He was born in silence. How the things that matter are born. A notification on your phone, a forwarded message, an “I’m here too”.
A WhatsApp group of volunteers, unknown until a few hours before, it has transformed into a real and operational network to clean up the areas of Sicily affected by Cyclone Harry. “In 48 hours we became 1600”, tells Simone Dei Pieri33 years old, PhD student at the University of Catania, with one foot in the world of volunteering and the other in that of associations since high school. “Together with Simone Grasso we shared the idea and when the initiative went viral, the distance between people shortened and the network stopped being virtual. There are scouts, professionals, students, traders, anyone who wants to lend a hand,” he reports.
And those who cannot because they are unable to do so make what they have available. “As Lellaa nurseryman from the Catania area who donated us hundreds of thick gloves or Mario who brought us boxes of masks – he says -. This is the meaning of charity. A group born overnight animated by an extraordinary feeling. I have no idea who most of these people are, I’ve never seen them.”
The organization is methodical. The large network of volunteers that runs on the social group has been divided into territorial areas: Catania, Caltanissetta, Messina, Syracuse, Ragusa. “We have created a calendar that affects emergency areas, so the volunteer decides where to go – he explains Dei Pieri -. A document was also shared in the group in which we reported the active official fundraisers.” This planning brought out two different feelings. “On the one hand, the best part of a community, made up of people who have chosen to lend a hand without asking for anything in return – he reflects -. On the other, a sense of bitterness and urgency, expressed by those who commented that ‘we have to make do’, because without an initiative from below it becomes difficult to really get up again”. There’s always time to unite. “This is the power of the network – he states – to create connections where they didn’t exist before. If well structured, it is one of the most effective tools for transforming spontaneous participation into concrete action, capable of truly impacting the territory”.
Volunteers at work in the affected areas in Sicily.
In the areas affected by the bad weather “we lent a hand in cleaning up to traders, grandparents, parents, all busy recovering objects and saving what could be saved. Many, often in tears, said they had lost everything, but also of having found comfort and gratitude in the support that came from people I had never known until then.”
The passage of Cyclone HarryWe remember that it especially devastated the Sicilian Ionian coast. In three days, between Catania and Messina, exceptional waves have swept away long stretches of seafront, roads, cycle paths and bathing establishments, destroying homes, businesses, marinas and infrastructure. Entire coastal villages were flooded.
Civil Protection estimated damages of over 700 million. From the Government 100 million euros to be divided with Calabria and Sardinia. Even in these two regions, the sea has exposed the fragility of a side that is now deeply wounded. But capable of getting up again also through a network of solidarity which from digital has become a concrete presence intervened from below in the territory
Andrea Cassisi
