Ri-puliamoci

Ri-puliamoci is a young organisation, not only because it was born about a year ago, but also because none of its core members is over thirty years. All of them have at least one experience of European volunteering in their luggage, which has created a consciousness and a common idea of ​​the world: the most valuable thing we have learned from the various experiences scattered all over Europe is that we need to act if we want things to change. The idea of ​​becoming an association has come only later: at first it took shape what we can call a close-knit group. So, almost for fun, we wanted to challenge ourselves: our first event – which later on the organisation was named after – was organized with few expectations. We used the web and the communicative power that characterizes it to invite the citizens to clean a park in our city. The result surprised all of us: more than forty people attended the event. This gave us the motivation to go on and the chance to meet other members or just people who supported the cause. The appointment with the "clean-up" became weekly, accompanied by a variety of events. The place we operate in is Altamura, a town of 70000 people located in the hinterland of Puglia (in the southeast of Italy), where the availability of public green per inhabitant is far below average. We aim to bring the idea of a green city and a sustainable lifestyle, which is not an easy task considered the cultural background of our town. Our commitment in the area is constant, despite some inevitable moments of administrative and cultural difficulties. But working in such a difficult land, achieving any however small result is a great reason of pride for us, which gives us the strength and the motivation to go on.