The project is called Riding the Rainbow, and like many good ideas it was born in a garage. Objective: to give a smile to girls and boys who fled the horrors of war and offer refugees new opportunities, creating a network of solidarity in the territory that welcomed them, all with a simple click. The name was suggested by the emotion of a Ukrainian mother, when happiness lit up her son’s face in front of an unexpected gift: «I saw the light of the rainbow in her eyes, and in the eyes of other children like him» he said. The instrument is an easy-to-use app (Apple Store: https://apps.apple.com/it/app/riding-rainbow/id1640246025, Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details ?id=com.riding_rainbow) which allows you to give away bicycles, scooters, sports equipment but also musical instruments that belonged to us, that we no longer use or that we want to give away. A gesture that takes on an even more significant value during the Christmas holidays.
The initiative was born in Luxembourg, on the initiative of an Italian family, at the end of last February, when in the days immediately following the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army, millions of people poured out of the borders of the attacked country , turning into a river that branched out throughout Europe. «I had a couple of bikes sitting there in the garage, waiting for a new owner, so I put a post on Facebook: meeting this Ukrainian guy, who came with his family to get the bike was so touching , has enriched me and my boys so much that I decided to start distributing bicycles from my garage, to transfer this joy of giving and meeting to everyone. They were all traumatized by having to leave their homes, everything behind them, but having a bicycle again offered them a connection to the life they had left behind,” says Emanuele Santi, co-founder and president of Afrilanthropy, a NGO that incubates African start-ups, promoter of the initiative.
A simple word of mouth set in motion a solidarity mechanism: the family asked friends and acquaintances to bring used bikes and scooters, offering the office garage in Luxembourg as a collection and distribution centre. In just a few weeks, the garage has become a meeting point for Ukrainian residents and families: more than 200 bicycles, scooters and skateboards have been delivered to as many children seeking asylum or with refugee status in Luxembourg (also coming from such as Afghanistan or Mali). Other families soon joined who in turn opened their garages as collection centers, 5 across the country. But with the growing demand from donors and refugees, the network of volunteers, brought together under the NGO Afrilanthropy, realized that having few collection points was a limitation on the ability to meet everyone’s needs. To facilitate the direct meeting between donor and recipient, the Riding the Rainbow application was born, which operates in a different way from the traditional anonymous and centralized donation models.
To date, over 400 sporting goods have been given new life in the hands of young refugees of eight nationalities, helping the families of the newcomers build bonds with the local community and fostering the integration of children.
How does it work? The donor can post a photo of the object he wishes to donate accompanied by a brief description and enter his approximate position: this information allows identifying all the items available in a specific city. The refugee can contact the donor via a private communication channel within the app, in order to organize the collection; at that point the donor can continue the donation without necessarily revealing his private address.
The project has also already created new jobs, with the hiring of two refugees to support project management and with the involvement of a Ukrainian company (based in Lviv) to develop the Riding the Rainbow application. The app is now used in six countries (Luxembourg, Italy, France, England, Greece and the United States): Italy is the second most active country after Luxembourg, with objects posted in Rome, Milan, Turin and Cesena.
The partners in Italy are the feminist and ecological association Movimenta, the SS Lazio 1900 Foundation, the Italian Sports Center (CSI), the John Paul II Foundation for Sport, while from the outset, the project has collaborated with the Red Cross and other partner in Luxembourg.
Last December 3, in Rome, on the occasion of the annual “Night of the Captains” of the CSI Rome, the initiative “Let’s put them back in the game: the solidarity marathon” was also launched, in which 12 associations, foundations and companies from around the world participate sporting and social, with the aim of involving the world of sport, in putting second-hand objects back into play and, at the same time, promoting the integration of young refugees.