Riva’s Help Center Supports Unplanned Pregnancies for Local and Foreign Women
With Saturday’s concert at the conservatory’s Auditorium, the public assembly, and the collection of aid promoted in churches, the Centro di aiuto alla Vita of Riva presented the community with an overview of a year of activity. The Center offers tangible support to women who choose to carry and complete a pregnancy, even if unplanned and under difficult conditions.
In 2000, the center supported 23 births: 11 of Italian nationals and 12 of foreign nationals. Among the Italians, seven cases involved Southern women left alone after abandonment and worried about their and their baby’s future; the others come from the Busa. Difficulties related to living with a partner who is a drug addict have decreased: they were around 50% until 1999.
Situation of foreigners and integration issues
Out of the 12 foreign cases—Moroccans, Tunisians, and Albanians—most are Muslims facing significant integration challenges. Typically, these are regular workers who leave half or more of their wages on housing expenses. With a wife and two children, when after rent, they have one million lire or less remaining per month, pregnancy becomes an insurmountable difficulty.
Even though abortion is largely outside their cultural experience, help is necessary because, ironically, their husbands’ wages (before rent, naturally) often fall below the subsistence level, which would entitle them to social worker assistance.
Support provided by the Center and methods of assistance
The agreement with the Center, led by Giuseppe Giacopini, involves a standard package that covers expenses for milk and diapers during the first year of the child’s life—usually 300,000 lire per month. In more severe cases, support from the «food shelf», a type of supermarket for essential goods, can be provided.
Additional assistance with rent can also be arranged on a case-by-case basis. In 2000, the Center disbursed aid totaling 50 million lire. Most often, the bond and friendship with women and children continue even after the first year.
Volunteer commitment and ethical principles
The volunteers of the Center (Dr. Giacopini recalls that there is room for anyone willing to lend a hand) are committed because they believe this to be their way of living out their Catholic faith. The Muslim clients do not pose a problem: naturally, no reciprocation is asked of anyone for the assistance provided.
Only when they are inevitably asked why they do it, do they respond that generosity is rooted in the cross. And that’s all.