Welcoming may be present in human relations in all moments of life and its meaning may go beyond conceptualizations pre-established by human rights.

“A hug, a caress, a fraternal care…

A warm bed, a maternal blanket, a tender smile…

The Earth, a seedbed, a floor to stay…

A washing line with little clothes… A sign of life in a home”. “This is all I want”, the girl continues to say with airs of poet, who had arrived and gently welcomed.

Just as she, various other women, many with children, are referred to welcoming spaces. People who are fragile, or in conditions of helplessness, escaping insecure situations or just alone. But all of them in need of assistance, support, affection, protection and even correction.

Generating welcoming conditions

In the broadest perception about welcoming, it can be registered all the time in human relations. In the interaction between people, the verb “to welcome” is fundamental, as it fosters the drawing closer, the dialog, and sees to it that the communication does take place.

The condition for welcoming can begin in the individual that welcomes without prejudice, whether social or of any other kind. To listen, to accept, to receive, to accommodate, to protect, to support: a simple gaze or a sincere embrace can minimize the suffering of the one that is welcomed.

The moment of resilience

Maintained by Fraternidade – International Humanitarian Federation, the House of Welcoming, in the city of Boa Vista, Roraima, has an experience that suggests a change of behavior stimulated by optimism and by the natural expansion of the way of considering and feeling the situations that present themselves in life.

“To deal with the difficulties and overcome them. It is easy to talk about that when we are accompanied by gentle and loving people, as the ones who are in this house”, says the sheltered lady. “I arrived here because my health was not good, I was taking care of my young daughter with a child, I had no physical and emotional conditions to look after both of them. I had an interview with the UNHCR, which referred me here”, continues the lady. “Now I feel well, capable of reintegrating myself in the group in which I was, in order to follow the path that presents itself”, concludes her testimony with visible gratitude and emotion.

A temporary home

The House of Welcoming has a physical structure that adapts to temporarily shelter a small number of Venezuelan women in situations of lack of protection, especially those accompanied by children.

They are interviewed, monitored, medicated, – it that is the case – by volunteers from the sector of health and are encouraged to overcome their emotional difficulties, so that they can prepare for the next step: to begin to master their own life, to be an example for the child that accompanies them and to show that the storms of life can be defeated, depending on the efforts made.

Service:

House of Welcoming
Boa Vista, Roraima