By Elena Campacci
My name is Elena Campacci. I am a woman and mother and daughter; a woman farmer, basket maker and educator. I believe in dreams and in the Earth. I believe in human relationships. I believe that daily actions done with the heart – respecting and listening to all that is alive – can really change the world, first within us and then around us.
This last May a strong flood hit all of Romagna, pouring water and mud with unprecedented range and strength, submerging fields and houses, causing landslides and completely changing the morphology of the plains and mountains. Since that day, everything remains in a state of precariousness and instability.
Yet actions are needed; the question of what to do cannot be ignored. One cannot remain passive in front of people who have lost their homes, cars and the familiar things of everyday life, memories, books, photos... Nor can we remain silent in front of farmers, the custodians of the Earth, who have lost crops, orchards, seeds, hives, and futures.
This is how the RI.SEMINA (RE-SEEDING) project was born.
The Romagna association Soffiditerra, which has been dealing with biodiversity, seed exchange, sustainable practices and education, opened a solidarity campaign to help those small farmers which have been heavily damaged from the flood.
We have mapped the area by contacting farmers and beekeepers directly – focusing on those involved in organic, biodynamic, symbiotic, synergistic, permaculture processes – and by weaving a real relationship based on knowledge and mutual trust. We have together identified the real needs (economic aid, workforce, seeds and plants, beehives, equipment…). We have created a support network with the local and national G.A.S. (Solidarity Purchase Groups) and with Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, Italia (WWOOF Italia). WWOOF is part of a worldwide effort to link visitors with organic farmers, promote an educational exchange, and build a global community conscious of ecological farming practices.
Our goal is to sow a seed of hope and future, creating opportunities for everyone, opening the door to new ways of conceiving the Earth and the Human relationship. From moments of difficulty and crisis, the New is reborn.
To learn more you can follow Soffiditerra on Facebook here.