The Emmaus Movement: History of Solidarity

Andrii Kurkov

The Emmaus Movement is a solidary association of people who have lost their home and will to live because of reduced life circumstances, and who are sensitive on injustice in the world and are ready to assume responsibility. Together they have created an alternative environment — the associations of life and labour where people return to themselves their sense of dignity, support each other and help those who suffers most. Both the creator of Emmaus Frenchman Henri Grouès, that is known by the whole world under the name of Abbé Pierre, and the founder of Lviv «Oselia» («Dwelling») Olesia Sanotska are people of rare kindness and courage, and what is more they are people of action. This book is on that how homeless people outcast by society created a new model of social enterprise and changed understanding of charity. In this book stories on searching for home and searching for the sense are interlaced in the one story of humaneness and offer a simple conclusion: helping others, we help ourselves.