Less than a kilometre away from My School Ticino, walking through the beautiful fields and streets of Gorla, we find one of the Day Centres of the Associazione Ticinese Terza Età (ATTE), the Caslaccio del Pepo. We read in the ATTE statute how the ‘Day Centre is the essential instrument to concretely implement one of the primary aims of the ATTE: to combat the disengagement and isolation of the elderly. A daily meeting point, the Day Centre encourages the development of new relationships and friendships …’. It has now been almost five years since My School Ticino started the intergenerational project with the Caslaccio del Pepo Day Centre, a path involving the elderly and children, bringing the two most distant generations together in communitarian activities.
At first it was a first and second grade classe spending a few hours a week at the centre. Today, it is the Wednesday afternoons, with the large group from the Extracurricular Service, that include intergenerational project activities on the annual calendar. At the Day Centre, accompanied by educators and volunteers, you play boules with real experts, there are outdoor games on the lawn, a dedicated children’s playground, you garden and chat with kind gentlemen who are willing to listen and teach. Creative activities are organised and happy birthday songs can be sung, thrilling the lucky birthday honoree. Children of pre-school age follow the cooking workshop, also at the centre, with volunteer Mara and our educators. The intergenerational project aims to unite the generations, to recreate in some way that bond often unfortunately lost between children and the elderly, who, like grandparents and grandchildren, give each other time, healthy emotions and the possibility of mutually enriching relationships.
There are also other projects involving the school children and the communities in the area. Again on Wednesday afternoons, children between the ages of 6 and 10 who attend the Extracurricular Service are committed to the Pincirö of Balerna. The group, which originates from historical builders of carnival floats, is today – in addition to the well-known floats – involved in activities that require a collective and community commitment. Together with the children of My School Ticino and educator Sergio, volunteers Sabrina and Marco are involved in the construction of the carnival float and parade (between September and February), in the creation of “games of other times” and in the workshop called “Lab Art & Craft”.
During some My Weeks, the camp weeks open to all that My School Ticino proposes during cantonal school holidays, the children were accompanied by teachers and educators to carry out activities at the Fondazione San Rocco, in Coldrerio and in Morbio. There was great enthusiasm and success for the initiative: the children themselves asked to return more often to spend a few hours in the company of the elderly.
The projects carried out by the Extracurricular Service, led by the motivated and highly qualified director Valentina Impedovo, are definitely broadening their horizons and finding new opportunities in the area. A space of growth for children and not only, something we very much believe in. Ad maiora!