Two young Moroccans have become the heart and soul of the volunteers fighting the coronavirus disease in Italy ROME: Two young Moroccans have become the heart and soul of the volunteers fighting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and helping those need in Civitavecchia, a port 60 kilometers from Rome. Even during Ramadan Amal and Simo haven’t stopped helping the local Red Cross, and their work has not passed unnoticed in the local community, where they are pointed out as an example of civic duty. Amal, 25, and Simo, 27 are two business administration graduates from Marrakech, and they display an innate passion for assistance and solidarity. Even during Ramadan’s days of fasting and prayer, they are a permanent presence at the municipal operations centre of the Red Cross. “I deal mostly with administration, I help with organizational duties and am in charge of arranging food bags for those who have not been working because of the lockdown: waiters, cooks, shop assistants who had no income for the past two months and so do not have enough to feed themselves and their families,” explains Amal, who speaks four languages fluently and is doing an internship at the Rome Consulate of the Kingdom of Morocco. Simo works in the field. “It is an honour for us to help people in need. The concept of zakat best explains our service in Civitavecchia,” he tells the local newspaper, Il Messaggero, in an interview where the two Moroccans are described as “the gift of Ramadan to our city.” Amal and Simo approached the local charity a few months before the pandemic broke out. “We were looking for a job here when we heard of a training course for volunteers here in Civitavecchia. Simo was already working full-time as a bricklayer. We decided to join, as the course was late in the evening so attendance was compatible with our work. They trained us in cardiorespiratory rehab,” Amal says. The end of the training coincided for Amal and Simo with the outbreak of the COVID-19 emergency all over Italy. Civitavecchia is the port for ships to Sardinia and Barcelona and for huge cruise ships with several infected passengers who had to be treated in the local hospital, so that infections were more critical here than in the rest of the Lazio region. “Many families and people are going through lots of hardship and pain here. This is what drives us to help the community where we have been welcomed and given opportunities. We are even happier to do it during Ramadan,” Amal explains. The Catholic Church has expressed its gratitude to the Muslim communities in Italy for the great support given by those who offer their time during Ramadan to help those having a hard time during the crisis. “In a way, this year the feast takes on a special significance for Muslims because of the Covid-19 pandemic, just as the celebration of Easter did for us Catholics. I think Ramadan has taken on a more interior dimension this year, since the communal aspect cannot be celebrated”, says Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. “For this reason, I would like to add my wish that Christians and Muslims united in a spirit of fraternity will show solidarity with humanity and address their prayers to Almighty and Merciful God, that He may extend His protection to every human being so that these difficult times may be overcome,” Cardinal Guixot said, commending the many examples of cooperation between communities to heal the suffering of the needy. Across in Italy, Islamic centres have been engaged in helping the local communities they live in. In Padua, 30 minutes’ drive from Venice, the local House of Muslim Culture is teaming up with the Catholic Food Bank to provide Muslims and Catholics who lost their jobs in the pandemic with food and financial help. The Islamic Community of Venice is making a big effort to reach those who do not come to the centres as they are afraid to break the lockdown rules. “We are not rich, but we share with everyone, no matter who they are as, long as they need help. This is befitting during Ramadan when we all are particularly required to think of others, of the unfortunate ones, of those who cannot break their fast by sitting at the table with loved ones because they can no longer make ends meet in the present emergency. We did not think we would still be in this position in the month of Ramadan, because we still believed that the emergency would end sooner,”, the Macedonian president of the Islamic Community of Venice and its province, Sadmir Aliovski, said. So far, nearly one hundred families in and around the Lagoon city receive their help. “We have a duty to our city and to the people with whom we live, and above all, being in a blessed month, we will try to meet the needs of people who despite themselves find themselves in a further state of poverty and need,” Aliovski adds.