(ANS – Mendoza) – For the second consecutive year the hostel of the oratory "Ceferino Namuncurá" in Mendoza, opens its doors to all adults who live on the street. A little more than a week of its initiation there are already 30 people who go there to sleep and get something hot to start the day.

"This is the only place where we are treated as people"; "because of the good folk like you, clean, with a job, the study ... you take so much trouble to spend time with us?"; "If this year the hostel reopened I want to stay as a volunteer, because I want to return all the good that I have received." These are some of the phrases that resonate in the hostel in sharing opportunities.

You breathe a harmonious climate, relaxed and with rapport; some have really wanted to talk, others just want to watch TV for a while or to play ball before going to sleep.

For the members of the team of volunteers, work and life shared in this condition are a strong experience of God, incarnate, a God present in people, those needy people.

Certainly this is a great challenge, requiring many efforts, sacrifices ... but it's also a great gift that marks the existence, which helps to broaden their view, enriches the personal experience and professional and pastoral work.

"Adults of the road" or "adults who live in street situation"? Finding a true definition is not an easy task. It refers to those people that make life on the road a vital space for the development of identity.

To be in the "street situation" highlights social circumstances rather than a category or an individual condition. Probably the concept that best embodies this idea is that of social exclusion, which refers to the process of untying or rupture of emotional ties (family, friends, ...) and institutional (school, work, support networks, ...). A problem that not only affects the housing requirement. From the experience gained in working with these people, it is clear that you cannot find a single reason why they are in this situation.

The Salesians of Argentina will continue to share their experiences in undertaking this project, in which anyone can do some volunteer work. For more information you can visit the Facebook page of the hostel.

Published 17/05/2013