When Anamul Haque came to Sicily from Bangladesh three years ago, he didn’t know a single word of Italian. He says getting around was extremely difficult, and he needed an interpreter friend at his side at all times. Then another friend brought him to Centro Astalli, the Italian branch of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), where he learned the basics of the language so he could finally be independent, and eventually find a job.
“Since my very first class, volunteers here have become my second family,” he tells Vatican Insider. He specifically recalls the time he had to go to hospital and his Italian teachers visited him there, sticking by his side throughout his stay.
The Jesuit Refugee Service, an international Catholic organisation with a mission to serve and advocate on behalf of refugees and other forcibly displaced people, undertakes services at national and regional levels in Italy with the support of an international office in Rome. Since 1999, the Catania branch has been a reference point for refugees arriving in Sicily. The work of this specific branch focuses on the initial arrival phase, which involves welcoming migrants, offering first aid services and general post-arrival guidance.
The migrants, especially those without an occupation or legal status, gather in Catania’s train station, which is not far from the JRS center. There, they are sure to find a welcome sign written in their native language. More than 40 percent of them, in fact, come from the MENA region and Sub-Saharan countries, such as Senegal, Nigeria, and Gambia.
The entrance to JRS, Catania (Stefania D’Ignoti/Vatican Insider)
Amir is from Somalia. He looks young, though he does not wish to disclose his real age. He joins the long queue in front of the small entrance to the center, to sign up for an Italian language class. “There are no more places left, and the school will close by the end of July. You can come back and try again at the beginning of September,” Elvira Ionino, one of the center’s three staff members, tells Amir. “Requests for Italian language services have doubled this year,” she tells Vatican Insider.
According to JRS data, the year 2015 saw an increase in arrivals in South-Eastern Sicily, so two main desks had to be set up at Centro Astalli: one for job recruitment and another for the Italian language school. “Learning the language is the first step towards the social and economic integration of immigrants. Here we prefer integrating them rather than parking them in this country like burdens,” Ionino explains.
2015 data, courtesy of JRS Italy (Stefania D’Ignoti/Vatican Insider)
In 2010, learning Italian became a requirement for applying for legal status in Italy. According to the law, the minimum requirement for adults is reaching the A2 level, proven by a formal language test or a certificate attesting that the candidate attended a 60-hour Italian language course.
“Some places would make them pay around 90 euros for the whole duration of the course, which is a big expense for unemployed migrants,” Ionino says, “whereas places like Centro Astalli offer it for free thanks to our volunteers.”
For asylum seekers and refugees, learning the language and finding a job are two indispensable elements in achieving autonomy and becoming fully integrated in Italy. For this reason, in 2015, the Italian school and recruitment desks were the most solicited services, and their importance became even more crucial in a country such as Italy that barely meets growing demand for labor.
At the end of one of the center’s halls, a door opens. Five students enter, carrying their Italian-for-beginners books. Among them is Haque.
Francesca Di Giorgio, 37, is one of his two teachers and one of the volunteers who visited him in hospital. She graduated with a BA in Arabic at the University of Catania, getting her first glimpse of Catania’s migrant landscape through her civilization and conversation classes. Upon graduation, Di Giorgio started working as a dance teacher; she decided to specialize in ethnic dances. That’s how she met many musician friends, most of whom were from war-torn African countries and ended up in Sicily, seeking asylum. This is how she learnt about the JRS and its volunteering opportunity. “I officially took on a more serious commitment in teaching Italian to migrants about a year ago,” Di Giorgio tells Vatican Insider. “I mainly work with students from Nigeria, Mali, and Somalia. These are the nationalities Sicily has been welcoming over the past decade.”
Haque during his Italian language class (Stefania D’Ignoti/Vatican Insider)
She explains that the center offers five different language levels according to student needs, plus specific classes for children and those who never learnt to read or write.
Mahmood is a Moroccan migrant, and for security reasons he chooses not to disclose his last name. He is in the beginners’ class, along with Haque. He tried to reach Sicily twice before eventually making it: first via Tunisia, then through Libya. He’s one of the many economic migrants forced to leave their country, who are welcomed at the center.
Di Giorgio explains that, apart from a Christian minority, most of the students are Muslim migrants. When asked whether this created any issues, seeing as though the center was originally founded by Christian clerics, Di Giorgio answered that it did not. “Even though the president is a cleric, the majority of volunteers are non-religious-affiliated and respect diversity, such as prayer time,” she said. “We sometimes stop the class for a few minutes to let students pray. We also supported them during Ramadan, helping them collect food for the Iftar.”
Mahmood takes notes in class (Stefania D’Ignoti/Vatican Insider)
Not all migrants are completely satisfied with the quality of the welcoming services. That is mainly due to the limited resources Sicily has at its to deal with such a big flux of migrants. Despite that, volunteer applications have grown by 30 units in the past year. JRS Catania can now rely on the work of 73 volunteers, a number expected to rise in 2016 according to Ionino. “Come on, this is your chance to make formal complaints to the press!” Di Giorgio tells Haque, laughing. “I don’t have any,” he says with a serious face. “They’ve been more than just teachers, they help us integrate beyond the language,” Haque says, finally smiling.
More than 1,400 workers contribute to the work of JRS across the world, many of whom work on a voluntary basis. These figures do not include the large number of refugees taking part in the programs as teachers or healthcare workers and others.
Haque, in fact, hopes to give back what he received from JRS in the future: “Once I’m fluent, I’ll start helping other migrants like me to integrate,” he said.
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