“BRIDGES has enriched me: my culture has grown and I have discovered wonderful things about other cultures. What was the event that gave me the most? Children’s Carnival and its games from all continents: no one felt excluded, young and old ”.

Mahamadou, 24 years old, comes from Mali and nowadays he lives and studies in Florence. AiCS proposed him to join the European project BRIDGES and, from the beginning, he decided to take part actively as a volunteer in the organisation of events which, through culture and sport, aimed at promoting social cohesion in the community by promoting dialogue and exchanges between the various multi-ethnic realities that live the District 5 of Florence. Mahamadou is the first who tells about the positive effects of the project, which helped him to get to know his “neighbours” and to develop his cultural background.

“Bridges – Mahamadou tells the project operators – allowed me to enrich my general knowledge on many things I didn’t know before. Among the events promoted in Florence, the one I liked the most was “Games from all continents”: the participants were happy to take part in a game that don’t exclude anyone, regardless of age “. But the changes promoted by the project, says Mahamadou, are not just private. “The children had fun and they were curious to know when we would organize another similar event”. A sign of mutual curiosity and a well-being not previously perceived. The added value of the project, says the young volunteer, was that of mutual knowledge, but also the awareness of different cultures: discovering – to put it in Mahamadou’s words – “wonderful things”.

“Personally, I have learned how to organize an event like that. But I also learned something about traditional dance from Colombia, Mexico – recalls Mahamadou -: it was a great experience”.