Migration Stories

Today I spent my morning volunteering at St. Paul’s Within the Walls (American Episcopal Church in Rome), which houses the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center – the only day center in Rome where refugees can sleep, wash up and get free tea, food, and clothes. The center is open Monday thru Friday from 8-3 and is visited by approximately 120 people each day. The refugees are overwhelmingly young men, the youngest being 12 years old. Women have come to the center, and are welcome, but extremely rarely endure the dangerous, expensive and long journey from Africa or the Middle East to Italy. This center’s mission is not one of religion, but rather political reconciliation such that these refugees can learn languages and skills that give them the tools to work to restore their human dignity.

In the school, I worked with the men on computer skills. Some people played word scramble games in English, and some worked on typing out sentences in English to practice typing. The men often worked on the game in groups, as they tended to associate with friends from their country. I met people from Senegal, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan. They traveled to Italy mostly via boat, and one person by plane. We were told by those in charge at the center that their families pay very large amounts of money to smugglers to get them to Italy, which is known as the back door to the European Union. Sometimes, smugglers will put holes in the boats carrying these migrants and then leave them to drown. Very, very sad.

Perhaps the most moving story I heard today was of two friends from Afghanistan, only 15 and 16 years old, that both left their country for Italy and are now reunited in Italy. One of the boys spent 6 months traveling first to Iran, where he learned a little English, then Turkey, Greece and finally Italy. His friend, who only spoke Persian, arrived in Italy after first stopping in Greece.

I'm looking forward to volunteering more!

Pictures coming soon - I promise! Prepare for Ancient Rome pictures by the end of the weekend.