Developing a narrative about “Migrants and Refugees” in our country, is not easy at all. The stereotypes are still strong, and to deconstruct them was kind of hard, but I have been going through many difficulties, and in the end, with the great support of my NGO, I did a nice work with an unexpected number of people, from different realities (EVS and civil volunteers, migrants and refugees).
While I was planning the activities, among all the participants there was some perplexity: the topic is not that easy, and without the right skills, everything could be extremely boring for youngsters. That’s why I decided to implement a bunch of games, and ice breakers, in order to create the right atmosphere. The theoretical parts were well divided among practical and preparatory exercises. One of the aims of that workshop was to select the participants for the next step of this “Brave New You” YEU Convention, and among all the participants, there was one of the most spontaneous, genuine and smart guy I ever met.
His name is Amadou, he is from Senegal, and he’s in Italy since December 2017. His father came to Italy more than 15 years ago, and he worked a lot to have the opportunity to bring his family to my country. Despite the young age, Amadou is one of the most inclusive guys I have ever met in my life. I was amazed and surprised by his way to be in life. I realized that I learned a lot from him, and at the same time I tried to share his own experience with the rest of the group, which was not aware about his story. No doubts: he was my first choice. I thought that a witness like Amadou could be living proof of social inclusion and we saw the results during the convention: everybody felt what I have felt in my workshop, a month before! Amadou shared his spontaneity through the social work that we did, during the training, during the coffee breaks, during the football matches, during every single moment. During every single breath. I think that every kind of refugee or migrant, with a similar background, could be an incredible resource for one who wants to work in this field. For one who wants to learn how to live in the present, without barriers, without hate speech, without all of the stereotypes that surround and affect us, and directly, our society. Our world.