Students spending summer in Duino help clean up Mount Ermada
Waiting to be able to reach university or to resume studies in September, a group of our students are spending their summer in Duino. In total there are 13 boys and girls from many nationalities: Awate (South Sudan), Ameer (Syria), Aziz (Iraq), David (Nigeria), Fatimah (Iraq), Felista (Kenya), Gurun (South Sudan), Kiramuddin ( Afghanistan), Ousmane (Guinea), Ridho (Indonesia), Winnie (South Sudan), Youla (Syria) and Yasmine (Congo).
Always ready to make themselves useful, these students began participating in a voluntary activity in the local area in July, and took this opportunity to make new friends. Thanks to their collaboration with the Pietro Pittini Foundation and the Kohišče Agricultural Society, these students got to actualise their passion for environmental protection and sustainability through clearing the tracks of Mount Ermada located above Duino. Over the course of several weeks, they spent many hours in the company of Mr. Roberto Valenti of the Naturalistic Didactic Center of Basovizza who accompanied them on some excursions along the paths and caves of the Karst. In doing so, in addition to contributing to the cleaning of the paths, they were able to retrace the most significant historical and war stages that affected the Duino area and its surroundings. Finally, thanks to the agronomist Paolo Parmigiani and the visit to the beekeeping farm Jakne with Aleš Pernarčič, they had the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of our territory and its treasures.
The students truly appreciated the opportunity to get to know the Karst and the people who take care of it, all while making themselves useful to the community. For example, Kiram, the Afghan student, found the comparison between Afghan and Italian culture very interesting: “in my country donkeys are heavily exploited animals that do not enjoy any consideration, while he noted with pleasure how they are treated with respect and also with affection in Italy”. Yasmine said enthusiastically “It was extraordinary to have this type of contact with nature and the opportunity to learn how to take care of it. I also really appreciated the opportunity to meet people from the area, cook and work together and learn about everyone’s different cultures.”
“We are happy to have been able to contribute to the success of this initiative which had the dual objective of contributing to the maintenance of our beautiful territory while offering moments of in-depth analysis for the children on the peculiarities of this land both with regard to the knowledge of local ecosystems and the traces that the First World War left in these places. These are precious opportunities to encourage contamination between the students and the area around them and in which they live ” declares the President of the Pietro Pittini Foundation, Marina Pittini who continues” a special thanks goes both to the United World College, with whom the Foundation has long established a solid synergy between the Kohisce farm and the Pahor family that made this engaging project possible”
