Can a class of high school students really be interested in cheese? From the organizers of the WeFree Days, San Patrignano that answer is a resounding “yes”. The workshop takes place in the so-called “ZooSanpa”, an area far away from the chaos of the main event, which is the square, including the auditorium and the gazebo where children can learn to dance, drink non alcoholic cocktails, graffiti and freestyle hip-hop. Students participating in the “Sanpa Farm” are guided through a descent that flanks the vineyards, stables for pigs and cattle, without knowing what to expect. On their arrival they find one of the guys from the dairy stirring a pot of milk and recounting his story.
He is not alone, with him there are other who are also doing the program and they all share their emotional stories with everyone, which brings tears to the eyes of teachers and students alike. Perhaps it was motivated by the guys who are practically the same age of their audience, talking and sharing very intimate details about difficult situations in their lives, poverty, absent parents and living on the streets. One of the guys who has almost done two years in the community says he never had the solution to getting out the inferno of addiction, “I never knew my father, because he abandoned our family before I was born. Subconsciously I have always thought that it was my fault, I grew up feeling that I was a mistake, a “loser”. Then I got lost in the abyss of drugs. Today I feel like the situation is changing for me: I am finally at ease with myself, I’m no longer ashamed. A “loser, that’s what I was before when I hid behind a substance, not now, now that I have the courage to open up to so many people of my own age. It was difficult, but liberating.”
The reactions of the students were of appreciation: “Little by little there expressions changed, in their eyes there was no judgment or mistrust, but encouragement and support.”
WeFree was created to encourage youngsters and teenagers to express themselves and to accept themselves. This was how San Patrignano was born because being uncomfortable with what and who you are is one of the principle reason children turn to drugs. It’s an event that leaves everyone who participated with an energy and will to live. This is all done by communicating with others and giving value to what you have inside.