Bryan and Becky Gerritsen in Italy

July 21, 2022                                                      Becky & Bryan, in Genova, IT, July 14, 2022 These past two weeks were quite amazing .  On July 4 and 5, w e had the opportunity to assist a partner organization, Terre des Hommes, in Tarvisio, Italy on the Austrian and Slovenian borders.  Then on July 16, we were across the country in Ventimiglia, on the French border, with another partner organization, Baobab Experience.  In both areas and border crossings, the projects with those organizations were to help refugees from Ukraine.  We met and visited with some wonderful refugees from Ukraine, who had left their homes and country, and were enroute to various destinations.  We also helped unload boxes of shoes, sleeping bags, hygiene kits, etc. that Latter ...

  July 7, 2022     Becky   & Bryan, in Ugovizzia (near Tarvisio), in NE Italy, where we greeted refugees from Ukraine, 7.5.22 Our Humanitarian Services has taken us about 1,800 km the last 5 days.  Following a Zone Conference in Verona (described below), we drove to Bologna, then to Pistoia, to help refugees from Africa.  Vicofaro Parrish houses 175 refugees (in a space that should only hold about 25).  Most are young men from Senegal, Gambia, Nigeria, or Ghana, and have nothing of this world's goods.  They came north across Africa, then by boat to Sicily, then north to Pistoia (north of Florence).  We are designing a new project to help them with food.  Don Massimo, the leader, and his volunteers help the refugees with Italian language instruction,  job skills, and skills to move out and be on their own, as new refugees arrive.  We asked two young missionaries to accompany us, and one said that they had never seen such pov...