María Tajadura I Jaén, (EFE).- The ‘Civitas Lucis’ association was born in Jaén a year ago to raise awareness about the need to keep neighborhoods clean through the ‘Brigadas de Luz’ project with which, with brush strokes altruistically and disinterested, it intends to clean and beautify the historic center of the capital of Jaén in collaboration with the residents themselves.
The first actions are being carried out in the historic center of the capital, the area most visited by tourists, to later integrate into each of the neighborhoods of the capital and make the leap to the province.
Thus, members of ‘Civitas Lucis’, in collaboration with the Brotherhood of Bitterness of Jaén, have carried out this week their second citizen action to clean and beautify a corner of the historic center of Jaén.
The president of the group, Alfonso Alcalde, has indicated to EFE that the Association intends to be an integral NGO for first world cities: “We want to create collective awareness of the care and beautification of our streets to build together a beautiful city of light.”
In this way, the group intends to vindicate the importance of cities and citizens: “To feel proud of our city, to be aware that it is worth improving oneself and improving others in our city,” he underlined.
Take care of the neighborhood and more happiness
A group of four members of the Association and the Brotherhood, joined by several neighbors, were painting the walls of Arco del Consuelo, a corner that is badly damaged by graffiti.
“We painted all the part that can be done standing up, with tile red what was in that color and with white paint the light area, thus covering all the graffiti since in a second phase we will finish the upper part.”
Some onlookers, who were walking through the old town, stopped to observe the work of the citizen patrol cleaning up the area and asked what motivated them to do this, and they commented to EFE “We are not used to altruistically painting the neighbor’s wall ”.
And another added “if each one of us took care of our neighbourhood, we would live happier and if we involved young people so that they could experience what it costs to keep their streets clean, it would not occur to them to do pranks of this kind”.
The neighbors take the project as their own, and it is the perfect excuse to have a beer with the “altruistic painters” in gratitude for this solidarity work, “for 15 years it has not been painted, nobody has taken care of this, we have spent many years suffering the ugliness of the corner”, comments this neighbor.
Another neighbor, very happy to see her house in good condition, offered her stairs for next Thursday to be able to do the upper part: “A sensitivity and notorious gratitude is generated and that makes us proud” indicates another member of the association .
The sponsorship of companies
This young Association has obtained the sponsorship of companies such as ‘Duracolor Coatings’ and ‘Pinturas Armenteros’ without which this challenge would not be possible.
It is not the first time that they altruistically paint an area of Jaén, they already did it in March on the walls of a busy area of the capital, the stairs of the central Plaza del Pósito that go up to the Diputación building from Jaen.
“The walls were super defaced, very ugly, and we saw the need to act here before the arrival of Holy Week, we left it new, we created a great impact among the people who passed by who thanked us for this action.”
The intervention in the San Agustín square was more successful, when they began to paint the deteriorated wall of the old San Agustín school, since it was the community of neighbors that was encouraged, took ownership of the project, and they were the ones who left the area shimmering.
Before starting to paint the walls, they ask permission from the owners of the buildings, as in the case of Arco del Consuelo, which is owned by the Restaurant ‘La Espadaña’, and if it is public, from the Jaén City Council, a request that they support and receive with much pleasure.
Next Thursday, June 29, at 7:00 p.m., the citizen action at Arco del Consuelo is scheduled to end, and they invite the citizens of the area to join the activity. EFE