Local man helps build African village

Published Saturday, September 16, 2006
By Brandie Kessler for The Pottstown Mercury

While many people often say they would like to help the sick and dying of the world, one local man is actually out there doing it.

Aldo Magazzeni of Perkiomenville recently traveled to Kitui, Kenya, located just east of Nairobi, to the village of Nyumbani, the Swahili word for "home", where volunteers are improving the lives of children living with HIV/AIDS.

Magazzeni, who was born in Italy and lived in very poor conditions until he was about 7 years old, has a desire to work with people, and a background in construction that facilitates that desire. Before going to Africa, Magazzeni helped build water systems that supply running water to more than 22,000 people in Afghanistan when he traveled there in 2003. He volunteered time with other projects, including almost six weeks last year in Mississippi helping victims of Hurricane Katrina.

"One of the things to dedicate your life to is to break down barriers and understand other people," Magazzeni said.

The initial agenda for his December 2005 trip to Africa was to work in a village in Ethiopia, but as chance would have it, his plans changed.

Shortly before departing on his trip, he spoke with a friend who suggested stopping by the Nyumbani village to meet Father Angelo D’Agostino, an 80-year-old Jesuit priest known around the world for his work with orphans infected with HIV/AIDS.

Magazzeni took his friend’s advice, forever changing his life.

"When I went there I had no idea of what I was getting into," he said.

"You just have to trust that if you go somewhere for a good reason, that will sort of direct you."

When Magazzeni made the detour to Nyumbani, D’Agostino, who had heard of Magazzeni’s work with water systems in Afghanistan, asked him to stay and help Nyumbani.

"We are building a village that is a self-sustaining village on 1,000 acres for 1,000 HIV orphans and for parents who have lost their children to AIDS," Magazzeni said. "The best part is we built a water system. We put a water system in, which is the lifeblood in any area in Africa.

"The water system now includes some 6,000 meters of piping and 7,000 liters of storage of water. It’s the largest private water system in southeast Kenya right now."

Magazzeni said the village, comprised of a school and 44 homes, is about 70 percent complete.

"It was one of the first orphanages for HIV positive children, where almost 100 children are currently living," he said.

The goal is to give residents of the village the tools to be self-reliant.

"The whole point to what Father Agostino does and what I do is to raise awareness to poverty and HIV and offer a new way to look at solutions," Magazzeni said.

"If we can build a village and teach the people how to live on their own ..then they can not be dependent on western products and western money."

While Magazzeni’s work can be seen as charity, he humbly explains that the giving is mutual.

"I need as much to share with them as they need to share with me," he said of the humility and dignity he learns from the residents of Nyumbani.

"It’s amazing to see, you can’t just close your eyes."

"This is the very first self-sustaining village in Africa. It’s a new way to offer people an opportunity to be in control of changing their situation, and a different way to handle poverty instead of slums."

Magazzeni funds his own trips to do his work, and thanks his wife, Anna, who owns the Agway in Pughtown, and his business partners at Champion Fasteners, Lumberton, N.J., Robert Santare and Stan Lippincott, for their cooperation and support.

"These three people have been extremely supportive," he said.

Magazzeni hopes to continue helping people and learning from them in return.

He’s in the process of starting a nonprofit organization and to start accepting money to continue to help people in need.

For more information, or to give to Magazzeni’s non-profit, Traveling Mercies, e-mail him at Aldo@travelingmercies.org, or call him at 800-755-2693. In addition to monetary contributions, Magazzeni is looking for any offers of assistance.

"It takes so little to help," he said. "It takes so little to make a big difference."

This article can be found online here.  Contact writer Brandie Kessler at bkessler@pottsmerc.com.