Did you see the eMeetinghouse blog post earlier this week with my co-worker Courtney’s amazing sourdough starter?  She nurtured a bag of flour and water to create “Helen” and then “Helen’s sister” – an abundance of starter and baked goods.  It reminds me of the story of Strega Nona’s pasta pot.  This award-winning children’s book is set in Southern Italy.   If you have never read the folktale, it’s worth checking out.  Spoiler alert – there is an extreme overabundance of pasta.

In turn, thoughts of pasta lead me to think of wonderful Italy.  Last year, my partner Sue and I visited family there.  This year, with the Covid-19 situation a blight on any travel, we have had to find another way to connect.

Video Calling with Italian Relatives 

One of the silver linings that has come from this COVID-19 experience for me is our new way to connect to our family in Italy.  Over the past 20 years, my partner Sue and I have visited Italy many times to visit our Italian relatives.

We have also had our Italian cousins visit us here in Philadelphia.  But usually the only contact we have during the year is a short SKYPE call on Christmas and Easter.

With the rise of this virus and the trauma Italy and the United States have suffered, we find ourselves checking in on each other more often.  And with the rise of ZOOM not only can we hear each other but we can now see each other and share our travel pictures all at the same time.  (These are screen captures of us sharing travel pictures when we could still gather in large groups safely!) Our Italian relatives love seeing these pictures and reliving our visits.

And we love talking about the food they fed us!! We have had three ZOOM calls with family in Riccia, Termoli and Verona.  All are sheltering in place and are thankful the virus is slowing down.

We expect to participate in a birthday celebration on May 2nd and a pizza party in July.  As hard as this has been for all of us, it has been so wonderful connecting in a new way with our family in Italy.

ZOOM, SKYPE and other video calling services are easy to use.  If you are missing your family or friends, you can still connect face-to-face.  Try this during shelter in place or anytime.  You don’t have to be across the globe for it to be useful.  You can read your grandchildren a night time story, share a recipe or have a virtual get together.

Lesa Sulimay, MSW, LSW

Associate Director of Care Coordination

Lesa Sulimay started her career over 30 years ago working with older adults in In-Home Services at the Center in the Park, a nationally known and accredited Senior Community Center in Philadelphia. During her tenure, Lesa has provided direct services, supervision and management of senior service organizations that provided programs, services and resources for thousands of older adults and caregivers in Philadelphia and Delaware Counties.

As the Clinical Supervisor at Friends Life Care, Lesa provides supervision and oversight for the Care Coordinators. Lesa’s expertise in aging services includes: community based care management, senior center administration, program and resource development, coaching, training, and fund raising. She earned a BSW from Goshen College and a MSW from Temple University.