THE BEAUTY OF DIVERSITY

Discovering the Pappaluga project to really give life to everyone ...

A couple of years ago, during the realization of a Striscia la Notizia service, I met a visionary, one of those who can easily transform impossible missions into simple and concrete actions, one who belongs to that category of people I love to define "Modern superheroes".

Davide has four children: Giovanni aged 18, Tommaso aged 17, Anna aged 9 and Carlo a fourteen year old born with a serious mental illness or more technically called cognitive disability.

Initially he lived in the despair of this still very unknown reality, feeling fear, feeling helpless in front of this feeling that paralyzes you and does not allow you to breathe but then, perhaps also thanks to his faith, he found the weapon to defeat it when he understood that the opposite of fear is not courage, but love and he has even managed to transform it into a real one opportunity.

Thus, he founded a company with the unique characteristic of having only cognitive disabilities as employees. Yes, you read that right, this gentleman has created a project where children who are normally discarded, marginalized, humiliated, can live a normal life made up of work, commitment and income. Of course, it was necessary to support them with some professionals of the sector who followed them in the training and control of the work, and mainly to respond to the numerous and incomplete regulations in force.

This beautiful project is called Pappaluga, the name was invented by Carlo, the crazy son, who has also become the president of the company and who also sees his two older brothers at the helm. They produce clothing, sweatshirts, t-shirts and various accessories that are marketed by various stores in the city of Varese, as well as having a virtual shop on the web (for those interested this is their website: www.pappaluga.it). But not only that, because Davide did not stop to give these guys a real life, every day and for 365 days a year he follows them with various activities: workshops, sports, games, a little bit of everything.

After I met them, and perhaps because they are just as crazy, I started participating in their activities and, in a short time, I found myself an integral part of this incredible project.

When I can I train with the boys in basketball, realizing that the slap of the group is me, also because they are very strong. Then, they forced me to be part of their rowing team, they would like to participate in the next Special Olimpics that will be held on Lake Varese in 2021, and even in this case I found myself being the worst of all, but the thing that I annoys the most is that they point it out to me constantly!

Even in this period of global emergency, where we have all been called to comply with regulations and stay at home, they too have diligently done so, perhaps only by less understanding the reason for these obligations, but still not giving up on what makes them alive, including sports.

Just this morning we trained; Davide in the coach version (could it be otherwise?) Dictated the exercises via Skype and we all obeyed like a real team. And guess who dropped out first?

The Pappalugas, among them they are called like this, or Vharese (with the H!) This is the name of the team when they play sports, they have a vitality, a strength, an energy, a love in the heart, that we normals can only look at and appreciate but that we will hardly ever be able to equal. To conclude, dear friends, ever since I met Pappaluga I keep asking myself the same question: "Is it better to be normal in an abnormal world like the one we live in or is it better to be lucky enough not to understand it?".

NUOVO PROGETTO
Maggio 2020