Contact Person: Patrizia Freddi; Telephone Number: +39 39223426010; E-mail: nativonlus@hotmail.com;
Website: www.nativonlus.com
Xlestrade met Patrizia Freddi the founder and the person in charge of Nativo Onlus an Association set in the Rome province.
Nativo Onlus was officially born in 2003 but from a few years yet Patrizia and a group of her friends used to spent their vacations in Kenya in the Watamu village. Watamu is a small fishermen village on the North-East coast at 40 km from Malindi. During one of those trips they met a local doctor and they decided to support his taking care about the most disadvantaged children.
At the beginning the involved children where only 20. At the moment they are more than 600.
The name of the Association was chosen to give the idea that we are all originals – natives from Africa and to remember that Africa is the real cradle of humanity.
The projects they’ve realized during their first 12 years of activity are as follows:
– To provide a basic medical care for the children considered “at risk” in collaboration with the local Clinic Tumaini Youth of Waramu. Focused meetings and seminars in the schools to teach girls and boys how to respect the others and themselves. This is possible only through a right ethic and a social approach to hygiene, to relationships and to sexuality. Those events involve the teachers, the families and the communities delegates as school becomes the first actor in the children protection program;
– To guarantee the school education of children in private schools in order to give a better protection to more than 110 disadvantaged children and young people thanks to their sponsorship program. Through this sponsorship they try to protect children’s right to an education and children’s recovery when they are at risk of social exclusion but always following a meritocratic precept: to follow up with secondary and university studies is a rare opportunity that could be only offered to whom shows the will and the capacity to study. That’s why orientation courses and vocational guidance are provided at the end of school years taking into account the abilities and the talents of every kid;
– To provide professional training for the guys that cannot follow up their studies at the Gede Polytechnic. Mechanic, computer, weaving and traditional textile stain practice, carpentry classes are organized so that those young people would be able to quickly find a job, to start their own business or to have a training contract in the small local business in order that it would be easier for them to find a job in the future;
– To help supporting some CBOs (Community Based Organization): communitarian organizations that were born 
locally. Native Onlus helps the Mwanko Mpya CBO (in Swahili The New Generation Self Help Group) by starting a training program to teach the women members of the group how to manage their savings, some small business and the microcredit because helping women means to help the families and the entire communities.
Native Onlus helps the Kids Alive CBO that takes care of the orphans by starting a new tailor’s lab/school in Timboni.
The main objective of all their interventions is to protect and defend the children and young people involved.
Patrizia told us that Watamu is a small village where tourism has grown in a few years. The increase of tourism numbers brought to the village good aspects but at the same time big imbalance among the local communities that young people perceive at most. Anyway, in Watamu there are really far realities living together and peacefully, people from different religions and tribes.
We asked about Nativo Onlus future projects. Their main points of interest are: the children protection, the education and vocational training, the development of orientation seminars and meeting with the job categories delegates (more or less common jobs but always focused on the excellence), the training classes for women on micro-credit or focusing on small business for income production, the sustainability of the projects and their cooperation with the local communities and organizations that share the same objectives.
New volunteers and new collaborations are always welcome both in Italy and in Kenya. The experiences on the field are reserved to whom would like to have an holiday and at the same time an awareness trip. It will be a real experience on the field close to our local coordinator Agnes to better know their initiatives and projects.
A great number of supporters are from Monterenzio (BO). Their friendship was born in Kenya where the families go periodically in order to visit the children they are supporting from Italy.
We asked about their activities in Italy. They told us about a lot of great meetings where they share the directions and the strategies to adopt. They try to aware and involve new friends and supporters that could commit their time and their energies to build these projects.
The message Patrizia leaves us is in Swahili:”Jukumika na kufurahia msaada” that means “We are responsible and proud to be helped” because all their initiatives represent their answer to requests coming from the local people with the objective that the population becomes independent as soon as possible and develops the local collaborations.
Xlestrade thanks the Nativo Onlus friends! Let’s continue this path with the awareness that we are all coming from Africa and from any other place in the world!
Traduzione a cura di Monica Zambon
