Italy, Global
ITA01 - Agape Migrant Centre: Partnership Reports
Other Reports Available:
- Report Dated: March 3, 2022
- Report Dated: June 6, 2020
- Report Dated: December 18, 2018
- Report Dated: November 14, 2017
- Report Dated: January 19, 2017
Report Date: March 24, 2016
Update from Centro Agape
Recent Events
Language Lessons
Since Centro Agape was inaugurated back in November 2015 we have begun to have some regular students from South Asia and Africa who come for language lessons.
In the mornings, we have two Punjabi girls who regularly come for Italian lessons and a Nigerian student. Mornings are generally for women students and we have Jodi, a US single missionary, as receptionist. Male language students come only occasionally – we have had a Bangladeshi man come for lessons in the mornings but his attendance has been irregular. Our morning teaching staff is composed of females and a good relationship has been created between Elena and the two Punjabi students with Elena praying for some felt needs, not just teaching Italian to them.
Relationship Building
In the afternoons we have had all kinds of people coming at various times between 5 and 8pm, both male and female students and male and female teachers. The majority of our teachers are from our local church, Via Cassaro Brethren Assembly on the outskirts of Rome. We have had some good encounters with people who have come to Centro Agape.
One example is a friendly Pashtun speaker from the part of Pakistan close to the border with Afghanistan – the part of Pakistan dominated by Taliban type people. Subsequent to his visits to Centro Agape, whilst in the area of Tor Pignattara for book table ministry to South Asians, Andrew met him one day and was able to give him a copy of the How to Know God booklet in Urdu.
Relationships are also being established with Bangladeshis in the local community, including those who come for Italian lessons (Andrew and others are the Italian language teachers in the afternoon/evenings).
Ideas for the Future
In the future we hope to be able to have funding in order to have internet access at the Centre itself. This would enable the migrants to search for information (various types of information they need) on the internet and print it out for them then and there. We are also hoping that in the future we might be able to find some Italian Christians who are lawyers to help us assist migrants with the complex bureaucratic and legal issues they encounter in Italy.
In the meantime we have been given an old computer which used to belong to IBEI Bible Institute and Todd Kincaid has installed software on it for learning Italian. In the photo you see an African student using it to increase her knowledge of the Italian language.
