G20, the other side of the forum: doctors and volunteers Red Cross among the invisible ones of the Tiber

On Friday night, while Rome was preparing to welcome the world leaders of the G20, doctors and volunteers of the Red Cross turned on the spotlight of relief in the places where they live and the “invisible” of the Tiber: the poor, the desperate, the forgotten. The headlights of the CRI often light up in these parts, always in silence, unbeknownst to everyone. Down, on the quay of the Tiber which reflects Castel Sant’Angelo. “They made the runway for airplanes” jokes Ciro, a 54-year-old homeless Neapolitan. (photo) In its humanitarian “patrol” for the most needy camped along the shore, the Red Cross has already crammed half blankets, hygiene kits, T-shirts, socks, soups and hot tea for him and his companions in misfortune. Italians, many, many, close to the river of Rome. “The pandemic has played its role in this – Dr. Federica Simeoni confirms to Adnkronos – It has created social problems that weren’t there and the balance with foreigners has changed. There are now many young people on the street, like a boy who before the health emergency and the lockdown worked as an assistant cook. When the restaurant closed and could no longer afford to pay the rent, he went to sleep under his building with a cot under the Rome East ring road “. Two other people sleep next to it, Angela, 48 years old from Veneto, and Fabio, 53 years old from Rome. “We ended up in the middle of the road two years ago, Covid made us lose our jobs and we managed like this” they say. “It’s a struggle – Angela says to Adnkronos – We both asked the request for a council house, maybe they’ll let us know when we have already passed away. Wednesday (the day after tomorrow, ed) in the meantime we should perhaps get a more decent accommodation until next December, so that my husband can finally undergo a heart surgery that can no longer be postponed. Then we make an appeal, if ever someone wants to give us a caravan that he no longer uses, so as not to go back to the street again “. The Red Cross is a real caress for them. The doctor checks them, makes medicines available to them immediately, which otherwise they could not have, listens to them, heartens them, while the volunteers go up and down the bumpy and dirty stairs. Hot meals and blankets are unloaded as in a perfect gear by the angels who do something else in life and who offer their rest at night to those who struggle with poverty. They know them well, Antonio – called Lupine – and Enzo. The first from Bari, the other from Foggia, they are both 57 years old and keep each other company. “Ours was a choice – they say – sometimes life takes you to places and choices that you would not have imagined”. “I – Enzo intervenes – I lost my job, I lost my wife and today I find myself here, with a little dog who has entrusted me with a boy who lives in a tent next door but who has been in hospital for a long time now, and who knows if he comes back “. And then there is Antonio, too, a 30-year-old Calabrian who moved away from his land and his family who is still looking for him for a spiritual pilgrimage. He sips the tea the doctor brought him. “I don’t miss anything – he says – I sleep in Santa Maria in Cosmedin and meanwhile I walk around, reading the Bible and following the signs from heaven”. (by Silvia Mancinelli)