A beneficiary of The Human Safety Net’s Ora di Futuro programme in Perugia, Italy, described how the project changed her life to the President of the Italian Senate, Maria Elisabetta Casellati.
Fatima, aged 34 from Morocco, took part in a presentation of the third edition of the Observatory #OraDiFuturo 2021. A mother of two small children, Fatima told the Senate President and other participants that she had arrived in Italy in 2015 to reunite with her husband who had already been in the country for 10 years. “Not everything is always easy, but Italy is a beautiful country, which helps people in need – and we have managed to have a dignified life,” she said.
She went on to tell how the Covid-19 pandemic had hit her family particularly hard, because her husband has a seasonal job. “The Ora di Futuro Center helped us straight away with food vouchers for groceries – and then at Easter we even received a package with lots of good things to eat inside: the greatest gift I have ever received in my life.”
“Together with my children, we joined the centre and participated in all its activities, even during the summer holidays: art, sports, reading, buidling... The children learnt new games and I discovered ideas for things to do at home with them. I also took courses to learn Italian and computing.”
“This project has completely changed our lives,” Fatima said. “Now I can also have dreams: buying a bigger house, having more financial security, resuming my studies and thinking about my children's future.”
The Human Safety Net/Ora di Futuro (meaning ‘Time for the Future’) project views schools as being at the center of communities. It is an education project for children, bringing together teachers, families, primary schools and non-profit networks. It supports initiatives for families from vulnerable backgrounds with children aged 0-6 focused on parenting support, in collaboration with partner NGO Centro per la Salute del Bambino, Albero della Vita and Mission Bambini. At the same time it works within primary schools, aiming to teach children how to manage their resources and to make responsible decisions about their health and wellbeing, as well as environmental resources and even family finances.
The event in Rome, which was also live-streamed, presented the findings of the project’s third year of activities. In the last three years, The Human Safety Net/Ora di Futuro has reached 16,500 families living in vulnerable contexts with16 families centres across Italy.
More info (In Italian) at: oradifuturo.it