IL SORRISO DI BRIGHT ODV

Yes, everything is a "miracle" at Providence Home: the tiny home by the ocean where mamy Helen welcomed abandoned children for more than 20 years, and continued dedicated to them, until her death in 2021, taking them off the streets and giving them a future through education, schooling, attainment of a degree and the opportunity to find a job.

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Today Papa Carlo has taken over from mamy Helen and carries on her mission with the same commitment and love.

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But let’s go back to the work started by Mamy Helen. 

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It is a "miracle" the small "courtyard" of Providence Home, around which the whole life of the family home, that Mamy Helen led by giving her life for this mission, revolves. It is in the courtyard where food is cooked for the 40 children, over two fires and a few pots and pans; it is in the courtyard where food is eaten divided by age groups, where dishes are washed, where learning takes place and where games are played.

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It is in the courtyard that there is partying, singing and dancing, whenever a guest arrives to bring help. The children's joyful songs and cries rise into the sky and invade the whole neighborhood, a maze of narrow, sandy alleys where people move only on foot. That's why neighbors call Providence Home the "house of joy"!

It was almost always mamy Helen who directed the children's choirs, having fun together with them.

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And it is indeed a "miracle" to think that one mom could have been able to educate and take care of not one, but 40 children, with sternness, balance and lots of love!

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Mamy Helen was like the captain of a ship. She sat at the back of the yard and directed everyone from there, with a watchful and attentive gaze. Nothing ever escaped her: she admonished, taught, shouted, smiled and petted as needed. It was nice to sit beside her and watch Providence Home's life flow serenely in that "little courtyard." Today to follow up on all this there is Papa Carlo.  

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Providence Home's courtyard then becomes poignant in the evening, when everyone gathers in a circle around the palm tree to pray aloud-one at a time-thanking the Lord for the day and for us volunteers who bring our help. Very young children are also partecipating, sitting on the ground in the center of the circle with Snoopy, the house dog. Sometimes they fall asleep from exhaustion.  Eventually, all together, led by a soloist, they sing poignant songs, slow as a dirge, in the darkness of the incipient night.

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Those children own nothing, not even their parents. These children are poor, yet in those moments you realize that they are filled with the happiness that comes from loving life.

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Join us to sit in that small courtyard in Ghana, admiring the "miracle of Providence Home." You will return home filled with a new joy. 

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Make sure that this little family home can continue to exist. Support the work started by mamy Helen and carried on today by Papa Carlo and all of us, with your donations.

Help “Il Sorriso di Bright” Association.

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