Emmaus Italy: training for young activists

Since 2015 Emmaus Italy has been running a training course in non-violence, this course focuses on peace, on how to resolve conflicts and on the values promoted by Abbé Pierre and by Emmaus. This course is aimed at raising awareness amongst young people, helping them to feel inspired by Emmaus’ initiatives and to feel part of the movement.

Every year dozens of dozens of teachers and coordinators in scout centres, in local associations and in universities send out an appeal in order to organise this training course which is completely free of charge.

Nicola Teresi, the leader of the Emmaus Palermo group and a specialist educator on the topics of peace and conflict resolution, met hundreds of students from various schools and universities across Italy. He was able to strike up a relationship of trust with many of these students. After meeting him many of these young people decided to sign up for summer camps and asked if other events could be set up in order to go into more detail on these topics which are closely linked to the history of the Emmaus movement.

Now students at schools and universities can choose from the following courses run by Emmaus Italy:

Conflicts, migrations and the exploitation of human beings
The mafia economy, excessive consumption and social, anti-mafia initiatives
How to handle and transform conflict situations
School: bullying and non-violent communication
Grassroots politics: participatory processes and the role of young people in enforcing social change

The courses adopt an interactive, participatory approach where the participants are challenged to defend their ideas.

The number of young people involved in Emmaus Italy is on the rise, we now have over 50 mature, responsible, young volunteers ready and willing to help our association.

Defending human rights / Migration Italy News

Emmaus in Romania

A discussion with Gelu Nichitel, national delegate for Romania on the board of Emmaus Europe

Hey, Gélu! What can you tell us about the groups in your country?

Bună ziua ! In Romania we haven’t created a national organisation yet but we have three groups:

The Emmaus Iasi Foundation, created in 2001 following a project launched in 1997 by a Franco-Romanian group to support homeless people who had been in orphanages. This group is located in north-east Romania.
The Emmaus Satu Mare group, created in 2010 but which is a continuation of an association which has been managing Romania’s orphanages since 1990. This group is located in north-west Romania.
The Târgu Jiu Amicii Emmaus group, created in 2011 to provide financial support to an association which was launched in 1994 and which manages a centre for children. This group is located in south-west Romania.

Because the groups are so far from one another in Romania we do not work together on a daily basis but we see one another regularly at the meetings of the task group called ‘the Romania collective’. We also organise exchanges of companions and volunteers between the Romanian groups.

What are the main income-generating activities led by the groups?

We have 5 sales areas in total, including one which is in the countryside, so each group has either 1 or 2 bric-à-brac shops and this is our main source of income. The merchandise mainly comes from western Europe. Our groups have close partnerships with the Emmaus groups in Switzerland, Germany, France, the UK, Sweden and Finland. We receive almost 50 lorries, or 580 tonnes, of merchandise per year. This material may not have been given a second life in the countries of origin but in Romania it helps to create economic activity for our groups.

The Satu Mare group receives 150 tonnes of merchandise thanks to European solidarity and collects 10 tonnes of material locally. Almost 95% of this material is reused or recycled (it is either sold on, donated or used as material within the community). The group’s two shops are thus able to offer a wide choice of materials and objects. Emmaus Satu Mare also has an outside café area where they serve food and drinks. In addition, the group has started to specialise in construction, teaching young people about the building industry and doing jobs both inside and outside of the community.

At our group in Iasi we receive almost 190 tonnes of material per year but only 5% of it comes from local donations. 90% of the merchandise is then reused or recycled (it is either sold on in one of our two shops, donated, used to build greenhouses or fences, used as firewood, etc). One of our shops, located in the countryside, helps to support the poorest by providing them with a source of income. As well as selling this merchandise we also lead agricultural activities.

European solidarity provides 240 tonnes of merchandise per year for the Târgu Jiu group. Local collections provide just 1 tonne per year. 90-95% of this merchandise is then sold on in our second-hand shop, donated or recycled.

Who is involved in Emmaus in Romania and what social initiatives are led by the groups?

The way the three groups operate varies massively.

The Târgu Jiu group uses the profits from the shop to support a children’s centre which is managed by the team along with a dozen or so volunteers. The association supports 15 children aged 8-18, 15 young adults and 10 families. Another initiative is being launched: a building is currently being renovated in order to house 6 companions and thus start a real Emmaus community in Târgu Jiu.

The Satu Mare group works with young people under the age of 30 and despite being an Emmaus community it is classified as a ‘reintegration enterprise’ by the Romanian authorities. The group currently hosts 25 companions, both men and women, and relies on the support of around a dozen volunteers. The team leads training initiatives, provides socio-educational support and helps people get back into working life. The group focuses on access to housing with its project to renovate housing for young people.

In the Iasi group, where I am the director, we have two housing centres, one in the countryside and the other in the city. We currently have 22 companions, both men and women, across the two centres. They are supported by the staff team and around 15 volunteers. Our outreach work in the winter is extensive and provides support for around 150 homeless people in the city of Iasi (we offer them food, administrative support and donations of furniture and clothing). Furthermore, Emmaus Iasi supports several families, helping them with their housing or nutritional needs.

In total around 140 people are involved in the Emmaus movement in Romania as companions, volunteers, staff members or friends of the movement. Local and national networks are being created or strengthened like with the FONSS (Federation of Social Support NGOs) and with the Romanian Food Bank.

What challenges are your groups facing at the moment?

