The Community of Sant’Egidio has been active in the city of Fiumicino – a center not far from Rome, famous for its international airport – for over 30 years, with a particular commitment alongside the elderly. Once a small village of fishermen and farmers on the coast Roman, underwent a rapid transformation with the opening of the airport in 1963, attracting workers from all over Italy. It became a municipality in 1992 and today has over 80,000 inhabitants distributed across a vast, partly rural territory.
The Community of Sant’Egidio has a headquarters where, in addition to the House of Friendship, which welcomes the homeless poor (some of whom live near the airport), many activities take place, including the Italian School, the School of Peace, meetings of Youth for Peace and other activities for adults and young seniors.
On Wednesday 5 June, around three hundred students from the IC Colombo and IC Porto Romano secondary schools participated in the demonstration “Let’s Make Peace?!” organized by the Youth for Peace of the Community of Sant’Egidio. Between music, enthusiasm and peace slogans, the initiative gave space to significant testimonies: an elderly woman, who survived the Second World War, and an eleven-year-old Ukrainian girl, who arrived in Italy to escape the conflict in her country.
The “Let’s Make Peace?!” event is linked to similar events that Youth for Peace are promoting in various Italian cities, which involves a connection with schools and the implementation of initiatives to promote a culture of solidarity and peace among young people, such as collections of medicines for ‘Ukraine and flash mobs for peace.
