I hope this finds everyone well.
I received an incredibly warm welcome here. One young man hugged me so hard and so long that I had think back about 20 years since that happened - a newly graduated high school Senior who had struggled.
Another who is fun but tends to be somewhat reticent, kept giving me periodic hugs. The two kind, regular house managers smiled (I hope!) as soon the house was ringing with laughter. To avoid jet lag, I managed to stay up 34 hours.
Yesterday there was a Mass and social for local Catholic Workers. I met a young couple from Australia who live here London now. They had just returned from Australia. They have rock/metal group. David is going to send me a link which I'll share.
I have begun to network to try to better understand the asylum processes. I'd like to try to help some of the guys' applications to move along.
One, my favorite, his got lost and the lawyers forgot all about it. One blessing is that now that he has been here longer than 18 months, they cannot force him to return to Italy. He has immigrated to Italy from Africa. The experience in Italy was very bad. The EU policy is to insist that you apply for Asylum in the country in which you first enter. Italy is not helpful.
Tomorrow will be the soup kitchen and Monday begins the Community Cafe. It is great fun for me as I get to renew acquaintances with many people each day.
One person, Maureen, who volunteered at the soup kitchen on Sundays just died. She was only in her 50's. I had thought she was younger. I wondered why her email stopped abruptly mid-year. I was shaken by the news of her death as I liked her very much.
Be well all and I'll blog again when there's something worth hearing!
Blessings,
Phil
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