Located in the Agia Triada neighbourhood, 1st Experimental Primary School of Thessaloniki sits very close to Helios School, a facility for blind kids. So close that they even organised shared music lessons for their students. It was therefore no surprise that, when asked to think about problems in their neighbourhood, their attention quickly shifted to the difficulties of visually impaired people.
Once the topic was clear, teachers and students – together with our SIP Alex, from Boroume – started thinking about how they could help. However, they did not want to take action right away: they felt they needed to understand visually impaired people and empathize with the difficulties they experience in their daily lives.
They therefore decided on different activities depending on their age. Some resorted to literature, cinema, and arts to learn about other’s experiences; while others took walks around the area and noticed all difficulties that disabled people faced there. As part of the latter, they noticed how many road crossings did not have facilities for blind people to use them, and they saw how car owners sometimes parked on or too close to wheelchair ramps. The pupils then started working together with the Helios School students, learning Braille and playing sports together (goalball, a sport specially designed for blind and visually impaired people).
Children guiding others during an empathy exercise in the 1st Experimental School of Thessaloniki
The project is now moving onto the stage of planning actual interventions. Students are currently preparing themselves to interview disable people in the neighbourhood in order to understand how they cope with problems and what would they would need to improve the quality of life. They plan to make real life observation and intend to map the problematic points of the area. In addition to this, they are creating an informative campaign which will be put into practice on open market day. They hope that this will raise awareness among other neighbours and community members.
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Visit the school’s blog on the project
Location
Thessaloniki, Greece
Number of students
110 students from 6 to 12 years old
SIPs involved
Stimmuli
Boroume
Do you want to contact with this school? Write to nickaman4[at]gmail.com