The 10th of December is international human rights day, to celebrate the AICEM team from all the offices across Italy gathered in Rome. What is more, this day is extra special for AICEM, as it is also considered to be the “birthday” of AICEM.
Our flight landed on the 9th of December, before most people had arrived, which gave us some time to explore the city. We went to a really nice local pasta place before seeing some monuments. It was Emilia's first time being in Rome so she wanted to see as much as possible. We got to see the Pantheon and the Trevi fountain before we headed back to the hotel. It was so beautiful and fascinating to see such historical buildings in the midst of the modern city filled with people.
Once we were back at the hotel we finished with the preparations for the next day, by putting the Human Rights Day cards on the scarves. This was also when we first got to see the other people that work with AICEM outside of Sardinia, and it was so fun to finally get to see the people we have talked to and heard about in person. Once we were done we all went together to get pizza and interact with our colleagues from all over Italy. After dinner we were tired after a long day of many new impressions. However, we hadn’t seen the Colosseum yet and since it was quite close to the restaurant we decided to see it on our way back. It was amazing and to our luck there were fireworks going off when we got there which made the experience even more magical.
The main events took place on Saturday, December 10. In the morning, there was a meeting with everyone, a speech from the president, Sara, as well as from other important members of the AICEM team.
They talked about the organisation's main objectives, how important this day is for everyone and what it represents not only for the organisation, but for people in general across the world - “Everyone, Every Day, Everywhere”. After this, people split into groups and we did an activity where they rotated around the room, going to different tables with other people from the organisation. At the tables people told about the projects being implemented in their region. We also had a table, and talked about the many activities that we have already done like working at the sport centre with kids, R-evolution meeting at the university about youth skills, Listening Youth and our ongoing English club. As well as some future projects such as Cineforum and Shoah remembrance day.
After lunch, we went on the streets of Rome for the campaign. We distributed scarves to people who need them more than we do, as well as to locals and visitors of Rome to raise awareness about the day and what it represents. Other years different objects like masks and flashlights were distributed for the campaign, but this year the scarves were chosen again. They are a symbol of Human Rights - a scarf protects from the cold, as Human Rights protect everyone and ensure that people have their needs met.
When we came back to Sassari we wanted to bring the message here and share it with the locals of Sassari. We did this by walking around the city with the scarf, explaining its meaning and the importance of Human Rights and taking a picture of locals wearing the scarf, so that the message could also be brought online. Additionally, we took the opportunity to share what we had done in Rome with our English club and made the topic of that meeting Human Rights.
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