Nigerian Refugees in Rural Italy

Rather than complete one of the full stages, we decided to stop over at a remote farmhouse / restaurant / come mini hotel across the Po river before hitting the city of Piacneza. I rang the night before to book and was quietly informed that I could speak English when the hostess heard my completely broken attempts at Italian on the phone. She herself was as English as Jane Austin.

Our next intro to Locanda Masero was when the boatman Danilo asked where we were staying. When we told him, he smiled and said something about the war in Lybia and African refugees.

On arrival at Masero, we noticed quite a group of Africans sitting outside in the sun. We had all ' Buon journo' ed each other when Merran had the brainwave to ask if they spoke English. Their eyes lit up and they came alive. All were Nigerians who had been working in Lybia when the war erupted and they had to flee literally for their lives. It appeared to me as we talked over the afternoon that several of them were still significantly traumatized. There were 7 there, placed in this location along with 6 Tunisians and provided with accommodation and food but little else while their case for refugee status was examined. It had been two months since they had seen or heard from anyone. All were illegal immigrants. It was starting to get cold and they had little to wear, not the best food and nothing to do except sit outside, talk and listen to music on their phones.

While gently giving them the opportunity to tell their stories, it quickly became apparent that these guys have been through some deep trauma. This was especially as a result of Ghadafi arming civilians and telling them to fight for him. Untrained, armed civilians in a situation of war can be very dangerous as few know any rules of justice and combat. They simply become oppressors with the power to inflict death and injury. This appears to have been what happened. The many Africans who were working in Lybia became potential targets through the rebellion and had to flee. Several of these guys spent days hiding the desert without decent food and water. Just trying to stay alive. At least they have not been incarcerated, which is the welcome we would have given them in Australia. But their situation is quite desperate. Merran and I spent some time carefully trying to listen without pretending we had any power to change their situation.

There must be thousands of guys like this scattered throughout Italy. Hopefully they are not completely out of sight and out of the mind of the Italian Govt. They nearly all young men of faith. We add their story to our own and also add our prayer to them for a speedy resolution of their applications for refugee status.