Thanks to the Herway family pooling their Christmas money, here is the outcome of this year's project:
I guess everyone sent their money to Seth, which he put into our bank account. Dad and I added a small amount.
We took 200euros to Rosaria. She is a major force at Baobab and knows everyone who is in need in Rome. That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much!
Our money is going to help two boys that are in prison: Samuel and David. They are in their late 20's. Both are from Nigeria. David is married with a young daughter and his family is still in Nigeria. His wife is the cousin of Samuel.
David and Samuel got on a boat from Libya with about 200 people. They didn't have money for their passage so the boat drivers said they could come if they were willing to learn how to drive the boat. They said, 'yes'. Then not far from the shore, the traffickers left the 2 boys in charge of driving the boat. When they were rescued, the boys were charged with trafficking. And put in jail. According to Rosaria, the investigators only asked one other passenger to be a witness about the situation, no other passengers were asked or consulted about the matter.
The boys have been in jail since November 2016. Rosaria visits them often, but she has a special permit to visit jails. Those permits are hard to come by. A very few select people have qualified for those permits. The jail is located in Monte Cassino where there is a big monastery. This monastery was fought over in WWII. It's about 1 and 1/2 hours away from Rome.
Currently the boys can use the money when they are allowed 'out' for a couple of hours each month. As time progresses, it is hoped that they will be allowed for a few days out, and eventually up to 15 days per month out of the jail, until the final verdict is finalized. (Kind of like probation)
They can use the money IN the jail as well b/c there are many things that they have to pay for. Some of the money they want to send to David's wife and child in Nigeria. Some of the money they use to make calls home.
Rosaria will get the money to them, however she warned they won't get it right away. The jail doesn't allow much into their premises. Sometimes she takes food or clothes and some of it is allowed, and some of it isn't. It is all checked very closely and she doesn't want the money to be confiscated, so she will get it to them on their probation days. She has basically 'adopted' these boys and will host them if they ever get out of jail, and of course if they have many days or even a week outside of the jail.
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| Rosaria, the best! She is kind hearted, knows the needs of the people in the camp, keeps the accounts straight, helps all the volunteers....she is gold! She is the one who told me about the boys in prison and their needs. |
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| The boy on the left, holding the little lion is David. |
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| This is Samuel |
PS. I also want to share with you another experience. We have people ask often how they can help. We especially had a lot of requests at Christmas time. As usual, who did I go to for information? Rosaria!!! I just got an email from one of the families in Rome 2 ward that was able to help another 'needy' family. Here is what she had to share:
Anita-
Yes! We were able to get together with the family and give them some things for Christmas. Rosaria told us that they really wanted food and household items, so we decided to take stuff over twice. Ryan went by himself the week before Christmas and brought them food, and found out what they really needed. Then a few days before Christmas we took over more food, a rug, door mats, towels, a toy and clothes for each of the kids.
We were able to go inside the camp and into their home. They were very gracious and kind, and the mother even prepared some food for us. We sat in their "living room" and talked with them for about a half an hour. We did not see them open the presents, or go through the bags of food and household items- so I"m not sure if what we gave them was what they wanted/needed , but they did seem very grateful for what we brought.
It broke our hearts to walk into the camp and give lots to one family when we saw so many others in need - i wish there was a better way to know the needs of more than one family! But we were grateful for the opportunity to give and share.
Thanks again for all your help in getting us in touch with Rosaria.
Jen
