Man with local ties has new mission
Magazzeni brings water to Afganistan, Kenya

Published Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007
By Gabe Donio, Hammonton Gazette Staff Writer

HAMMONTON—Aldo Magazzeni walked through the offices of the Bellevue and Horton Building on Bellevue Avenue recently, a building he once owned and renovated.  Magazzeni, 56, recalled how his father made the cabinets in the bathrooms and kitchens.  In the mid-1980s, Magazzeni developed real estate in Hammonton.  He became aware of the town in the 1970s through his aunt and uncle, local residents Mario and Speranza Padovani.

Magazzeni had a vision that was 20 years ahead of the rest of the real estate market in Hammonton, with revitalization projects like the Bellevue and Horton Building, and the Park Avenue Condominiums.  While he no longer owns those buildings, they remain solid contributions to the overall development of the town, projects that served to inspire others to revitalize older properties in a similar fashion. 

While Magazzeni still owns property in Hammonton, his priorities – and appearance – have changed greatly during the last two decades.  Now his focus is global, and devoted to serving others in foreign locales like Afghanistan and Kenya.  His clean-cut appearance has been replaced with long, curly locks of hair streaked with gray, and a matching shaggy beard that makes him look like a local in Afghanistan, but creates a distinctive appearance when he is home.

He said his appearance serves as a metaphor for his life experiences.

“It projects what I’ve seen in the world.  It’s pretty rough, and this is a statement of what the world is today – not as neat and clean as we’d like to make it seem,” Magazzeni said.

Bringing water systems to mountain villages in Afghanistan and helping to construct a village for AIDS victims in Kenya may seem like a grand departure for a man who once drove a high-end BMW (now sold to cover the cost of one of the water systems he brought to the Afghanis), but Magazzeni, who received degrees in psychology and business from Penn State University, began his work life in public service, counseling street kids on the streets of Philadelphia.

Later, he came to Hammonton seeking to buy and develop real estate and businesses.

“Some of my first real estate ventures were in Hammonton.  Because of that family relationship, I came to Hammonton.  That’s when I went from public service to being involved in business,” Magazzeni said.

The real estate developments grew in the 1980s and early 1990s, and Magazzeni became involved in projects in Philadelphia, the Jersey Shore and Jamaica.  A changing market in the 1990s caused Magazzeni to divest himself of many investments.  He is currently a partner at Champion Fasteners, a manufacturing company located in Lumberton, New Jersey, along with his fellow partners Robert Santare and Stanley Lippincott.  His wife of 34 years, Anna, owns and manages the Agway Pughtown Farm Home and Garden Center in Pughtown, Pennsylvania.  The Magazzenis have one child, Elizabeth, 28, who resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

By this time, a life of business highs and lows provided insight, Magazzeni said.

“After understanding success, I also had to understand some difficulties associated with failures.  If it hadn’t been for these difficulties and failures, I wouldn’t have been led to another evolution in my life.  I think that if they hadn’t happened, I would have been led to a different evolution: ego, money and selfishness,” Magazzeni said.

The loss of his parents at this time also affected him deeply, he said.  He began to travel the world, climbing mountains in the United States, Mexico, Italy, Nepal, Bhutan and South America.  In Ecuador, he climbed as high as 21,000 feet.

“I started to encounter other cultures . . . my heart started to understand what people in cultures were going through and the poverty they were enduring.  In Haiti, I saw incredible poverty and incredible humanity in the people,” Magazzeni said.

It was then that Magazzeni said he had his epiphany:  he wanted to help the people of emerging nations, in any way he could.

“I take satisfaction from feeling compassion for other people.  We can feel compassion for other people and do small things for other people that are great.  It’s not about blaming, or self-righteousness, or money and power,” Magazzeni said.

It was then that Magazzeni said he had his epiphany:  he wanted to help the people of emerging nations, in any way he could.

After the attacks of September 11, Magazzeni said he was spurred into action even further.  He feels direct action by individuals can make a difference.

“Rather than protest and be angry, and complain, we need to go to places and do good things for them,” Magazzeni said.

Soon, Magazzeni was in Afghanistan.  Early photographs of him with a new water system show him without a beard, but he soon understood that he would be accepted more readily if he appeared as the people of Afghanistan did.  He was involved in Afghanistan from February to July 2004 and then again from February to July 2005.  In 2004, he sold his vintage BMW to help pay for the first water systems in the Hindu Kush Mountains.  While he has no engineering degree, Magazzeni helped fund, design, build and organize water systems that pumped water from the source to a central tank, making it easier for villagers to receive their water.  Magazzeni also did work in Kabul, working with women’s groups and an orphanage.  He created four more water systems for the Afghanis while he was in Afghanistan.

“When I was done, there were 23,000 people who had water,” Magazzeni said.

“The intent was that I wanted to go there and have a relationship with people who had been victimized by wars, who had been victimized by Western culture,” Magazzeni said.  After returning to the United States from Africa, Magazzeni traveled to Louisiana and Mississippi to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Working in Afghanistan only increased Magazzeni’s desire to help others.  In December of 2005, he decided to continue on to Ethiopia, for work in an AIDS mission.  On the way to Ethiopia, a friend from college told him about the Rev. Angelo D’Agostino, a Jesuit Roman Catholic priest who was an activist for social and medical rights in Kenya.  Magazzeni said he went to Kenya first, intending to go on to Ethiopia, but the two men connected.

“I told Father about what I had done with water systems in Afghanistan.  He grabbed my arm and said, “Please don’t leave.  I need you,” Magazzeni recalled.

He would stay in Kenya from December 20, 2005 to June 21, 2006, helping people deal with the ravages of AIDS, and helping to create a village joining 1000 orphans whose parents had died of the disease with 200 grandparents and guardians who had lost their children to AIDS.

The water system and infrastructure system were designed and their construction overseen by Magazzeni.  The bond between him and D’Agostino grew closer.  He returned to Kenya twice more.

“I was Father’s assistant project manager.  Then I became Father’s personal assistant,” Magazzeni said.

Later, the two traveled together through the United States and Italy, spearheading fundraising by speaking to universities and groups.  D’Agostino died on November 20, 2006 after suffering a heart attack following a medical procedure.

“Knowing him was a life-affecting experience”, Magazzeni said.

Several weeks ago, while sitting in the offices of The Gazette in the Bellevue and Horton Building, the building he had the vision to restore two decades ago, Magazzeni said he felt fortunate to have the ability to have the time to engage himself in charitable works, a family that understands that he is compelled to do those works, and the courage to follow his dreams of serving others. 

“I think God gives you certain gifts in life.  Some people get super-athletic gifts, some people get super-academic gifts, and some people get certain other gifts.  My gift is that I hear a voice and I have the courage to follow it,” Magazzeni said. 

Contact staff writer Gabe Donio at donio@hammontongazette.com