28th there was an exhibition of all the work we made—us, people with disabilities. We put ourselves out there, showing our pieces made in the Ostia workshop. We don't have a set space to display our work, unfortunately, but we have a real desire to show what we're capable of doing. Not everyone gets the chance to shine with their passions and gifts, because often people push us aside. Sant'Egidio, just like Faith and Light, works within their means to make sure that doesn't happen.
Lately I've been realizing that everything I'm living through, all these feelings—I'm living them because of them. It hurts to see how little people talk about the value and dedication of these organizations, because we wish there were so many more like them! Sant'Egidio also adapts between winter and summer. In winter we gather for workshops. We run from September through June, then we close. Then they activate support for the summer months too, reaching out to health services and local organizations—but I'll tell you more about that later. See you next time!