Building a “sensory room” and a garden for children with autism and trisomy 21 of the Silves Sul School Group is the objective of the Rotary Club of Silves, which is organizing a solidarity pilgrimage and collecting donations through the GoFundMe platform.
With the aim of providing children with learning difficulties with better facilities, pilgrims,a dozen members of the Silves Rotary Club with a total age of about 850 years old, will leave on the 24th of September for a six-day hike of 120 kilometers, for the Portuguese Way from Valença to Santiago de Compostela.
«Looking at them, you wouldn't think they were capable of doing that. Some have just had surgery on their hips, one on their heart, and a member, now 80, has had knee surgery, not to mention all the ailments age of 70. Yes, because the age of our pilgrims is from 70. They are our bold hikers», points out Rotary.
And why organize this solidarity pilgrimage? “Children need a calm and safe space to develop their skills and fully enjoy all the time they spend at school. Teachers need tools and equipment to teach their children how to be independent in the future», he stresses.
On this path, each pilgrim will represent and have the support of a group of students from the Agrupamento Escolas Silves Sul. Progress and events along the way will be shared on the GoFundMe page “Help Pilgrims Change Kids Lives”.
With this initiative, the pilgrims of the Rotary Club of Silves expect to reach a total of 20 thousand euros in donations, which will be 100% destined to the transformation of the old classroom and garden.
The group of solidary pilgrims is said to be inspired by a poem by John Bunyan:
He who would be valiant be
Against all disasters.
let him in constancy
Follow the master.
There's no discouragement,
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intention
I'm a pilgrim.
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