A Building for the Disabled

Project location: ITALY, Ciampino
Project start date: June 2005 - Project end date: This project covers various years
Project number: 2005-39
Beneficiary: Associazione Arca Italia ONLUS

Project Report

 

December 2009

Arca is a well-known organization which has provided care for mentally disabled people since 1981 in the community complex of Il Chicco a Ciampino (Rome) in self-contained homes called "focolari". More recently, a second Community complex known as L'Arcobaleno was opened in the Quarto Inferiore in Bologna. "Focolari" are family sized units within the neighborhood supporting the concepts of community life. Voluntary carers and the mentally disabled share accommodation, meals and services. Occupational therapy is provided to help develop individual creativity. Over the years the occupational therapy activity has grown considerably. People entering the communities are those who either do not have a family or come from a family that is unable to care for them. Accomodation is provided for life. Associazione Arca Italia is part of the "Federazione Internazionale della Arche" (International Federation of the Arche).

The proposed project wanted to install a new fence for the compound, up to date and restore the house named "Chicco". As the new buildings have been finished, for our community il Chicco, in Ciampino it was important to restore also the existing buildings. In order to end definitively the compound and to make safe the lives of the people with mental disabilities and their assistants, we had to do a new fence round the compound. The actual fence was totally destroyed and we had to avoid the repeating of nocturnal raids of criminals (it's easy to understand that similar events worry the whole community).
For the security of the compound, it has been necessary to make a fence round the compound: this was necessary considering the actual situation (thefts, delinquency and intrusions). The fence is divided in two parts: the first one, long 230 meters, divides the compound from the narrow property, the second one, long 90 meters, isolated the compound from the street named "Via Ancona" where is the access to compound (at the number "2"). This second part was made in bricks and it is tall 2 meters. There is a gate made in iron which is more than five meters long and it's high 2 meters. It has two columns in irons. The fence which divides the different properties is 124 meters long and is made in iron. It is fixed on a base of bricks which is 40 centimetres high. The fence was made in nearly six months and it was ended in the month of july (2009).
Moreover it was necessary to review and restore the last building named "Il Chicco".
The third house named "Il Chicco" wasn't yet reviewed and in order to make it more liveable, according the basic rules of Arca, some works were necessary in order to lodge properly people with serious disabilities together with their assistants who live with them in the same house during the all day. In this way the building will be similar to the other two, one just now built and the other totally restored.
Now at the end of these works the community " Il Chicco" have 20 mentally disabled people, who live permanently in the community and 10 people, who stay in the community during the day, together with their assistants; for all of them the compound have been revised. Their daily life is now better: it is surer, they live in building totally restored, their standard of life is improved.

 

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