Mediterranean Hope – Newsletter November 2016

Mediterranean Hope – Newsletter November 2016

The abyss in their eyes, by Alberto Mallardo, Mediterranean Hope Lampedusa

Lampedusa is an island that has meant and means salvation for thousands of people. Nevertheless, in this place, the salvation of some is interwoven inextricably with the death of others. So, day after day, we continue to witness tragedies occurring in the sea between Lampedusa and Libya, powerless to do anything. In Lampedusa, we have counted the deaths too many times and struggled to console those who survived.  Read more…

Humanitarian Corridors: Other arrivals from Lebanon, NEV

Thanks to the “humanitarian corridors” created by the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI), the Waldensian Executive Board and Community of Sant’Egidio, another 100 refugees (mostly Syrian) from Lebanon will arrive at Rome International Airport on 1 and 2 December 2016. Less than a year after the launch of this project, created under a memorandum of understanding signed between the promoters and the Ministries of the Interior and Foreign Affairs, the number of arrivals for 2016 has reached the expected 500.  Read more…

Immigration: residents raise money to help a Syrian family, by Pisa Today

On October 24th, a Syrian refugee family that will be hosted in Pisa, arrived in Italy, along with about seventy other people straight from Beirut, Lebanon, The Syrian family that come from the city of Homs is made up of the two parents and two children aged 7 and 11 years. Thanks to the humanitarian corridor organised by the Community of Sant’Egidio, the FCEI and the Tavolo delle Chiese Valdesi, as a part of the Mediterranean Hope project, it has been possible to provide them with a safe entrance from the refugee camp in Lebanon.  Read more…

It is the first time for a woman in the United States, but she is not Hillary, by Claudio Geymonat – Riforma

Ilhan Omar is an immigrant woman, and also a refugee and a practising Muslim that always wears her hijab. Since very young, she has been involved, in the battles for the emancipation of immigrant women, in particularly those who are of first and second generation. In short, she represents what the new president of the United States has shown to hate, at least per the bombastic statements that he has voiced from all over the country during the frenetic months that have been leading up to the election. Perhaps, Donald J. Trump and Ilhan Omar may cooperate on January 20th, the day of the inauguration and that could be a ray of hope after the 08/11/2016 Democratic debacle.  Read more…