By Benedetta Campia | Project Leader
Dear friends,
this school year has also come to an end and the Pinocchio Center, despite the difficulties of recent times, has never stopped!
The local staff managed to carry out the "VulnerAbility: from challenges to opportunities" project financed by Northern European funds, which allowed the development of the educational activities of the day center and various actions aimed at involving the Panciu community more: workshops on multiculturalism in schools, meetings on health and prevention held by specialists in the sector with the families of children, a training course for teachers and educators on the inclusion of marginalized children, and other public events that are yet to be held. The participation by the community was high and there was a great involvement of the people who increasingly recognize the Center as a significant place for their city.
This project has also allowed us to include in the sraff a new figure, Raluca, who is working with great enthusiasm and creativity to manage social communication that allows us to reach and always involve new people in the life of the association.
During the last few months of 2022, new collaborations were started with other associations in the area, such as Hope and Love for Life association of Focsani. In the months following the start of the war, we got in touch with them to discuss a possible host network for Ukrainian refugees, entering from the nearby Galati border. The meeting generated by this occasion proved to be a great resource also for the Pinocchio Center, since once the representatives of the association came to visit, they decided to support it with donations and activities to be carried out together with the children. Starting in July, thanks to the support of the Emilia Romagna Region, we will collaborate in supporting the refugee families that the association hosts in the area, supporting this flow of solidarity.
With the arrival of summer and the end of the school, other innovations have been added to the life of the Pinocchio Center: the local authority of Vrancea, the Consiliu Judetea, has approved a cultural education project for young people presented by some staff members entitled: “Summer with the sun! Socio-cultural journey for the children and young people of Panciu ”. Through this project, the Lumea lui Pinocchio association is developing a rich and stimulating summer program: in addition to supporting a new educational figure for a few months, at the beginning of the project a free training course for young animators was offered to the community. 'Association of Local Youth Groups which formed the first local group of Panciu. These young people, coming from high school, will be busy every week to offer some of their time to prepare playful-recreational activities for the children of the center. The newly born group has decided to call itself "Hapivin" and is proceeding with enthusiasm!
Some of these volunteers are currently in Italy, for a European youth exchange, in the hope that the contamination between young people from different countries can offer them a great opportunity for personal growth to return to Romania with even more motivation. We strongly believe in the activation of young people as a keystone in the social and cultural transformations that we desire, aimed at defeating poverty and marginalization.
The summer sun continues to heat up with other planned activities, including artistic ateliers organized in collaboration with the Region's Sports and Youth Agency, two naturalistic and cultural excursions in the Vrancea area to allow the children of the center to leave the boundaries of their city (which for many never happened!) and a performing arts festival organized at the end of August in collaboration with a puppet theater company from Constanta, the Trupa Sufletel.
To make this summer even more intense, the Pinocchio center will finally be inhabited by international volunteers again! At the end of July Aisha will leave Italy in Civil Service for a year, and we hope to soon be able to welcome other volunteers alongside her through European programs, for which we are renewing accreditation.
From Panciu it's all, or almost all, because surprises never stop coming!
A heartfelt and profound thank you for your contribution, without you and your support all this would not be possible! :)
Good summer from all the staff of the Pinocchio Center!
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