Firmly convinced that “it is the primary aim of Caritas his pedagogical activityaimed at the whole community, so that it is always a community of solidarity and takes care of people in situations of poverty, (sometimes the result of society itself)” Sergio Ruggieri, citizen coordinator of Caritas did not hesitate for a moment to give his consent to the request of the teachers Anna Ricchiuti and Angela Valente of the “Caputi” educational complex to be able to carry out workshops at the Capuchin structure.
Thus the classes 1I, 2C, 3F-G of the “Caputi” primary school and their teachers, coordinates of the teachers Anna Ricchiuti and Angela Valente they spent some Mondays in Caritas. These experiences were part of the interesting didactic-educational project “Educational vanguards: Inside/outside school – Service Learning”. It is a project that wants to promote the idea of a civic school by proposing new ways of integration between school and territory; to this end, experiences have been planned aimed at developing meaningful learning through the active participation of students. The purpose of the experiences was the development of civic and citizenship skills (so-called civic education).
The point of reference in the development of the Project was the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, approved by the United Nations in September 2015, especially objective no. 4 which aims to provide quality, equitable and inclusive education and learning opportunities for all.
The teachers participating in the Project are convinced that only through quality education is it possible to develop a sense of global citizenship, enhance cultural diversity and increase the culture of sustainable development. Therefore they believed that the organization that could best support them in achieving this objective is the city’s Caritas, which fully shares these objectives, especially if they are taught from an early age.
Thus, the Monday meetings were organized which brought a new and “fresh” air (with reference to the young age of the participants) in the garden and in the spaces where the various Caritas “services” are activated.
Various volunteers were involved who, as new teachers, did their utmost not only to explain the activities they normally carry out, but taught the children “how” to observe, choose, use again or discard, reuse the products.
The four young people currently employed in the Civil Service were given the task of explaining to the children what Caritas is and what it does, then accompanying them to “get their hands on the dough” in RecuperiAMOci, in the eco-solidarity emporium, in the Tailoring ” Stories and fabrics”.
Starting from the premises of “Let’s recover” the children were able to see the enormous quantity of food products collected daily from Ipercop, general markets, supermarkets, greengrocers, bakeries, bars and various companies by volunteers such as Nardino, Maurizio and Leonardo, Francesco, and taken to the collection center. Here the children “cleaned” the vegetables from the external leaves that were no longer edible and noted how they could still be used, placing them in special boxes that other volunteers would portion out in the afternoon and distribute to the approximately 70 families who come to the counter every day. distribution.
Adjacent to the RecuperiAMOci restaurant there is the small home kitchenwhere the two cooks Angela from Siena and Andreina Sinigaglia in the morning they cook, meat and vegetables “recovered” and offered for those who don’t even have the possibility to cook…
Inedible vegetables and stale bread are piled up outside in special boxes and collected by a farmer who uses them for the animals on his farm in exchange for fresh eggs then used for cooking ready-made foods. A beautiful example of circular economy.
In the eco-solidarity emporium the children were welcomed by Licia Cosmai and Angelica veterans of the activity, who, with great patience, illustrated the various phases of the work: observation of the discarded clothing brought to Caritas, division between those in good condition and those to be discarded, identification of the size and gender and finally, folding appropriately, arrangement on the shelves divided according to this division.
The last workshop, but much appreciated, was carried out in “Storie&stoffe” tailoring: Antonella Salerno and Angela from Siena they were able to show how the recycling and reuse carried out by the operational and creative volunteers, guided by the “refined and expert” Angela, have magically created small masterpieces displayed all around on the walls. The children tried their hand at using needle and thread to attach buttons or ribbons, using the appropriate machine and using fabric scraps to create decorations to attach to the placemats that they brought to school as a “souvenir” of the workshop.
“Like Caritas” commented Sergio Ruggieri “we are happy with these visits because we believe that education on critical consumption and the fight against waste, of whatever type, if started from an early age, can be very effective in training a citizen also attentive to the needs of the most underprivileged. I therefore thank both the volunteers, who made themselves available to make their expertise available to the school groups, and the teachers who thought of us in their educational and awareness-raising action.”
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