I'm a professional educator. I finished my studies in 1989 and have worked at a Rehabilitation Center in Rome ever since.
A few years before that, I never imagined this profession would choose me. After high school, I'd enrolled in university, but I wasn't satisfied. It was 1984. I was twenty and utterly confused about what I wanted.
Just before summer, a close friend asked me to spend a different kind of vacation with some disabled children and their families. I was hesitant. But Antonio reassured me—if I found it too difficult, I could always come home.
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It was a fantastic experience, one that changed me completely. I stayed for the whole camp and was part of Fede e Luce until 1992, sharing unforgettable moments with so many friends. More than anything, I went back to my studies and chose a profession that would let me serve the smallest among us.
If I respect other people's pace now, if I have patience, if I've learned that the essential is invisible to the eye, if my encounter with another person is free of false pity—I owe all of that to Clelia, Daniele, Davide, Maria, Fabio, Pablo, and to all the parents and friends at that camp in Rocca di Papa. They opened my eyes and helped me understand that each of us is truly unique in God's sight and deserves to be welcomed into the world for who we are.
- Renata de Pascale, 2001
