Colored walls, a few nails and hooks and the words: “If you do not need it, leave it. If you need it, take it.” The result is a wonderful initiative that has spread in Iran these days. These are the walls of kindness.
It all starts in Mashhad, a city in the northeast of Iran with 2.5 million inhabitants when someone, who remained anonymous, on a day in mid-December has prepared the first wall of kindness. And now, thanks to social networks that have been invaded by colored walls and gestures of sharing, in many Iranian cities there’s a colorful corner, where people accumulate sweaters, pants and coats for the less fortunate.
In Iran, the crisis is still strong and in recent years there has been a disproportionate increase of Iranians living below the poverty line. Official datas report that only in the capital Tehran there are 15 thousand homeless. And so a simple gesture becomes very important to many people.
From today, the wall is not only a distance, a separation, a closure of the borders, but also became a symbol of sharing and solidarity.
And once again, the gestures that start from the bottom succeed, where there the State failed too to help the weaker sections of its population. These are gestures that make us believe in humanity and in a better and more fair future for all.
We hope that this incredible initiative, thanks to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, is able to cross the borders of Iran and spread around the world and we invite each of you to create a wall of kindness in your own city. So the walls of kindness will exceed those of division.
