Albania – Integral ecology and cooperation: VIS recalls Pier Paolo Ambrosi's vision 4 months after his death

14 October 2021

(ANS - Tirana) - The team of the International Volunteers for Development (VIS) in Albania and some representatives of it’s Rome office met in Tirana from 8 to 10 October to commemorate the person and the vision of Pier Paolo Ambrosi, the National VIS Development Delegate for thirty years, who passed away on 2 June this year.

“The local Church,” wrote Ambrosi a few months before his death, recalling the beginning of the VIS work in Albania, “turned to the VIS asking to 'do something' for the people of the forgotten mountain valleys. VIS responded with a project proposal that today, in view of Laudato Sì, we could define as 'integral ecology' and 'economic ecology'.”

The meet was focused precisely on this vision of cooperation, which already at the beginning of the new millennium was based on the integral approach to which Pope Francis invites us today: “The Albanian case in the vision and action of Pier Paolo Ambrosi: The community approach for the human and sustainable development of rural and marginal areas". This conference took place on Saturday 9 October, with various presentations from institutions, beneficiaries and partners, who explained from varying points of view what the theme meant, in Ambrosi's vision, to cooperate according to the participatory method and with community based approach.

During the event, a series of study support initiatives and scholarships were also announced for young Albanian students at the University of Trento, the Salesian University Institute of Venice (IUSVE) and the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo.

The event, which was also attended by the relatives of Pier Paolo Ambrosi, was moreover an opportunity to visit some works created thanks to the projects supporting rural communities and young people in the North, in the district of Malësi e Madhe, by the border with Montenegro.

The culmination of the mission was the Mass celebrated by the Rector of the local community, Fr. Gino Marcucci at the Mary Help of Christians Church of the "Don Bosco Center" in Tirana, during which the industrious, effective and humble service that Pier Paolo Ambrorsi carried out in the country in favor of many people.

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