Solidarity Gardens, a project to use agriculture to treat those suffering from serious mental disorders.

A triangular collaboration, bringing together the public and a private company, to bring about twenty people affected by mental health problems closer to the prospect of independent living . The Municipality of Civitavecchia , the Local Health Authority 4 of Rome (with the Department of Mental Health and the Addiction Service), and the “ Tenuta del Gattopuzzo ” agricultural company are partnering with the Community of Sant'Egidio , the creator of the project, to implement the Solidarity Gardens project.

SOLIDARITY GARDENS IN CIVITAVECCHIA

The plan is highly ambitious. It aims to concretely and daily include people experiencing the fragility of mental health disorders who cannot and should not be treated solely with traditional medical treatments. Social farming is one of the most advanced ways to boost these people's self-esteem, to bring them closer to one another and to the local community in general, and to help them discover their potential.

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PROJECT FOR PEOPLE WITH MENTAL DISORDERS

Solidarity Gardens consists of two phases . In the first, which has already concluded, the twenty men and women involved were trained to carry out urban farming activities competently and successfully. They learned about plants , the various cultivation techniques, how to enrich and irrigate soil, and which tools to use for each phase of social farming.

Then theory moved on to practice . And so came some urban spaces cultivated by this small community. Once again, the Non sprecare diptych , in projects like Orti solidali , manages to involve, in a positive way, both things and people. Spaces in poor condition or abandoned become green spaces again and are thus reclaimed as common goods where events like concerts, book presentations, and demonstrations for the city can also be held. But above all, people who are suffering find new motivation and new impetus in this activity. And their lives are no longer at risk of being wasted.

THE BENEFITS OF SOLIDARITY FARMING

Among the works created through the Solidarity Gardens project , two are worth mentioning. The first is a rose garden dedicated to the Bullenhauser Damm Children, the twenty children, including Neapolitan Sergio De Simone, prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp, subjected to atrocious medical experiments, and ultimately murdered by SS men. These children, and with them the rose garden, have become, wherever rose bushes dedicated to them have been planted, a symbol of denied childhood and of the commitment to defending all the world's children from violence and abuse.

The second project is a small olive grove with twenty trees, which will become a Garden of the Righteous , remembering the men and women who, throughout the world, in the darkest moments of history, saved lives during genocides and defended human dignity during totalitarian regimes. The trees are already abundant and offer hope that oil produced in the Civitavecchia Solidarity Gardens will be available as early as 2021. This oil will be "twice as good" : for its flavor and as a symbol of justice and commitment.

The "Orti Solidali" project is a candidate for the 2021 Non Sprecare Award, in the "Institutions" section. To submit your projects, follow the instructions here.

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