Ferrino returns to the Camino de Santiago with the kids from the CamminAutismo project
The collaboration between Ferrino and the children, families and educators of the Mulino Sambuy association of San Mauro Torinese is renewed again this year. Today, two days after World Autism Awareness Day , they presented the second edition of the CamminAutismo project at the Sala Trasparenza of the Piedmont Region.
In September of last year, in fact, we were alongside the thirteen children, affected by autism with different levels of support, who, after a long preparatory training, took part in the first edition of the initiative, facing the last 114 kilometers of the famous Camino de Santiago.
We had the privilege of accompanying them on this great adventure, making available to participants our best trekking and hiking equipment.
This ambitious and innovative experience, born with the aim of creating opportunities for generalization and "learning in situation" of essential autonomy of the children involved, has had results even higher than expected.
"The data collected - explained the trainers of the Mulino Sambuy association during the press conference - have highlighted significant changes in basic, social and relational autonomy, in eight specific areas of intervention: orientation, road behavior, use of means of transport, use of services, autonomy and personal hygiene, daily living skills, nutrition, rules of the context. The testimonies of some parents, moreover, attest to the permanence of some of the acquired skills even after returning home".
Given these positive results, the CamminAutismo project will be repeated in 2023, with the involvement of ten adolescent boys and girls on the autistic spectrum, all from the Turin area and affiliated with the Child Neuropsychiatry of the ASL Città di Torino, who will travel the last 113 km of the Portuguese Camino from Tui to Santiago.
With them, together with the team of chaperones and educators, there will also be three of the boys who participated in the experience of the previous journey, to implement an approach based on the peer education methodology, so as to provide a model and peer support for the new participants.
We at Ferrino will be at their side again, easing their efforts and making the journey more comfortable thanks to our materials and equipment.
"We are proud to renew this partnership - comments Giorgio Rabajoli , Sales Director Italy - because for us it represents an opportunity to support the community of our territory and a testimony to the extraordinary social and educational potential of hiking and outdoor activities, in which we have always believed. Our work consists in taking up the challenges of ambitious explorers and helping them realize their projects: today the challenge is to walk and help these kids, their families and educators, making the dream real once again".
