ASIA/THAILAND - The mission of the "House of Angels" for the integration of disabled children with their families

Tuesday, 14 January 2020

INTERNET

Nonthaburi (Agenzia Fides) - The "House of Angels" is situated in the parish of Our Lady of Mercy, in Nonthaburi, in the diocese of Bangkok, on the northern outskirts of the capital. Disabled children and their mothers are welcomed here in a context that sees disability as the result of personal guilt, a source of marginalization.
Born from an initiative of Caritas of Venice in collaboration with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions and the Xaverian Missionaries, the house has been managed for years by the foundress, Sister Angela Bertelli (see Fides, 7/1/2010).
"Bangkok means 'city of angels' and the true mission of the House of Angels is the encounter with God in our little angel guests", said the Xaverian missionary.
"In the House of Angels we welcome very young poor people who are discriminated against in a cultural context that tends to marginalize people with disabilities", said the President of the Community of Don Benzi, Giovanni Paolo Ramonda, in his meeting with the Archbishop of Bangkok, Cardinal Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij.
The house tries to accompany and reintegrate disabled people into their families. There are currently 12 children, 7 of whom sleep in the home, others are assisted in various contexts. Among the guests, in addition to an Indonesian mother with her child with a serious handicap, there is also a 19 year old girl who goes to the house three times a week and a 6 year old Congolese immigrant girl. Three women are still there among those who were present at the time of Sister Angela.
The Community of Don Benzi has been working alongside the marginalized and poor for 50 years. In Italy it manages 201 family homes, which welcome 1,283 people of all ages and backgrounds. It is present in 42 countries around the world. (AdB/AP) (Agenzia Fides, 14/1/2020)


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