Romania is currently facing an economic crisis and this situation has got worse with the global health crisis. We have received small amounts of public funding recently (from a State unemployment fund) but we’ve had to mainly rely on support from other sources.

In Iasi we’ve received financial support from the French Embassy for our initiative helping the homeless during the state of emergency. We are continuing to do the rounds thanks to finances secured during the state of emergency for an initiative led as part of the FONSS.

We saw a rise of support and solidarity during the crisis with donations coming in from the general public, from our partners and from businesses. Our partnerships became stronger and this allowed us to offer solidarity to other associations. We recently received a donation of two lorries full of milk and shared this with around 10 other associations as well as giving some of it to the rural, marginalised people we support. The Iasi group has a lack of reserve funds and this external support thus helped us to get through the crisis.

The get-back-to-work scheme in Satu Mare has faced challenges due to the high rate of unemployment at the moment. The job market has become very competitive recently. The group may have to rethink the way they run this scheme and adapt the type of support they provide.

None of the three Romanian groups have had to ask for financial support from Emmaus Europe or Emmaus International due to the health crisis, which is a pretty good sign. European solidarity, under the European transport programme, was started up again in June following a 3-month break due to Covid-19 and this has helped our groups to get back on track. Our income-generating activities are back to normal levels but nobody knows what the future will hold with the coronavirus. Anyway, we’re all in good health and none of us have had the virus so far, touch wood!

Do the Romanian groups have any original or interesting ideas for future initiatives that you can tell us about?

At Emmaus Iasi we have a farm site we call the Belvedere where we’ve been growing fodder, cereals and vegetables for around 15 years now. We want to scale up our economic activities (the bric-à-brac shop and the vegetable commerce) and our farming activities (the orchard, the greenhouses and the rearing of livestock) so that we can create a third housing centre. We’d also like to be able to offer training and social reintegration schemes focusing on how to grow fruit and vegetables, how to make cheese, etc. In the long term we’d also like to build individual housing at this site.

During the Covid-19 crisis the Belvedere project allowed us to keep our food costs low and to have an extra source of income. During a period when we had to avoid having lots of people working indoors, such as in our sales area, the companions were able to work outdoors and learn more about the sectors of farming and construction.

We are looking forward to being able to finish this project and develop the activities we want to develop on this site. We have been able to see how the different steps in this process (construction, furnishing the buildings and starting the farming work) have had a positive impact on the companions both personally and professionally. We are also excited about getting back in touch with other Emmaus groups in Europe to talk about farming. Hopefully we’ll hear from you in spring?

News Romania

Fires in the Moria camp: solidarity with all the victims

Emmaus Europe and Emmaus International express their solidarity with all the victims of the fires in the Moria camp on the Island of Lesbos. It is yet another trauma on the difficult path from exile to an asylum that Europe is doing everything to avoid giving them.

We have long denounced the policies of registering applications in “hotspots” far from our continent or outsourcing outside Europe as they do not give real access to rights for asylum seekers and make them suffer from inhumane living conditions in camps that receive 4 times more people than they can accommodate.

The EU and each of its member countries must now urgently find a dignified solution to accommodate these 12,000 refugees, not just a few hundred unaccompanied minors; this meanness is unworthy of our values. Many local authorities are ready to help, in conjunction with the civil societies in their territory. They affirm this in their alliance sealed in October 2019 (“Alliance Migrations”, launched at the initiative of Emmaus International and the OCU, see the open letter: an alternative migration policy is possible”) to jointly defend the feasibility of alternative migration policies.

The new Pact for Migration and Asylum being drawn up by the European Commission could include this closure of hotspots and distribution across all European countries. Europe should allow everyone to apply for asylum wherever they want, as requested by Emmaus Europe in its contribution to the Pact roadmap.

Emmaus Europe has also signed two petitions to call for the immediate evacuation of the Moria camp. Join our call, sign the petitions and share widely:

Defending human rights / Migration News

The New Pact on Asylum and Migration: How to overcome policies which create poverty?

The European Commission has relaunched its work on ‘A New Pact on Asylum and Migration’. Work on this topic was started long ago but the Commission now wishes to make the Pact a key part of its current mandate. The Commission launched a consultation on this matter and Emmaus Europe responded to it, alerting them about the alarming situations regarding welcome for migrants that have been witnessed within the Emmaus groups. In addition to the principle of freedom of movement, which was not taken into account in the roadmap for the Pact, Emmaus Europe based its proposals around the premise that the current migration policies create poverty and that our groups are then left to deal with these situations.

By responding to this consultation Emmaus Europe hopes that these situations of poverty, as well as the environmental and economic factors which lead people to emigrate, will be taken into account in the drafting of the Pact. Emmaus Europe also proposes that the measures included in the Pact be based around the following goals:

To put a stop to European policies which create poverty, such as the Dublin Regulation, and to allow people to seek asylum or request a residency permit in the country of their choosing.
To widen and improve access to humanitarian visas for asylum seekers in the countries of origin so that we can avoid deaths along the migration routes.
To redirect European tax money away from Frontex, using it instead to finance dignified welcome for asylum seekers (the Geneva Convention on Climate Refugees and Economic Refugees) so that we can welcome more people and in more humane conditions.
To stop paying regimes which violate human rights (Turkey, Libya, etc.) to manage Europe’s borders.

Defending human rights / Migration European Union News