The city of Catania, located in the South of Italy, in the oriental coast of Sicily, has a wonderful geographic position in a mainly flat territory; situated in front of the Ionian Sea and behind the Etna, the highest European volcano. Catania has a very hot weather during the summertime and it's mild during the winter. The main activities of Catania are trade, fishing, agriculture and, in the summer time, a lot of turists come to visit the city, and this is its true wealth. The environment of the city is truly stimulating from the cultural and artistic point of view: Catania has a rich history and many theathers, museums, churches, ancient monuments and picturesque markets, like the fish market. The city has a very nice university, the oldest in Sicily. Unfortunately the level of unemployment is still very high, particularly among the youngs, that try to emigrate in the north of the country. For that reason, as well, in some of the suburbs of the city there's an high rate of young people having young diseases. Our organisation, with its small contribution, try to help, for what is possible, children and young with less fortune that have familiar or social problems. The House-Family is situated in the Ognina quarter near the city center and not far from the sea; we live in a rural house, surrounded by a big garden, with a lot of space, composed by 10 rooms and 3 bathrooms. At 15 minutes by car, in the Catania's countryside, we have a small piece of land in which we produce biological products.
Catania has one commercial and one turistic harbour, three railway stations, and a subway under construction. The Catania's airport "Fontanarossa" is the fourth largest Italian airport fot number of passengers.
The volunteer will share the room with another volunteer and the meals with all the other guests and volunteers. Like all the members of a family, even the volunteers have to help in the preparation of the meals and in the cleaning of kitchen and dining room. It's strictly forbidden to smoke, drink alchool or use any kind of drugs inside the house. The house is lived by many people, the respect towards the other is an essential condition for a pacific life together. It's good to establish, from the beginning, a relationship based on dialogue: the purpose is avoiding unpleasant misunderstandigs due to different habits and lifestyles. It's important not to invade the other's space, especially the personal room. It's fundamental to respect the privacy of each guest, adult or child, especially if we consider the past of each of them. The volunteers will be allowed to receive visits from outside, but the responsible should always be adviced in advance. The visitors should use the common spaces, without being hosted in the rooms.

According to the ability of the volunteers and even of the period of the year, the activities that they could do will be the following:

Activities with the children of the house: our little guests constantly need our presence. The volunteer will take care of them during all their daily activities, like playing or helping with their homework.If the children have to see the doctor for health reasons, or if they've to go the city for attending a specific course, the volounteer may go with them.We're open at new proposals of recreational activities from the volounteers, that can put all their immagination for stimulating the kids and create around them a joyful and warm environment.The volunteer, just like a member of our house family, will help us in the development of the domestic activities, like the preparation of the meals or the cleaning of the common spaces.We require the collaboration in these activities,understanding the spirit of the initiative without being polemical.

Activity of beekeeping: this activity takes place particularly in spring and summertime, it might be in differet places according to the seasonal blossoming.This give us the opportunity of moving outside the city and stay closer to the nature.The beekeeping it's a very ancient activity fot the production of honey: the first step is putting the beehives in a specific place where is sure that we will have the blossoming in a plant or in a flower; afterwards the human work will be waiting until the laborious bees produce the honey, and then, thanks to a specif machine that works manually,we share the honey from the beeswax for finally make it finished.The process of production of honey it' s really interesting, the ones who want to develop this activity should understand all those different steps, the extraordinary magic of the nature and the time that needs to pick up the fruits.It's also a very good way for coming back at the traditional things and learn a n ancient work thas, like many of them, it's disappearing because of the growing industrial process.

Agricultural activity: in our land in Catania's countryside, we've established a biological agricolture cultivation.We produce agricoltural products for our personal use, we make sauces, pickles and jam. If agree, the volunteer might help in the cultivation, pick up or transformation of the products, he can go with the guests if they need his help, trying to establish a relationship based on trust, cooperation and friendship.The choice of a biological agricolture follow our ideas of respect and love for the environment that host and surround us.The work in the ground it's furthermore a chance to spend a day outside, at the open air, doing a typical activitiy in our regions, an activity we're strictly linked with.

Joinery activity: In this lab it's possible to learn the manufacture of wood for handicraft little work or restoration of broken furnitures. We particularly do this activity in the winter time, when the agricoltural activity is almost absent. The joinery is a work which is going to disappear, it doesn't answer at the frenentic laws of the market that inevitably condtion our lifes. The times for the handicraft wood manufacture are really slow due to the precision and the attention that the work require.Just for that reason we live the lab with a lot of enthusiasm , we appreciate the chance to dedicate part of our time at a job that permit to express the creativity through our hands, and gave us more human and quiet rhytms.

The aggregation center: Three afternoon per week, from 2:30 to 9.30, the volunteer can participate at the activities of the center that hosts adults with physical and mental difficulties.We organise recreational and artisitc events such as game, drawing workshps, theather, music and we usually like to exchange ideas after we watch a movie all together. The volunteer can express himself in a creative way and contribute at the development through new ideas and precious suggestions.

The timetable of the volunteers will be flexible according to the needs of the house and the guests. Howewer, their engagement will last for no longer than 7 hours per day and 5 days a week. Normally there's a non-stop timetable shared in two turns: one in the morning, from 7:30 to 2:30 PM and one in afternoon from 3PM to 10PM. The volunteers gain 2 free days every month of service. Saturday and Sunday are generally free from the service.

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_form_en.cfm?EID=42000470217