Intercultural activities

The municipality of Roccacasale, besides its normal administrative activities, in cooperation with some neighboring municipalities and with AFSAI and the United Games International (who work within Action 5 of the Youth program in the European Community), carries out an intense activity of intercultural exchanges. Its objective is to make the young people of the community come closer to the European reality and to give them the possibility of enhancing their knowledge and thus favoring an international movement for the young.

The municipality is associated with AFSAI, the most important Italian organization for the formation and exchange of intercultural activities and the United Games International, a European network with offices also in India and South America. This activity was initiated in March 2001 in cooperation with AFSAI and included a multilateral exchange program which gave hospitality to a group of twenty-five young Europeans coming from Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Estonia, Czech Rep., Poland and of course Italy.

The second activity promoted by the municipality with the support of AFSAI and the cooperation of the United Games of Hungary has seen the realization of a bilateral exchange among young Roccolani and young Hungarians coming from various parts of the country of Vezsprem. This exchange took place in the month of August 2001 with good results.

In March 2002 Roccacasale organized a reception in the Valle Peligna for a group of young people coming from Spain, Egypt and Jordan. Contemporarily some young Roccolanis, thanks to the contacts from previous activities with AFSAI, have had the opportunity of participating with other young Italians in a cultural exchange to Malta where they received an excellent reception and were honored by the presence of the President of the Republic of Malta.

In the month of June 2002 a group of five Roccolani boys, accompanied by a chaperone, participated in a cultural exchange to Hungary as a result of projects promoted by the United Games International. In addition, from August 28^th to September 7^th 2002 the municipality of Roccacasale, Corfinio, and Popoli, under the management of the United Games International and the effective presence of AFSAI have made possible the conclusion and presentation, in our district, of a book devoted to non-violence. The writing of the book has been conducted after many meetings and get-togethers among groups of fifty-two young Europeans coming from six European countries.

The event that took place in Italy was the conclusive phase of a long and important journey. The presentation of the arguments treated in the book has been introduced to the public through a good theatrical representation at the Town Theater of Sulmona.