Working as a volunteer at Red Cross means that you have different shifts. One of them is to work in a house where homeless people live. On the 18th of January, I worked there. The house is close to the Rossini Center. You go there at 8pm, sleep there and finish work on the next day at approximately 9am. Arriving there, the employees and the people who live there welcome you friendly. They ask you to join dinner and you help putting the plates from the kitchen to the table. While having dinner, you have the opportunity to talk with the homeless people, so you get to know them better and have the chance to grow from exchanging experiences. At the same time, they can think about something else than their daily problems. After dinner you can spend the evening with the people together and play some games, talk or watch TV with them. At 11pm everybody goes in their rooms and you can go in yours. In the following morning, you prepare breakfast, coffee and tea for them. The people wake up, eat and go to work. After cleaning up, you control if everybody is outside of the house and lock the doors.
I really enjoyed working there because everybody was very open and friendly. I expected there more depressive energy because they have a lot of problems but there was a positive atmosphere. I learned that no matter what kind of problems you have and how difficult they are, stay optimistic and never forget the humor. Moreover, when I started to talk with the people, I started to think about stereotypes and realized that you have to look behind them. We are all humans and individuals, no matter from which country we are.
Angela
Vicolocortini 