Abdelmajid, a 24-year-old Moroccan young man, who arrived in Barcelona three years ago hiding under a truck, has no other desire than to train to be able to work. "I only want to work. Anything!”, he says excitedly. He is one of the thirty beneficiaries of the Llars d'Oportunitats, a project started in 2020 aimed at migrants between 18 and 30 years old, formerly protected or recently arrived, homeless and with difficulties in regularizing their situation, to whom the program provides a roof and tools for a satisfactory and long-term socio-labor insertion.
Financially supporting this program, which now has five homes, one for women victims of some type of abuse, is one of the main purposes of the recently established Fundació Viqui Molins. At its head is the Teresian nun Maria Victòria Molins, a “street” nun, as she likes to be called, and who at 87 years old continues to be a reference in the accompaniment of the most vulnerable.
In 1984, as a result of her trips to Nicaragua, she felt God's call to dedicate herself to the most disadvantaged, helping people at risk of social exclusion, prisoners, drug addicts or teaching young people in the Raval neighborhood. In 2017, she promoted, together with the rector of the Santa Anna church in Barcelona, Peio Sánchez, and the vicar Xavier Morlans, the Santa Anna field hospital that receives about 400 people daily in its soup kitchen, among other actions.
In recognition of “his loyalty and support” to all those people in need, Peio Sánchez proposed creating a foundation with his name. The offer caught him by surprise. She, who does not usually give much importance to her enormous work in favor of those most in need, felt overwhelmed. She now understands that when she is gone, the foundation will be able to continue with work that is vital so that many young people can have a second chance.
“The greatest hope of the foundation is to ensure that those who have lived in poverty get out of it and can live on their own salary without depending on charity,” highlights Molins, who emphasizes that “charity entrenches poverty.” And that is what the Llars d'Oportunitats are looking for, a project that includes a home, training, work practices, administrative regularization and a job. A bridge to achieve personal and work autonomy. Psychologist Hanna Bori, who works as an educator, says that the average length of stay in these homes ranges between one and a half to two years.
Abdelmajid, in the middle of this process, receives language classes, socializes in a soccer team, goes to meetings with his tutors and in May he will begin his job training. He has not yet chosen an itinerary: on the table, a course in logistics, access control or the social and health sector is on the table. It will be the previous step for him to enter the job market and to fly from a nest that will have given him shelter for two years.
