They are different ages, they come from different countries. None of them is perfect, but they answered a call, they came to Loppiano to serve the families attending the Loreto School.
When I arrive it is already night and there is frost outside. The appointment is in the parlour of Casa Felicetta, a typical Tuscan stone building in Montelfi. I knock, trying to contain my impatience because of the cold. Fortunately, a voice immediately says, ‘come in’. I enter, greeted by the music of an opera whose title I cannot remember. I didn’t expect that, but I like it: it makes the atmosphere warmer. They are all already there waiting for me. “As if they were round the fire“, I think to myself. But there is no fireplace, they are simply sitting, some on chairs, some on armchairs or the sofa, in a cosy circle, I would call it a ‘family’ atmosphere, because of the place where we are: the Loreto School for families in Loppiano. “They” are the group of animators: Maria Angelica and Lucio Rojas, from Colombia; Daniela and Enrico Borello, from Italy; Yara and Jose Luis Zepeda, newcomers from Mexico. Together, they will accompany the families who have chosen to attend the Loreto School this year. “We are 7 families, including 14 adults and 7 children, coming, apart from us, from Norway, Argentina, Korea and Costa Rica,” explains Maria Angelica.
The Rojas couple have been here since September 2023. She is a dentist, he a retired university professor. “Each of us has a different story behind us. We were asked to come here at a difficult time for our family. After a discernment with our children, we realised that saying ‘yes’ would be an important opportunity for them to grow. And so we set off,” Maria Angelica recalls.
“For us, there was no real request to move to Loppiano,” explains Enrico, also retired, with a past as a trainer in the prison environment. We were already here to accompany one of our children at a very difficult time for him”. His wife Daniela, who taught in a primary school for 42 years, points out: “They said: why don’t you move to the Loreto School? So, here we are. Happy with the choice because it was our wish to stay a while longer in Loppiano.”
Yara and Jose Luis are 50 and 48 years old respectively. She is a university tutor, and he is an entrepreneur. This is not their first time at the Loreto School. They had attended it as ‘students’ between 2017 and 2018. They arrived here with their youngest son, Francisco, who recently turned 19, and decided to leave the family nest to do the Youth Project experience, also in Loppiano. ” We have four children. But now that they are all grown up, we find ourselves alone for the first time,” confides Jose Luis, a little lost, “That is why we felt the need to return to Loppiano, to learn to give ourselves in a different way and also to share this new stage of our lives with other families.
Sitting, “as if around the fire”, you listen to and take in these precious confidences of real families, by no means perfect or ideal. And you realise that at this Special School, no one puts themselves in the driving seat. “As a team, we try to welcome and love the families that arrive,” Daniela tries to explain. “We do not feel different from them, on the contrary, we feel just like them. So, it’s about listening to what they have to say, to their needs. Experiencing the difficulties that may arise together with them. Without giving pre-packaged solutions but walking together”. Maria Angelica adds: “We always say that the school is built day by day. It is not an academic experience: although you do learn. Nor is it an exotic experience, where you live with families from other countries. But it is a life experience. And what we, as animators, can offer is love, unity, first among us. To let ourselves be guided by God so that He can, also through us, manifest to these families the task or the path to follow”.
Some snapshots of life at the Loreto School
-
Momenti di testimonianza
-
A cena
-
A lezione
-
La raccolta delle olive
-
Foto con don Redi
-
Condivisione
-
La famiglia della Corea
-
A cena insieme
-
Condivisione
-
Al centro del Movimento dei Focolari
-
Momenti di visita
-
Con Margaret e Jesus
-
Condividendo la cena insieme
-
A Roma
-
Appena arrivati
-
Momenti di lezione
