About 600 Italian families have in the past six months expressed their willingness to host a refugee as part of the Refugees Welcome Italia project.
The Refugees Welcome association said that this figure shows ''the desire to help those forced to leave their homes due to conflict, persecution, or poverty remains strong despite the fact that the political climate is not very favorable." Refugees Welcome said that it is precisely the desire to do something tangible in such a critical moment that pushes people to sign up on their website.
''In this period, many people are writing to us to share with us the need to do something tangible. They see welcoming (refugees, Ed.) into their families a response, a way to say clearly which side they are on,'' said Fabiana Musicco, the director of the association.
The story of Guido, Giovanna, Laura and others
This was the case, for example, of Guido, Giovanna and Laura, who are sharing their home and a part of their lives with Layla, an Iraqi woman who arrived in Italy via a humanitarian corridor from Lebanon. They noted that they had made this decision ''a long time ago, to host a refugee within our family. For many reasons: first of all, as a refusal to feel accomplices of political choices that we do not share. But also because we are a large family - many children, siblings and friends - and so for us sharing and solidarity are fundamental.''
At times the motivations can also be more personal, linked for example to the desire to set an example for one's children. Like in the case of Camilla and Paolo, who signed up for the project ''because we want to make our children - Vincenzo, 14, Miriam, 11, and Pietro, 10 - understand how lucky they are. Hosting Hafsa, an 18-year-old Somali girl, was easy. She immediately became part of our family. We are happy. Every time she speaks or smiles, a whole new world opens up.''
SOURCE: Info Migrants
