Today was a special day - the day that the boys of St. Joseph’s Home have been waiting for, for months.

This morning, the sixteen boys residents at St. Joseph’s Home just landed in Milan, and are now on their way to Verona. They’ll be travelling to Lago di Garda, Gardaland, visiting various northern towns and villages and, signing off with a trip to San Siro Stadium.

In today’s world it’s probably no big deal that children get to visit another country before they reach adulthood, but these boys were dealt such a bad hand in life that a trip like this is a bigger deal than anyone of them can articulate.

Most of these boys (aged between 8 and 20) have been through more horrible things than the rest of us will ever experience in our entire lifetime. Most of them have been so traumatized, both physically and emotionally, that they are unlikely to ever fully recover. As a consequence of their experiences, most will struggle terribly to find a job and make a living, and most will fail to stay out of jail or mental institutions.

But this week, is a time for fun, it’s time to forget the past, at least for a while, and taste the good life. It’s time to make some good memories to cherish for the rest of their lives.

Yesterday one of the younger boys who is usually very eager to visit his family for a few hours on a Sunday, was begging not to leave the Home. Although he wanted to see his relatives, he was dead worried that he would not make it to the airport in time. Fr. Frankie Cini, the Home’s Director, promised the child that should something happen to the bus, he would personally pick him up and take him to the airport himself. Finally the boy went on his way, albeit still very worried.

“For these children, this is more than just a trip abroad,” explains Fr. Cini. “Constrained by social situations which most of us never really fathom, these kids have grown up in children’s homes, often passing through multiple transitions, until they gradually find their grounding. We hope to be a refuge for these children until they can find their own way in life.”

During the past couple of weeks, most of them have not been able to sleep with the richness of their dreams disturbing their nights. Every morning they breathlessly recounted their dreams, in turn fuelling each other’s imagination and even more sleepless nights.

They’ve asked a million questions; they’ve quarrelled about their chosen roommates and, they’ve packed and unpacked so many times that their carers had to take their bags away from sight.

Their sense of amazement is impressive. They’ve known about this trip since May, and that’s a long time to wait for any child, so when they started seeing things shaping up, we could hear them saying, “We can’t believe the time has come to fly, we‘ve been talking about it for so long, and now it’s the day, it’s finally here”.

“And fly they will,” says Fr. Cini. “This trip encompasses the Home’s mission- to give children wings to fly. This trip is more than making dreams come true; it’s about helping our wounded little ones realise that they can fly too.”

On behalf of the children, a big thank you goes to all those who somehow or other contributed to The Auction For St. Joseph which was held earlier this year, in aid of this cause. Amongst many others, special gratitude goes to the artists who donated their works of art, and the art lovers who bought them.

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