Welcome! We are the new H.Y.R.O. volunteers working for the project “Alter 2.0.”, and we will be staying in Palermo for six months. Our backgrounds are pretty different; we have Inès from Orléans, France. She is 23 years old and studied Linguistics in Spanish and English. The next volunteer is Susanna from Lisbon, Portugal; she is 22 years old and she has a degree in Political Sciences. And last but not least, we have Emma from Barcelona, Spain. She is 18 years old and next year she will study Biomedicine in the UK.
As volunteers, we have the opportunity to fill our schedule in whatever way we find most interesting and beneficial to us. Since Naka was still in the first steps of creation, it was in everyone’s interest to follow the initial process. View and participate in decisions as primary as logos, the creation of posters or even the look of the official site. We wanted to help the most at the starting of this organization, which fights for human rights as much as we do and against what we reject, such as discrimination.
Although the being is a slow process and still without results, we find that the observation of the initial problems such as bureaucracy, the lack of knowledge about the organization by the community and the creation of a network are the transversal aspects to all organizations that undoubtedly are interesting to see how they will be surpassed.
Another activity we do is working in Terra Franca. This project is an initiative created by the H.R.Y.O. to transform an old land confiscated by the municipality of Palermo from the Mafia; the territory is located outdoors the city of Palermo and the organization began to take action and perform different activities since January 2019.
The aim of the project itself is to transform this “no man land” into a multi-functional space that all the community/neighborhood can enjoy and take profit of it. Our task as volunteers now is to clean the space from all the natural vegetation and rubbish that has been accumulated by years of inactivity and carelessness. Moreover, to accomplish this purpose, we meet all the three of us every Friday to work a full day in Terra Franca.
Finally, another organization that we have contributed to is 5Atuttotondo, which is a center for adults with autism. The organization works with the enhancement of activities related to creativity and development of their personality.
They help people with autism to learn how to do activities and routines that come from everyday life, such as cutting vegetables, cleaning dishes and basic elements important to surviving alone in our beautiful world.
With the help of the monitor’s, we try to participate as much as possible in these activities. We really love going there because it is something new. Even though we have had previous contact with autistic people, it is very interesting to see how we can work with them and create connections by playing music and doing art workshops.
Emma Navarro Lanckmans
Inès Mellal
Susana Rodrigues[:en]
