The project offers a unique opportunity for inmates to engage in constructive activities, develop new skills and strengthen their sense of self-esteem and confidence. Through beekeeping, participants can connect with nature, gain a positive perspective on their future and contribute to the well-being of the environment.
A new social project with a great territorial and re-educational impact. This is the mission that Anna Bruni Agnes, Chairman of the District Commission for Prisons, ALTERNATIVE MEASURES, CRIMES, JUSTICE, has strongly wanted to propose to the Voghera Prison in the person of Dr. Davide Pisapia with Rotary District 2050, Rotary Club Gruppo Longobardo led by Rotary Club Valle Staffora, UEPE Pavia with Dr. Fontana, API Lombardia Associations and the 381 Onlus cooperative Orti Sociali in the person of Moreno Baggini and Sara Fasani.
The aim of the project is to reintegrate disadvantaged subjects through social agriculture and allows for "on-the-job" training of inmates, art. 21, probationers or public utility work, to manage some beehives and produce honey. The training is vocational: it helps inmates to become passionate about an insect that is fundamental to life on earth and at the same time teaches them a trade that can be spent at the end of their sentence.
"When we talk about re-education, of course the thought goes to who is to do it and for what purpose. It is difficult to understand that re-education is a dynamic process through the reconstruction of the person. This project wanted by Anna Bruni is therefore aimed precisely at this, a cue for the inmate to be able to give a signal that one can really change, and I speak from experience now after 27 years of work. - says Davide Pisapia of the Voghera Prison, who continues - "The importance of initiatives that go in the direction of stimulating the inmate in feeling useful is one of our priorities, we already do interesting workshops with the theatre, but in ways like these in contact with nature and the territory the initiative is even bigger and more impactful in reality."
"Thanks to the contribution that the entire Longobard Group of Rotary wanted to allocate to the project, we first of all planned training activities at the Voghera prison, conducted by an expert in the field, Dr. Marco Cavanna, who in addition to being a beekeeper has expertise in educational matters of social reintegration." says creator Anna Bruni Agnes.
Dr. Fontana of the UEPE Pavia group states: ‘It is a very interesting project also because it is part of the vocation of the agricultural territory. It is also important for social and environmental interactions. Favouring paths of inclusion, accelerating where possible an increasingly topical social phenomenon‘.
The honey production will then be sold at food shops that are sensitive to the initiative or at Coldiretti‘s friendly country markets. This step is fundamental to give future sustainability to the project, and it is here that Cooperativa 381 Onlus, based in via Palazzina in Voghera, goes into more detail, thanks also to an expert in the re-educational and social sector, Moreno Baggini, who said ‘‘We thank Rotary and Pisapia of the Casa Circondariale for having wanted Orti Sociali and Cooperativa 381 in the figure of President Sara Fasani involved in this project. The importance of bees, the fact of training people and acquiring skills in beekeeping is a beautiful synergy because from bees we can learn to work together, to share objectives as bees do for their common goal, and this is the best way to educate people in society.‘‘
The project offers a unique opportunity for prisoners to engage in constructive activities, develop new skills and strengthen their sense of self-esteem and confidence. Through beekeeping, participants can connect with nature, gain a positive perspective on their future and contribute to the well-being of the environment. In fact, the beekeeping training days for inmates proved to be extremely fruitful and engaging. The users showed a strong interest in both the theoretical part and the practical outings in the apiary. The practical sessions in the apiary aroused great interest, with participants showing a great desire to test themselves and learn in the field. Some of them have already started thinking enthusiastically about specific projects, such as the production of ‘chilli honey‘, displaying a considerable amount of creativity and initiative.
he project will continue until 2025, thanks to the cohesion built up in all the groups and thanks to the great commitment of the people mentioned, as well as all the members and volunteers who are behind this great solidarity machine aimed at people who should not be classified as ‘second class‘ but rather should be supported and integrated as they deserve, because in life we all have the right to make mistakes by being given a second chance.
