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Dec 18,2005 - Dec 25,2005 |
Italian-Canadian angels and Mexican orphans
Gabriele Colicchia's and Gino Di Francesco's mission to Mexico
By Mariella Policheni
Originally Published: 2005-08-28
You are angels from heaven." For the 49 children living in the orphanage at Penjamo, near Acapulco, the group of Canadians who visit them twice or thrice a year bringing them food, clothes and money for the upkeep of their living place, is made up of special people.
Gabriele Colicchia from Pickering and Gino Di Francesco from Oakville returned to Canada several weeks ago, but carry in their eyes the face of those children, their laughter, their craving for love.
"Every time is like the first time, in 2002," says Gabriele Colicchia, 82 years old but the willpower of a kid. "What I saw then impressed me so much that I decided to do something, to help them somehow, getting my best friends involved: Gino Di Francesco, Charley Prestigiacomo from New York, and Sid Landry from Stoneville."
They bought cereals, bread, oil, items of clothing for the Mexican orphans living a short distance from a tourist paradise, among absolute poverty, desperation and misery.
"We excavated a well, finding water 35 feet below the ground," continues Colicchia. "This time we brought them corn, beans, rice, oil, and detergents, and erected partition walls inside their building, creating a kitchen and four bedrooms."
The children, ranging from 3 to 12 years of age, live with five widows and the orphanage manager Virginia, who makes sure that the children live as serenely as possible, receiving at least the bare necessities of life.
"Those kids are extraordinarily cute, simple and affectionate, and incredibly well-mannered," adds Gino Di Francesco, 66. "They attend school, gather wood on the mountains, fish; of course they live very differently from their peers of rcher countries."
Colicchia and Di Francesco intend to return soon to Penjamo to bring more food and improve the building further.
"We'll soon be back to Mexico with some savings and possibly some other people who wish to give a hand," concludes Colicchia. "With their cuteness and their warmth, those kids have gained a place in our hearts."
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