The Convent - Day 8

We began our day with a speaker, Simona Lanzoni who is the Director of Programmes at Fondazione Pangea. Simona spoke on microcredit and what her experience has been working abroad. She has worked extensively in Afghanistan where she lived for 3 years. She explained that post-conflict areas are the best period in which to empower women and increase their place in society. Pangea is interested in economic development, but it is mainly focused on the holistic and personal development of the microcredit “client”. Financial services provided by Pangea include working capital loans, consumer credit, savings, pensions, insurance, and money transfer services. Simona explained that microcredit is much more than simply providing a loan. Instead it also provides human rights training and business-development services, such as health and literacy. Pangea focuses on the “unbankable” people who do not have collateral to offer or to who the banks will not lend to in some societies, such as in Afghanistan or Bangladesh. Women typically work to make and maintain savings, extend the benefits they receive to their children and larger family as a whole, and access to this type of financial assistance increases female self esteem and their dignity.

In the afternoon we enjoyed presentations on the Deep Fryer, the Mixer, Coffee, and Stoves and Ovens in relation to Gender roles.

At the end of the day we were able to go into town and enjoy the Festival of St. Anthony. Outside of the Convent several people had been working all morning to create the image below. They used dyed flowers, seeds, corn, and other similar materials to make this beautiful image of this scroll.

Many students walked to the Castle in Bolsena to see the beginning of the procession of the Priests, the Mayor, and other groups who wound through the town carrying St. Anthony with them through the center of town and up the hill to eventually end at the Convent where everyone tried to get a Lily from the Statue of St. Anthony and also get in line to receive pork sandwiches in the Convent. Enjoy the pictures!