New Afghan refugees, welcome begets welcome

All it took was an email with a few words – “Help, we are in mortal danger” – to trigger the instinct to solidarity again. “Could we say no?” asks Issam now, from Una città non basta, the cooperative that welcomes Afghan refugees and with which AMU collaborates by contributing financially to the assistance so that they can begin their path to inclusion in Italy. The question is rhetorical. The answer is in the tone, in the gestures, in the determination to always find a solution, as long as there is welcome. And everyone immediately took action, as had already happened in August, then again in November for the other Afghan families. “How can you say no to a request for help? You can’t, it’s difficult, even if it wouldn’t be economically appropriate.” But that’s how it went. And at six in the morning on April 21, the operators of Una città non basta were at Fiumicino airport to welcome this young couple who had finally landed in Italy , “they were very tired, after all the days spent in terror of being stopped, their eyes were red, swollen, but they were happy, they were crying with joy”. There had been a certain agitation in the offices of Una città non basta for days, waiting for the two to obtain permission to leave the country from the Italian embassy. The couple had not spent peaceful days before that yes. Having escaped from Afghanistan, the husband and wife had taken refuge in Pakistan. But even here they were not safe: the Pakistani government is a friend of the Taliban. They were afraid that someone was following them, which is why they moved constantly, every night they slept in a different hotel. They spent a week like this before taking refuge in the Italian embassy in Pakistan. At that point there was the request for help, then a dense exchange of emails with the embassy, the necessary checks, and new contacts with the couple. After days of silence that seemed very long, the embassy communicated that the permit to leave Italy had been granted. And so on April 21, a few days after Easter, the two landed in Italy. “We immediately brought them here to Marino, at that moment they only needed to sleep. We let them rest. Then there will be time for everything,” says Issam, happy for this further small victory of hospitality. That day, one of the young Afghan men already hosted in the center of Una città non basta brought them a cup of tea. The next day, another woman knocked on their door to leave lunch. This too is another victory: hospitality has generated hospitality.