The Sifais Foundation (Comprehensive Critical Training System for Social Inclusion) promoted the installation of a gigantic and colorful hanging garden in La Carpio, in La Uruca.
This garden with more than 1,000 ornamental plants is located in the so-called Cueva de luz. It is a building of 1,000 square meters distributed on four levels, where there is an amphitheater or exhibition hall, administrative areas and spaces for multifunctional workshops.
Inside this structure there are now “green corridors” along the ramps that allow visitors to reach each of the four floors of the building. The milestone was consolidated through the artistic and artisanal decoration of hundreds of jars. It is a concept that describes plastic bottles collected from the streets and transformed into embellished pots.
Overwhelmed emotion
“Seeing this hanging garden installed is an exceptional experience: the visitors who have arrived, while working on each of the levels of the garden, told us that it seemed like being in a scene from (the movie) Avatar. “And looking at it closely, I think it’s true, it feels like something magical!”, commented Maris Stella Fernández, president of the Sifais Foundation.
“The initiative has an additional value for becoming a space full of nature within reach of the hand and at a close glance. This in a community where there are no parks or public spaces for planting trees,” said Paula Marín, EBI’s social responsibility coordinator. This firm manages the waste treatment plant in La Carpio, which also provided special sponsorship to make the idea a reality.
Transformed lives
Fernández concluded with the following reflection: “This hanging garden is like a metaphor for what has been happening over the years in Cueva de luz: many people looked at this neighborhood as a discard site. “But with a little attention and affection, their talent has been recognized, giving them options so that they can resurface, beautify their lives and those of others.
“This was not, far from it, the purpose of the installation, but seeing so much beauty, it seemed to me that it describes very well how so many lives are transformed here with dedication.”
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