Stella Mission: supporting families

The little baby boy Diego arrived at the Nido d’Ape Nursery during the last months of the educational year 2014-2015. We decided to welcome him even though he was not aged 18 months yet, minimum age to be admitted to our nursery. He was spending his days home with his mum, that was taking care of him, mainly sit on the stroller or on his bed. The apartment, a one room flat, didn’t allow him to crawl or to experiment his first steps by himself due to the scarceness of space.

His dad attended school in Italy and he’s the only one working in the family. The wife has just arrived from Bangladesh and she doesn’t speak Italian at all. She has always been taking care of their only child, but she has the need to work in order to contribute to the finances for the family. It is really taught for her to undertake an integrational path into the new social life: she is supposed to start an Italian language course with the wish to find later on a job.

The parents are asking to enroll Diego for the 2015-2016 educational year, they know they were  too late for the previous one and with dignity , they didn’t  ask exceptions even if they have explained the disadvantages they are going through.  

It is us from the Nursery that are offering them to anticipate his enrollment: Diego is an active boy, we are sorry that he cannot use his potential and we glimpse  difficulties in his enrollment, as he grew up with his mum that took care of him all the time, and the nursery would scare him with all the other chaotic babies.

The first days are both difficult for Diego and his mum. The detachment, even thought for few hours, hurts both of them. Diego cries and doesn’t want to eat. Soon, however, with the help of the operators and volunteers, Diego starts to become familiar with the environment and gain confidence.

The toys and the other children intrigue him; he starts to run after the ball. The volunteers interchange to sustain him in his first steps.. and in less than a month he recovered and starts walking briskly again!

His mum succeed in her Italian course. She graduated in her country, now she is working hard in order to get her degree recognized and in the meanwhile she accepts small jobs as housekeeper.

 Diego started again this year and seems to be a totally different boy compared to the one we met: he is not shy anymore and enters the nursery smiling and willing to meet his group of friends to play all together!