Stays at Eni Summer Centers for Ukrainian children and young people. Eni Foundation in collaboration with the Civil Protection offers support and hospitality in some Italian locations
Eni Foundation, the Foundation established at the end of 2006 to promote and implement social and humanitarian solidarity initiatives in Italy and around the world, has decided to offer Ukrainian children and young people and their carers a holiday at Eni summer centers. The project, in collaboration with the Civil Protection Department, is organized in contexts of excellence for reception capacity, quality of services and safety, in accommodation facilities located in 5 locations in the regions of Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont and Marche for the summer period. from June to September 2022. The beneficiaries are Ukrainian refugee citizens welcomed both by Italian families and by the network of organized structures that operate in agreement with the Prefectures or in the sectors of associations and non-profit organizations. The places available until the month of September are over a thousand.
The initiative is a concrete action to support those communities of people, minors and adults who are experiencing the conflict and suffering the consequences of a forced abandonment of their territory for a time, the duration of which is not yet definable. The goal is to make it possible for the participants to have a period of decompression from the trauma experienced in a context of safety and quality, and to participate in an activity plan, during the learning holiday, which will be an opportunity to develop new skills such as language. Italian, to meet the communities of the host territories, to experience moments of lightness aimed at recovering one's psychophysical well-being.
The project, in the various localities and structures, will develop following some common guidelines and objectives: to mitigate the discomfort of war in children and families from Ukraine during the holiday by offering them occasions and opportunities to express it, to talk about what happened in safe and secure way, respecting the times of each.
Furthermore, the meeting with the host community, an interlocutor with whom to dialogue, will constitute a very important moment to build a life context and to reduce the distances that have necessarily been created with respect to one's loved ones, one's land and one's culture. During the program there will therefore be initiatives to enhance the language, culture and "Ukrainian traditions" giving such moments also to the host communities, as a sign of memory that cultivates the feeling of belonging to their roots.
The holiday stay is organized and managed by expert teams with educators and animators, linguistic and cultural mediators who, with the support of doctors and psychologists, offer recreational and entertainment experiences, including games and sports. Furthermore, the discovery of new territories will allow to enhance the environmental experience that the different places offer,
at the sea, in the hills or in the mountains, allowing participants to spend a lot of time of the day in nature with excursions and evenings outdoors.
Furthermore, all participants, in particular children and teenagers, will be offered the opportunity to enhance their skills and competences such as learning the Italian language in anticipation of a stay on the Italian territory and the next start of the school year.
But the project will aim to use universal languages with guests that everyone understands such as play, music, art and bodily expression. The meeting between the participants in the holiday stay, educators and the community will be built on this ground.
Through play, creating and building the time of the stay, a sharing experience will be created for children and young people: "taking a vacation" will be an opportunity for everyone to feel welcomed and at ease listening to music together, painting and contemplating the nature.