41 refugees reach Italy with humanitarian corridors

Rome: Forty-one refugees who reached Rome in the evening of September 18 thanks to a humanitarian corridor will be accompanied throughout their integration process by operators from the Catholic charity Caritas operating in the six cities that are set to host them.

Eleven refugee families arrived at Rome airport on the evening of September 18 and were welcomed by Caritas representatives who will help them integrate into their respective host communities.

The 41 people who travelled to Italy from Jordan hail from Yemen, Sudan and Somalia. They will be residing in Trieste, Pescara, Capua, Teggiano, Teano and Cerreto Sannita, according to a statement published by the Italian Caritas, “the pastoral organization of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) which has the task of promoting charity — the concrete love for your neighbour”.

For a few days, the operators of Italian Caritas, in cooperation with the Jordanian branch of the charity, prepared for the departure and worked on the next humanitarian corridors that have already been planned.

The days were “filled with faces, stories and hopes: we met with refugee women and men”, they said.

“Their stories spoke about war and persecution, interrupted studies and divided families, torture and discrimination. Most of all, however, we listened to dreams about the future: the desire for peace, work, normality, to be able to fly with wings that violence has broken,” they added.

The conversations are aimed at finding out whether someone has the requirements to be considered for humanitarian corridors towards Italy, “a safe and legal pathway which will allow many people to start living with dignity again.