They dance, sing, play cards and do gymnastics. Now, members of the Castro Pretorio-Sallustiano elderly centre in Rome will also learn how to use computers with the help of young tutors and older experts.
On Wednesday, December 2nd, members interrupted their habitual activities and followed the students of the Plinio Seniore scientific lyceum to the school computer lab where they took their first lesson, part of a digital literacy course dedicated to over-sixties.
The initial embarrassment did not last long. Elders and students soon became friends and the first quirky eschanges began. “How about I teach you how to make tomato quiche and you show me how to use a PC,” one grandmother exclaimed.
The Castro Pretorio elderly centre (via Montebello 70) has nearly 500 members of various ages and different social groups, including an over 100 grandmother. What they all have in common is an immense curiosity about the world around them and what goes on in the city. Their cultural activities included visits to churches, mosques and synagogues to learn more about their fellow citizens. The I Municipio, the central district of Rome, in fact, hosts the largest number of immigrants with a foreign population of 25%.
What is the role of elderly centres? Who attends the Castro Pretorio elderly centre? What activities does it organise? Listen to the audio clip in which President Vittorio Smiroldo, 73, tells us about life at the elderly centre.
The Castro Pretorio elderly centre is one of the 50 elderly centres in Rome that will take advantage of the Grandparents on the Internet courses. The new digital literacy plan for the elderly, developed in collaboration with Telecom Italia, will be officially presented at the elderly centre. In the meantime, the elders are clicking on their mouse and learning that using a PC can be just as easy as using a phone!
(A press release will be distributed shortly with the relevant information.)
