In April 2006, Elena Fazzini founded Hope Onlus: a Milan-based humanitarian non-profit organization that ever since has brought help to thousands of children, women and young people living in critical situations in Palestine, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Syria and Italy.
Elena Fazzini recalls:
“Hope was born from a deep sense of gratitude I felt in my heart: gratitude for life and for that medical ultrasound machine that saved my life from the consequences of a diagnostic error. I decided I had to provide this crucial electromedical instrumentation to other hospitals in need around the world. The doctors who treated me told me about the Italian Hospital of Nazareth, a clinic assuring treatment to Jewish, Muslim and Christian patients: a bastion of hope and peace in a land torn by endless conflicts. I wanted to give other women the chance of preventive and timely care by donating to that institution an ultrasound machine, an essential instrumentation that is essential in every hospital. But the Italian Hospital of Nazareth was not only in need of an ultrasound machine but also of an entire hospital ward: this state of necessity transformed my donation of a single ultrasound machine into the institution of an entire Department of Neonatology and Intensive Care, that was planned, financed, and built in just 18 months. Now, every year, hundreds of mothers and children can receive the necessary treatment in Nazareth, something they simply did not have access to before. This first experience led me to continue working in this direction to bring help to orphanages, nursery schools, clinics, and first aid centres located in critical areas in the Middle East, inhabited by women and men silently building hope for peace.
These years have gone by so quickly, but during this time I have helped thousands of children and families in need, working relentlessly seven days a week, often bringing my two sons Davide and Pietro with me on the Hope humanitarian missions in Jenin, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Sephoris, Amman, and Beirut. Francesco Besana, Giuseppe Di Masi, Angelica Sonzogni and Paolo Grecchi, are my partners and companions in this mission, working with me to help Hope grow.
Enthusiasm, determination and resolve, paired with the specialized skills of many professionals who have followed me, have allowed Hope to respond adequately and efficiently to those asking for help. The desire to give an answer to anyone in distress has never left me.
My daily life is not simple, being entirely dedicated to my family and to Hope. However, it is full of joy and satisfaction, in the certainty that it is worth giving all that is possible to improve the lives of those in need. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”
