Below is a beautiful article, signed by Federica Inverso, published today in the online newspaper “Gente e Territorio” following an interview with the managers of our hub in Paestum.

#togetherforabetterworld – This is the hashtag chosen to represent “INVOLVE”: where participation and feeling part of a community pass through the protection of the environment. The project, which started in January 2019, aims to encourage and improve the inclusion of third-country nationals through volunteer paths dedicated to the recovery and enhancement of the environmental and cultural heritage. Activities aimed at resident and foreign citizens, with the aim of contributing – all together – to building safer and more cohesive communities.

The initiative, which will end in December 2021, aims to propose a new idea of ​​citizenship and involved seven locations in three European countries: Rovigo, Paestum and Scicli in Italy; Veynes and Communauté de communes du Pays de Saint-Aulaye in France; the districts Pankow and Neukolln in Berlin in Germany. Seven small, medium and large towns in which to create “local community hubs”: meeting and exchange headquarters, places to share and plan.

In concrete terms? It is about safeguarding the environment with cleaning actions of parks, squares, coastal strip and places of the heart from which to collect abandoned waste and enhance the cultural heritage, but also exchange of knowledge and knowledge through cooking classes and yoga classes, courses of Italian and, first of all, inclusion. A continuous knowledge and learning, a concrete possibility to deal with the territory and shed light on many aspects related to migration: the arrival after disembarkation in an unknown place, the incomprehensible language, the poor quality of the reception system that has generated welfare and passivity, the slow and tiring journey in search of one’s own dimension, the bureaucracy for the long recognition of refugee status and the issue of a residence permit, for example.

Since 2015, Legambiente Paestum has taken steps to develop synergies and actions capable of offering opportunities for human and social relations to the many foreign citizens who live in precarious and uneasy conditions. And it is on the basis of the experience gained in the field that the association took part in the project. “Here in Paestum we started with literacy courses, legal support, involvement in volunteer activities to take care of the territory, guided tours, the creation of two cycle workshops, road education courses and the birth within one of the CAS (Extraordinary Reception Center) of the OrtoMondo social garden cared for by asylum seekers ” Luigi De Padova, Paestum local coordinator explained.

According to the data reported by the organization, out of 25,000 inhabitants of the municipality of Capaccio Paestum, over 3,000 are resident foreigners, of which 15% are asylum seekers and refugees. Legambiente Paestum, in its more than 30 years of activity, has always fought for the protection of the environmental and cultural heritage, committing itself to give concrete help against agricultural hiring and social disparity. With Involve the migrants, collaborating in the activities of protection of the local heritage, have become real custodians of the territory. Coordination and cooperation between the key words of the project. “Each activity carried out together allowed us to get to know each other better and to break down prejudices and fears on both sides, promoting new forms of coexistence and collaboration”, said Ousmane Diaby, a volunteer from Guinea.

And it is precisely in the wake of Involve that the social housing project comes to life. One of the most important results of this initiative. Today many of the CAS are no longer active and the ‘problem of housing’ arises in all its drama. Too many foreigners living in precarious conditions, which is why Legambiente has decided to ‘take home’ and expand the OrtoMondo experience in social housing, a shared housing perspective. The organization has rented a property, with 8 independent lodgings, capable of accommodating up to 16 people and with a hectare of land around it, intended to accommodate national and international volunteers.

We also spoke with the president of Legambiente Paestum, Pasquale Longo, about the INVOLVE project, its importance and the positive impact that social housing has had.

How important was the Involve initiative for the city of Capaccio Paestum?

It was a very significant experience because it meant that asylum seekers, present in large numbers on our territory, and immigrants had the opportunity to finally be able to break cultural barriers to do what we talk about a lot: an encounter between people of different cultures. At the same time, attention was paid to the care of common goods, very often neglected by the local inhabitants themselves who fail to understand their importance, especially for tourism development and for the protection and enhancement of the landscape. Capaccio is a very special area because it combines naturalistic riches with the immense archaeological heritage in the ancient city of Posidonia Paestum. We, starting from those in the area who live in conditions of greatest discomfort – if not extreme discomfort – have managed to involve representatives of various foreign communities. And thanks to the Involve project we have created a social housing. A self-managed experience in which, in a large country cottage, about fifteen foreigners are hosted in a house with 8 housing modules. These are young people who have also found work, who manage to live independently.

How many kids were involved?

In about three years of the project we can speak of 150 asylum seekers and foreign citizens, a considerable number due to the conformation of the territory. We are a very large municipality, for a period we have had more than 500 asylum seekers in the reception centers. With Involve we were able to socialize and get to know the boys. Take them out, accompany them on Italian language courses. Activities that have helped them to gain awareness in their own means and trust in people. A path that then facilitated them in the process of self-employment. Many have concluded their journey with the recognition of the status and therefore the residence permit. Others had the opportunity to transform it into a work permit with the latest amnesty, even if there are still many applications that need to be examined. There are few, really, those who have not had a positive response.

An environmental association that also deals with volunteering and social issues. Why?

We talk about human ecology. Without social justice there can be no legality.

Here the original article: