March 21, 2024 - 09:57
Those after-school desks that help us look to the future
From Cassano to the Ionian Sea, in Calabria, to Sri Lanka: thanks to the 8xmille to the Catholic Church, two projects aim to support study. In this way, even the most vulnerable children are given prospects.
Studying and eating together, but also playing or learning to take photographs. There is a center in Cassano all'Ionio, in Calabria, which offers all this to around forty young people a year. It was born as an after-school club, to combat school dropout, but also as a canteen for children from the most vulnerable families. The project is called “The appetite comes from studying” and is supported by 8xmille funds to the Catholic Church.
A diocese building in a central neighborhood of Cassano all'Ionio, a Calabrian municipality of around 17 thousand inhabitants in the province of Cosenza, has therefore become a tool for building the future of children and adolescents from families in a state of economic and social fragility. The project is managed in synergy with the team of the socio-educational project for minors of the diocesan Caritas and offers a space for study, training and aggregation to the many young people who live in the historic center of the city and who risk ending up in compromised and unhealthy situations . We move from study tables to the football pitch, in a sort of educational construction site that is always open.
“We have decided to take the field with our commitment, we can no longer afford to delegate”, underlines Don Mario Marino, director of the diocesan Caritas.
Inside the centre, the children, thanks to the work of educators, operators and instructors, grow together, study and train through after-school activities, workshops and sports activities. “One of the primary objectives of 'The appetite comes from studying' - explains Angela Marino, project manager - is to educate minors in recognition, acceptance, respect and identification of everyone's needs. Created in collaboration with the parishes of the historic centre, the initiative is based, as the title suggests, on two fundamental moments: the appetite, i.e. the canteen, and the after-school program with workshop activities".
There are around forty children involved in the project annually, and they are between 6 and 14 years old.
The project has been operational since 2016. The mother of two children who attend the center underlines: “I hope that this project never closes and that the people who are there do not change. I started again thanks to them, here I found people who listen to me and, then, a home and a family".
Another project supported by the 8xmille funds to the Catholic Church also looks at the education of children. It is the school system implemented by the La Salle Brothers in Mannar, Sri Lanka. It is a village where people live from fishing and agriculture and which has particularly suffered from the civil war which has affected the country for over thirty years.
To give a future to the young people of Mannar, the Lasallians have opened several schools, where teaching is taught in English and Tamil.
There is a nursery, primary and secondary school, and also a residence for older students. Thanks to the 651,820 thousand euros, coming from the signatures for the 8x1000 to the Catholic Church, it was possible to build a new hostel, to replace the pre-existing, dilapidated and unhealthy one, together with a training center. Today the structure hosts 50 young people, in a welcoming environment. From next school year it will host 80.
“We have built – explains Brother Selva, head of the St. Xavier Boys Hostel La Salle – new dormitories for our students and teachers at the school in Mannar. The presence of these accommodations is essential to open the doors of the school even to those who come from the most remote and isolated areas of this area and would have to travel many kilometers every day. Having the opportunity to complete secondary school for these young people means having the opportunity to continue their studies or apply for a job, capable of improving their livelihood and that of their families, overcoming the poverty trap".
For decades, La Salle has operated continuously in the Mannar area, facing the challenges of limited access to quality education, characterized by poor school infrastructure and lack of qualified personnel. La Salle is committed to solving this problem by offering a complete educational service to children and young people in the various schools in Mannar.
St Xavier Boys Hostel and College: a project supported by 8xmille funds that challenges limited access to quality education in Mannar, Sri Lanka.
The hostel, connected to the school, welcomes the children and plays a crucial role in guaranteeing the stable attendance of lessons by young people from vulnerable families and in conditions of extreme poverty, thus allowing the logistical difficulties for less fortunate children to be overcome who live in remote places or without means of connection. Thanks to the 8xmille funds, the hostel was completed and transformed into a livable environment, providing adequate living and learning conditions.
The values that inspire the work are deeply rooted in the Lasallian tradition, which aims to teach minds, touch hearts and transform lives through human and Christian education.
A particular commitment is aimed at young people, especially those who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Completing secondary school gives students the opportunity to continue their education or seek employment, helping to break the cycle of poverty.
A strategic decision was to introduce English language teaching, aiming to overcome the discrimination faced by Tamil children and young people, whose cultural contexts include Tamil as their mother tongue. The lack of knowledge of the Sinhalese language, necessary for many job positions, was thus addressed, opening up new opportunities for growth and development for the beneficiaries of the project.
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