Menu of the evening: cabbage leaves stuffed with meat. It’s a Sunday evening and it’s still light when the kids from the street unit meet at the Caritas headquarters in Genoaon the first floor of a building in the heart of the alleys, in the historic center. The boys are at ease within the ancient walls; They are united by the desire to give a little of their time by preparing “Sunday dinner”, that is, a hot dish to be delivered to homeless people: under the porticoes, in improvised niches, delicately knocking on the plastic sheets of the neon-lit igloos. It is the spirit of service that animates the young people of Young Caritas: aged between 17 and 35, in one of the oldest cities in Italy, they make their smiles shine in the kitchen.
Spontaneous initiative
There are those who are here for the first time; who doesn’t miss a Sunday, who coordinates the work of others while respecting shifts. The latter is the case of Simone Meneghelli, 31 years old, who welcomes the volunteers. «Rice and minced meat, so we will fill the vegetables», he says, while the cabbage leaves are already floating in the pots of boiling water. «It’s not pork», he specifies; many of the people they will meet are Muslims. Simone has been providing this service “for more than a year”, he says. Since Caritas “embraced” an initiative born spontaneously by two citizens, Sebastiano and Raffaele, who were making the same trip there, where homeless people spend the night. Now young people have joined the same initiative: «Caritas supports us, but has given us carte blanche», says Meneghelli. And this is one of the points that make the Sunday evening service attractive: often the kids who want to volunteer find themselves in contexts managed by people much older than them. «They just tell us “if you want, you can participate”, but we are not the ones who decide», adds Simone. Here, however, it is something else: it is the young people who think, organize and carry out the work.
The beauty of good
Having extracted the cabbage leaves with a slotted spoon and placed them in a tray, the rice now boils happily in the pans. Noemi Filetti, 28 years old, is here for the first time. He worked a lot for the Quasi Casa space, another Caritas initiative blessed by the archbishop of Genoa, Father Marco Tasca: a space in Piazza San Matteo, near the cathedral of San Lorenzo, furnished with sofas, study tables and equipped with a kitchen – Sunday dinner will be prepared here – “which wants to be as inclusive as possible, open to everyone”. Christian Pocong is 18 years old: «I like helping homeless people, but also learning new recipes», he says. Originally from the Philippines, he gets emotional telling the stories of the people he has met. Kris Kasa, 18 years old, has the scouts’ promise around his neck: «My choice was the service», he says. “I want to give dignity to people who are not considered: and giving a hot meal is the good of the good.”
Between a chat and a joke, the rice is ready: now you have to mix it with the meat, brought here already cooked, and place the mixture on the cabbage leaves, open on the trays like so many hands. Close the rolls, boil them covered in broth, flavor them with some spices and pack them on trays in about fifty portions. It’s nine in the evening when the street unit is ready to leave, enriched by three other very young people.
Air of home
Objective historic center: under the arcades of Piazza Piccapietra the boys meet Raffaele Bozano, one of the two pioneers of the service, who has prepared more food and already done part of the tour. They exchange dishes, to offer a bit of variety to whoever receives the meal. The unit points towards the Porto Antico area. During the day frequented by tourists, in the evening it becomes a refuge for some homeless people. Next to the public toilets, there are those waiting sitting on blankets and sleeping bags: the boys approach, ask, deliver. They approach those who appear to be sleeping and offer in a whisper. Someone watches in silence, as if they don’t dare ask; naturally, the meal is delivered to him.
Night has now fallen when the road unit moves towards Principe station. Even if the cold emergency is over, there will certainly be several people to make feel “almost at home” with a delicious hot roll. «A relationship is built with some of them», concludes Meneghelli. With others, however, it is only a fleeting encounter; However, it can always make a difference.
