EUROPE/ITALY - PRESIDENT OF AVSI ARTURO ALBERTI: EVERY MAN ON THIS EARTH ASPIRES TO HAPPINESS EVEN IN THE MOST DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH HE FINDS HIMSELF – THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ARE WORKING FOR THE FUTURE OF THE SOUTH OF THE WORLD WHILE INSTITUTIONS ARE STILL INDIFFERENT

Tuesday, 16 September 2003

Milan (Fides Service) – “No condition of poverty can suffocate the longing for happiness which characterises the human heart. The thousands of people who seek refuge every evening in hospitals in northern Uganda (Gulu, Kitgum) for fear of the rebels; children in Sierra Leone welcomed by Father Berton after the experience of war; children in Huambo Angola; orphans in Rumania; favelados in Brazil: these are the men and women who desire happiness, just as we do for ourselves for our loved ones”. Dr Arturo Alberti, president of AVSI international voluntary service, comments for Fides Service the presence of poor countries at the recent “Meeting for Friendship among Peoples” in Rimini of which the theme was precisely happiness. At first sight the subject might seem to involve only countries in the developed world, now filled with material goods, but still unsatisfied and in search of meaning to life, instead, for AVSI the Meeting was an opportunity to try to bring to the attention of politicians, men of business and culture, the problem of helping the development of peoples. Four meetings were organised with the collaboration of AVSI: building peace in Iraq; education to work, in Africa and Latin America; the fight against hunger; prospects for cooperation in development in Italy.
“Happiness, the theme of the Meeting, is the aspiration of every person on this earth, wherever he lives, even under the most difficult circumstances – Alberti affirms -. We desire to respond to this desire of every single person we encounter in the concrete need of every day. Who has ever said that a sick person needs only medicine and not friendship, encounter, human relations?” AVSI marked its 30th anniversary of its activity last year and its mission is to promote and sustain human development in the light of Catholic social Doctrine. A recognised NGO for international co-operation it is today present in 32 countries in Africa, Latin America, Middle East and eastern Europe, with 70 on-going projects in various sectors (health, hygiene, infancy, education, professional formation, micro-businesses, agriculture) and adoption at a distance of more than 20,000 children and babies.
“We ask Institutions to respond courageously to those living in desperation and poverty – Alberti continues -. Co-operation in development must be a strategic decision for every rich country in view of building lasting peace. Unfortunately this does not occur: politics do not yet offer satisfactory replies either in terms of great development programmes, due to a prevailing logic of assistance and emergency, or in terms of funding. In fact we are very far from the 0.7% GDP promised by European governors for public help to development and at the Meeting we learned from Senator Mantica that Italy will not reach 0.33% at the end of the legislation as all had hoped and the government had promised. Under-secretary Mantica promised to present norms for easing procedure which should favour NGOs presently living a dramatic moment. On the political level, Sen. Provera, President of the Senate Foreign Commission is examining proposals for laws presented by various groups for the reform of cooperation for development”.
The impression of Alberti is that on this theme there is a gap between politics and civil society while Institutions are more open and attentive to what is moving in society: “Politics is prudent unwilling to risk, concerned mainly with matters of balancing accounts while civil society is sensitive and active. There are thousands of people collaborating with NGOs who are working actively to help peoples in the south of the world to see a less dramatic future” SL (Fides Service 16/9/2003 EM lines 43 Words: 617)


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