This year, International Women's Day was tinged with red. It is the colour of the bench that was inaugurated on March 8 in front of the 'Casa Mia' nursing home, an institution of the Adventist Church, in Forlì.
On Wednesday, March 8, at 10.00 a.m., the inauguration ceremony took place in the presence of the mayor of Forlì, Gian Luca Zattini. Barbara Rossi and Andrea Cintorino, councillors for Welfare and Equal Opportunities respectively, and other regional authorities also attended.
"The guests of the facility were eager to express their disapproval of all the violence suffered by women," explains the director, Fabian Nikolaus. "They feel the need to feel alive by still being able to express their point of view. This led to the idea of installing a 'red bench' in front of the nursing home, as a symbol of dissent to gender-based violence by the residents of 'Casa Mia'."
The elderly residents of the nursing home wanted the bench to belong to the whole neighbourhood, which is why shops in the area displayed key rings with a small red shoe that were handed out to customers in exchange for a symbolic donation contributing to the project.
The red bench in front of "Casa Mia" joins those installed in Florence, at the "Villa Aurora" Institute, and in Cesena, in front of the Adventist church.
Intergenerational path
The inauguration concludes the "Spicchio di paradiso" (A glimpse of paradise) project that the nursing home has implemented to promote "respect, inclusion and diversity". It is a path of knowledge and activities between the generations, for mutual enrichment and to counter feelings that produce offence towards the other. The 'Melozzo' primary school was involved in the project and the children of classes IV and V visited the elderly of 'Casa Mia'. The activities carried out made it possible to share values and foster intergenerational dialogue and awareness of gestures and movements that convey our emotions.
One of the aims of this project is to integrate the facility into the neighbourhood, enhance the elderly’s lives and boost their self-esteem.
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