Support provided for two projects run by local associations. With Anteas, we’ve funded the purchase of a new van equipped to transport disabled persons. And with Aviat, we’ve backed a project in Togo that helps cure children’s eye disease.
This Christmas, SACMI has set out to support human dignity and basic rights: it has done so by working with inspiring charities who have, for years, been building projects and services for the local and international community.
For a long time now, SACMI has been at the forefront when it comes to supporting local organizations that provide services for those in need. These include Anteas, an Imola-based association that has been a key provider of disabled transport services for over twenty years.
“Demand had skyrocketed in recent years”, points out the association, “ and our vehicle pool was no longer large enough to meet all our commitments.” The resources donated by SACMI will allow Anteas to purchase a new fully-equipped van, bringing the association’s number of vehicles to 11.
More specifically, the vehicle is equipped with a wheelchair tailgate ramp that is well suited to urban transport. “We’re very grateful to SACMI for this donation, which rests on shared principles of solidarity with the vulnerable”, stated Anteas, whose volunteers have provided a steadily growing range of such services in and around Imola since 1988.
“Health and dignity are precious assets that we’ve learnt to see from a collective, global perspective. Such rights are either there for everyone, or are not there at all”, points out Paolo Mongardi, President of SACMI Imola. “That’s why, as in previous years, we’re standing by our associations to bring dignity where it’s most needed. For SACMI, this is the true meaning of the Festive Season”.
The second initiative is in keeping with the training and healthcare projects SACMI has supported in developing countries for many years. The beneficiary is Aviat Onlus, a local association that has been operating for several years in Togo. One of the world’s poorest countries, Togo is beset by numerous health problems, such as access to treatment for age-related and congenital cataracts.
SACMI started supporting Aviat’s humanitarian work back in 2005. The resources donated to this second project will help treat eye disease at the medical center run by the nuns of Our Lady of the Apostles in Kolowaré, a village just outside Sokodé, the country's second-largest city.
The goal is to perform at least a hundred cataract operations so patients, especially children, can look forward to enjoying a life with restored eyesight. This project is made all the more significant, explains Aviat, when one considers that four out of five cases of blindness could be treated by simple prevention or “routine” operations that are still unavailable to large swathes of the population in the Southern Hemisphere.
