In Province of Benevento, precisely a Cerreto Sannita, there is a House where women who have experienced violence can finally know hope and regain their freedom.
"He presented himself as a perfect man, very handsome, from a good family. He distanced me first from my friends and then from my family, telling me that I was only his. I started to see strange behavior, I discovered that he was using drugs. Kicks, slaps, punches, harder and harder, I was terrified, I wanted to escape but I couldn't. In a moment of anger Francesco broke my nose. He came back, apologized, that he wouldn't do it again, that he would change.
In the last violent episode Francesco put his hands on my neck and in that moment fear gave me the courage to call the police. I had understood that I had to change, that I had to move away from that house because it was no longer a safe place for me and my children and I arrived here, in Women's house. For the first time I felt free. They began to make me understand that it wasn't my fault, that I wasn't responsible and that I could be a good mother because I was. Francesco is still free and I'm afraid like so many other women in this situation are afraid."
This is just one of the many stories of women who cannot show their faces and make their voices heard, but who the operators of the Casa delle donne facility have heard. since 2018, the year of its foundation, to today. Women with different backgrounds and a shared experience who in this place have been able to undertake a path of awareness which led them to understand that whatever bad thing happened to them was not their fault.
A different welcome capable of placing the community at the service of fragility. «Most of them are women who have suffered significant physical, psychological, sexual, economic violence from their husbands, partners, boyfriends and often come with their children, who are the engine that activates the complaint and then activates the escape from home. They are 99% of the time victims of witnessed violence - Explains Fabiola, responsible for the House -. We do not only welcome and host, but we also provide job orientation, psychological and legal support, and educational support to prepare them for a future life that they will have outside of this home.».
«We have crossed paths with the stories of many women – says the volunteer Maria Cristina - and what you remember most is the change in the women who at the beginning, coming from a difficult, complex background, are still wary of the workers of the House and the volunteers, while in the end they trust and rely on them and this is the beauty of being here and being there for them».
In two years, twenty-one women have been welcomed with their minor children who have been able to count on the support of forty-eight workers and volunteers involved in the project which was also made possible thanks to the signatures for the8xmille to the Catholic Church.
«Thanks to the 8xmille funds we have managed to restructure and adapt the House also from a bureaucratic point of view to be able to not only host women who arrive from the judicial reception process, but also all the people who frequent the House every day, who are welcomed with kindness and also accompanied to a social and work reintegration, but also to a new life project.He explains Mirella, project Manager.
It is possible to allocate the 8xmille to the Catholic Church with the Income PF form to be presented at any post office from May 2 to June 30 or electronically by November 30, with the 730 form by September 30, or with the CU form by November 30.
Article published on 2 July 2020 - 20:44
