Again this summer, groups from several Italian communities – Rome, Genoa, Naples, Novara and Pavia – spent a few weeks in Albania, in Tirana, Kavaje and Elbasan with friends from the family homes and engaged in activities and workshops with patients at the Sadik Dinci psychiatric hospital.
The summer holidays are a tradition renewed every year, part of the long-standing bond between Sant'Egidio and Albania, a small Balkan country overlooking the Adriatic Sea just a few hundred kilometres from Italy. It started when Enver Hoxha's regime fell and has accompanied the country's democratic journey and social changes.
For years, Italy was one of the most sought-after destinations and many people came to our country in search of work and are now fully integrated. In recent years, however, emigration has changed direction: now mostly young people with good qualifications are leaving, around 40,000 every year, heading for Germany, England or the United States. Entire villages are emptying and many houses are deserted, severely affecting the most vulnerable – the elderly, people with disabilities and those with mental illness – who, lacking the protection of family networks, often end up in large institutions and hospitals.
The Community has been supporting mental health reform in Albania, and has fostered alternatives to institutionalisation such as the family homes in Tirana and Kavaje and co-housing projects. However, much of the commitment comes from the grassroots, especially from direct friendships with hundreds of patients, through visits, workshops and activities to break their isolation, increase their autonomy and promote social integration.
In recent weeks, the Giovani per la Pace (Youth for Peace) groups from Genoa, Pavia and Rome have involved around 70 patients in art, theatre, cooking, sewing and carpentry workshops, while all 300 patients in the psychiatric hospital have received visits, tasty food and music and have participated in prayers for the sick and for peace, full of concentration and emotion. An exhibition of the works created in the workshops was held in the Skampa Theatre, in the heart of Elbasan, and the proceeds from the sales are set to go to the victims of the war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, unfortunately, year after year there has been a deterioration in living conditions, care and facilities, with an increase in the number of young people admitted, often for depression or substance addiction. Being isolated is like having an extra illness, hence the loyalty of the young Italians is a source of hope. Marius put it well:‘What makes me happy is that I know you always come back.’
These words express the deep meaning of a friendship that makes it possible for many to continue dreaming of a home and, already now, to feel the warmth of a family.
