ASSEFA - Uno sguardo verso la speranza (A look towards hope)

The aim of this video is mainly to give a testimony of what an ASSEFA journey is, showing what we saw and trying to share the emotions we felt during the travel.
This video was not planned before departure and we didn't have a proper camera equipment with us. Thus, during post-production I faced a serious lack of good footage and we finally decided to make a mix between the few good video scenes and the many stills we had, discarding almost completely the noisy direct sound and choosing to use music and a few spoken descriptions, which you can find translated below.
This video would not have come to an end without the help of my fellow travellers, whom I thank sincerely.
A special thank goes to Rosanna Viotto and Chiara Leone, who lended their voices for the spoken parts.

The video can be fully played in streaming below, but the DVD is on sale to support ASSEFA programmes.
If you're interested in purchasing it, please ask me or contact directly ASSEFA Alessandria.

Introduction

But love is always new.
Regardless of whether we love once, twice, or a dozen times in our life, we always face a brand-new situation.
Love can consign us to hell or to paradise, but it always takes us somewhere.
We simply have to accept it, because it is what nourishes our existence.
If we reject it, we die of hunger, because we lack the courage to stretch out a hand and pluck the fruit from the branches of the tree of life.
We have to take love where we find it, even if that means hours, days, weeks of disappointment and sadness.
The moment we begin to seek love, love begins to seek us.
And to save us.

P. Coelho

First Description

And in an August morning Franco and me, Rosanna, together with Antonella, Cristina, Fernanda, Maria Rosa, Monica, Patrizia, Pier Carlo, Sandra and Tommaso, we left in the direction of India to meet our children and finally, after two long days of travel, we completely plunge ourselves in the reality of villages, where an amazing reception, made of smiles and curious glances, is waiting for us, and we immediately feel as part of them.
Our wish is that pictures, colors, voices and sounds will transmit you the beauty and the richness of an ASSEFA travel and especially the joy and serenity that everyone of us experienced and brought back to his home.
We'll see the tenderness of the meeting with the children, the sympathy lived among we travel companions, the affection with the teachers, Vasantha and Loganathanj, respectively with the role of Directress of ASSEFA School and General Director, as well as promoters of an educational, human and social development begun 40 years ago, in favor of the poorest families of the rural areas of Tamil Nadu, the dalit, or "outcaste", that is laborers and landless.
There have been institutional ceremonies, such as the inauguration of the Auditorium in Ayyanrpuram, a tour on the school bus, the visits to schools, the planting of a small tree which will give birth to the “santhi garden", -the peace garden- around the schools funded by our Association, and also moments of joy, play and food sharing.

Second Description

We spent the last days of the journey on the Tamil Nadu coast, between Pondicherry and Karaikal, in the area struck by the tragic tsunami which took place in December 2004, which led to many human victims and destruction in villages.
In these places, thanks to the sensitivity, generosity and affection of many people, many of them belonging to our Association, we funded interventions for the immediate help to the coastal population, with the distribution of blankets and milk e later the construction of three schools, that today are attended by many children, among them many orphans, and also a microcredit project in favor of women, necessary to start handicraft business activities.