Space for solidarity
“Spazzi di Campagna” gives new lives their freedom
Cassa e manico in Alluminio:
Once upon a time there was a big family home, built to house one generation after the next with love and warmth. As often happens, life went in a different direction, and its large spaces remained empty.
But the original intentions of love, warmth and hospitality which still inhabited those rooms could not go to waste.
And so, out of the family’s wishes grew the Spazzi di Campagna project, which has developed over time with the support of major institutions.
Today, “Spazzi di Campagna” is dedicated to those who find themselves in conditions of fragility, vulnerability and weakness, especially those experiencing mental illness.
Freedom rebuilt
“Mental illness is a condition of non-freedom; it is a lack of psychological freedom, in the inability to have oneself at one’s disposal, but also a real lack of possibility of choice.”
(Giovanni Jervis, Critical Manual of Psychiatry, 1975)
Everything that is done at “Spazzi di Campagna” is part of a therapeutic process of individual rehabilitation which embraces the whole person with their potential and limits, supporting their integration and social emancipation.
In a word, freeing them.
Emancipation for integration
A central part of the therapeutic approach of “Spazzi di Campagna” is career orientation and training, expressed through nurturing living beings through horticulture, and the cultivation of fruit, flowers and woodland.
It is an individual and group experience which aids socialisation, responsibility, creativity and sharing of knowledge, the bases for an effective process of integration, social emancipation and requalification.
Alongside this work there are plenty of other activities: support for the development of children in poverty, working with schools and public bodies, internships for students, play and sports activities and much more.
A house that was built for a family now hosts a family of many people, drawn together by their problems and above all by the desire to get over them, to reconquer that most fundamental of freedoms: the knowledge of existence.
In Italy, over one million children are living in extreme poverty
Imagine a city as large as Turin. Imagine that the city is only inhabited by children. Now, imagine that all of these children are so poor that they cannot eat regularly, go to school or build a future for themselves. Now you can stop imagining, because it is completely true: this is the actual situation in Italy.
Save the Children illuminates the future…
The international organisation Save the Children has launched a campaign called Illuminate the Future (Illuminiamo il Futuro), the aim of which is to promote education and to give opportunities and hope to children living in poverty in Italy. For this purpose, the Points of Light (punti luce), were created, centres where children and adolescents between the ages of six and sixteen can do activities that they would not normally have access to, such as studying, playing and sports.
…And your Christmas present
This year, Savio has chosen to donate your gifts to this extremely valuable project, contributing to the practical support for the ‘Points of Light’ spread throughout Italy. This is a way of expressing our gratitude to you and a way for all of us to join together for such a worthy cause as the lives of young children.
Visit the website Illuminiamo il Futuro where you too can play a part in supporting the project.