The Voice of A Place For Us
Youth Leadership for global change-making
My name is Alice Perego and I am an 18 year-old girl from a little town near Milan (Italy). I attend Foreign Languages High School. I am in the fourth year. Therefore, this time next year I will be graduating.
I have been a volunteer for the Italian Red Cross for one year and a half now and since then I have given all the activities my local committee carries out a try. Nevertheless, the activity I appreciate the most is the one involving homeless people. Actually, it was the first I experienced (fun fact it was January 1st, 2023) and I literally "fell in love" with it. I reckon it had, and still has, such an effect on me due to the fact it gives me the opportunity to keep in touch with less privileged people who lost their homes and suffer from substance abuse or mental illness. As a volunteer, my team and I furnish them with food, beverages and clothes while trying to help them find a solution to their current situation. I must admit it is not as smooth as it could appear due to the fact that creating a solid relationship with homeless men and women is not easy. Keeping in mind that not all of them want to be helped, we also have to remember this process needs patience. Most of them only want someone to talk to in order to get reassurance. Therefore, having the opportunity to spend four hours every week to make them feel better just gladdens my heart. Furthermore, I became the contact person of this specific activity in July 2023. As a result of this, I learnt how to use Google sheets because I have to do the inventory (after every shift) in order to know exactly what is in stock and what we have given away.
Being part of the project "A Place for Us" makes me the most excited version of myself. Indeed, I am aware of the fact this is a rare opportunity for someone who is willing to work in this field once grown up; I definitely want to make the most out of it. As far as my future is concerned, my biggest dream is working for the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN or an NGO in Africa or in the Middle East.
About A Place For Us
Our History
Our History
Our History
A Place For Us is an international arts and nature based integral education project that serves rurally marginalised children and teenagers. This project could be described is 'integral' informed in that education is not viewed as subjects taught in a fragmented, separate way. Instead, we see teaching and learning as an integrative process. For example, through student engagement with a vegetable garden we can learn about nature, biology, geology, nutrition, geometry, team work etc. A Place for Us is transpersonal in the sense that it views education in a non materialist way. Teachers and facilitators are consciousness orientated and engage in transpersonal or spiritual practices which enable them to be more present and engaged with their young students.