# La nostra comune umanità | Lorena Martinello | TEDxTrento Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKSKohgQeEA Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/rKSKohgQeEA Generated: 2025-12-03T18:34:34.57+00:00 --- ## Quick Overview Lorena Martinello concludes that overcoming the fear of the 'other' by recognizing our common humanity—the shared needs, desires, and vulnerabilities—allows for mutual support and enriches life, as demonstrated by her personal experiences of receiving unexpected help from those society often marginalizes. **Key Points:** - Lorena initially experienced extreme isolation during her first six months of international civil service in Sisoghici, Mexico, where locals questioned her presence with phrases like "Cosa fai qua? Chi ti ha invitata? Quando te ne vai?". - A turning point occurred after six months when locals saw she was harmless, leading them to invite her to rituals and share sacred food, recognizing her connection to their identity and resistance. - The deep sense of connection was symbolized when local women, despite their poverty, collected money to gift her a hairbrush, signifying, "abbiamo visto, abbiamo visto che ci sei, abbiamo visto la tua necessità". - After marrying David, they volunteered across Latin America, sharing life with marginalized groups like migrants and people living in landfills, where they learned about reciprocal vulnerability and often received the help they needed, such as a ride to avoid a dangerous area in El Salvador. - When Lorena became widowed, pregnant, and unemployed at 29/30 after her husband David died at 33, the assistance that concretely helped her find a new job came from Dauda, a young African asylum seeker she had been helping find work. - Lorena now combines her background in anthropology and art to create contexts where people express themselves freely, leading projects like large murals involving diverse social strata and installations connecting people with dementia and adolescents. - The ultimate lesson is that overcoming the atavistic fear of the other, who might 'sconquassa il tuo piano ben preciso,' can lead to finding something 'molto più arricchente per la tua vita' because our core humanity is identical. **Context:** Lorena Martinello shares her life journey beginning with her immediate departure for international civil service in Sisoghici, Mexico, at 2500m altitude following her graduation. Her experience started with intense cold and social rejection in a remote community. This initial struggle evolved into deep cultural integration, which profoundly shaped her subsequent academic pursuits in anthropology and international cooperation, guiding her life path alongside her husband, David, and later, as a single mother. ## Detailed Analysis Lorena Martinello recounts her challenging but transformative year of civil service in Mexico, where initial coldness from the community gradually thawed into acceptance after six months, culminating in shared rituals and a profound gesture of solidarity when impoverished women gifted her a much-needed hairbrush. This experience taught her humility and the interconnectedness of human needs. Following this, she and her husband David dedicated two years to volunteer work across Latin America in severe contexts, learning about reciprocal vulnerability when they, the supposed helpers, often received essential aid from the very people they were trying to serve, like receiving a warm blanket in Guatemala or safe passage in El Salvador. After David's sudden death left her widowed, pregnant, and unemployed, the crucial support came from Dauda, an African asylum seeker she had previously assisted, who insisted she seek employment at his company, leading directly to her finding a job, illustrating that the person society marginalizes can be the one who sees and acts on a need. Drawing on her anthropological training, which revealed diverse yet universal human responses to life's milestones, and the expressive power of art discovered during her subsequent unemployment, Lorena now works to create inclusive contexts for expression and peacebuilding through large-scale art projects and educational narratives in schools, emphasizing that respecting and curiously engaging with others' diversity leads to mutual enrichment and realizing our shared fundamental humanity. ### Initial Service Experience in Mexico - Extreme cold and initial rejection for six months - Interaction began after locals perceived her as non-threatening and not using a camera - Acceptance marked by invitations to nocturnal rituals and sharing sacred food. ### Lessons in Reciprocity and Vulnerability - Local women gifted her a hairbrush, recognizing a need she hadn't addressed herself - Traveling with David, they frequently received unexpected help from migrants and the poor, proving mutual need exists. ### Personal Tragedy and Unexpected Aid - Lorena became widowed, pregnant, and unemployed after David's fatal accident at 33 - Dauda, an asylum seeker she helped, insisted she call his company, which resulted in her immediately being offered work. ### Integration of Disciplines - Anthropology opened her view to diverse ways humans celebrate life's constants (birth, union, death) - Art became a medicine for processing grief, requiring focus on the 'qui e ora' to draw a straight line. ### Current Work in Social Regeneration - Combines art and social engagement to create welcoming spaces for expression - Projects include creating large murals involving all social strata and installations connecting the elderly with dementia and adolescents. ### The Call to See Others - Lorena now speaks in schools to promote narratives of diversity and richness - Urges overcoming atavistic fear of the other to find enriching new perspectives and realize our common humanity.