Part of a series on my journalism
faculty-led program through Italy and Greece.
OK, we're not exactly at the midpoint yet, but this is a better time than never to start a reflection.
In total I think I've interviewed (in depth) with around 10 refugees/migrants, and about 5 people who work in support of them. One topic that constantly comes up (partly because one of my group members keeps asking about it) is that of mental health.
One thing that constantly amazes me is the mental toughness of everyone I speak to. When they describe the incredible horrors that they've been forced to go through, it's unnerving that they do so with a straight face.
I'm a pretty priviledged person, and I think I could probably survive the journey that they had to go through...but only due to my extensive experience and training in camping and wilderness survival. They've had none of that, and made it through.
As I mentioned earlier, they often look and act like their typical selves, but you get a sense that something is wrong. With one boy it was a strained voice, and with another it was the way he talked about his asthma (a very personal subject for me).
At the most recent center we went to, we interviewed a psychologist who served as an educator for the refugees/migrants staying there. She was more comfortable speaking in Italian, so our tour guide (actually the brother of the psychologist, but that's another story), served as a live translator. We'd ask the question in English, she'd answer in Italian, and then he'd translate the answer to English, so we could ask the next question.
She had unique insights into their mental health, but I actually didn't learn the most from her. When we started asking about how they're able to maintain their culture, our translator (mid-40s with children), broke down and started crying. We ended the interview then, but he had inadvertently impressed upon me a very important lesson: this stuff is messed up, and it's OK to show your true feelings.
I ended up quietly crying a bit in the car on the way back, and went to my happy place (Skittles and T. Swift) to calm down.
We're on to a new chapter now, hello Greece.
Sidenote: How did neither the Catania nor Athens airports sell Skittles?
Part of a series on my journalism
faculty-led program through Italy and Greece.
Today was effectively our last day in Italy. Tomorrow we're flying to Athens, and will spend the rest of our time in Greece.
We went to see the Valley of the Temples, which, surprise surprise, is not actually a valley! It's on a mountain ridge, which actually makes for better views and sights than if it were in a valley.
My favorite part was probably the statue of Icarus. Yes, I know it's a modern creation, but it's still incredibly cool. And the juxtaposition of the Template of Concordia behind it was fantastic.
I have more things I need to write, but I need a bit more time to collect my thoughts, and it's already late. So hopefully I'll write them tomorrow (from Greece!). Ciao Italy!
Part of a series on my journalism faculty-led program through Italy and Greece.
Today closes the first week of our trip, and all I want now is a break. I don't really feel physically tired, mostly just emotionally drained. I'm also running out of Skittles.
We spent most of today just working on existing source material that we had. I finished up a text story, a photo essay, and planned out our natural sound video. I also finally had some time to do my laundry, right as my supply of clean clothes began to run out :)
I had lunch at a nice wine bar that I found on the street. The food prices were pretty cheap, but I assume they expected everyone to buy wine along with their meal (I didn't!). Dinner on the other hand was a disaster, and probably the worst meal I've had in Italy :-(
In the evening there was a celebration of World Refugee Day, with musical, dancing, and acting performances from some of the refugees and migrants. We watched as three of them read out some important parts of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - it was incredibly moving. I also think it's a testament to Mr. Edwards, who taught me the UDHR so well that I instantly recognized it in Italian.
Looking forward, we have another day in Italy before we head to Greece. It's supposed to mostly be a tourism day, which I hope allows me to collect my thoughts before we jump right back into the fray.
I think the biggest frustration I have right now is that journalists are supposed to stay impartial (rightfully so), while I want to do things, and make change happen.
New segment: things people needed today that I was unprepared for, and didn't have in my backpack: fork/silverware, and napkins.
Part of a series on my journalism faculty-led program through Italy and Greece. For privacy reasons, I've changed the name appearing in this post.
In Boy Scouts, we were always taught to Be Prepared. And I thought I had prepared for everything (first aid kit, flashlights, emergency food, etc.) before heading on this trip – that is, until I met Joshua. Joshua is a 17 year old refugee from Sierra Leone.
By his own account, Joshua was a slave. He “worked” for a man who did not pay him. He was just given food, and only once something broke or tore was he given a replacement. He did all the work, but reaped none of the benefits.
Joshua ran away, traveled 150 kilometers on foot, and then worked odd jobs to get rides to cover the rest of the distance. While in the desert, he said some of his friends were bitten by animals and died. He now stays in a center in Italy with other unaccompanied minor boy refugees, living a typical teenage life.
He unsuccessfully tried out for the nearby club soccer team, but was happy for his three friends that made it. Since they’re not adults yet, the boys are required to go to school, and are taken care of by a house-mother who runs the center.
Joshua’s English is better than his Italian these days – he listens to American music, and likes Selena Gomez, but doesn’t care much for Taylor Swift.
But just when you think he might be a normal teenager, you notice the pain in his voice that sets him apart. Joshua looked at us if we were crazy when we asked him if he ever skipped school – he quickly said he wasn’t going to waste any opportunity given to him, especially school.
Since he’ll be an adult soon, Joshua told us he wanted to be a painter. At first we thought he wanted to follow in the footsteps of famous Italian painters like Da Vinci or Michelangelo, but he meant something else entirely.
Joshua wants to paint buildings, like general contractor might. He started to explain to us the different types of stucco and how he would paint them.
We asked if Joshua had any higher aspirations or a dream job, to which he had a simple response: “I will take any job that I can get.”
He credits God with keeping an eye out for him, and is a devout Christian. He attends Church every Sunday, and even joked that it’s just him and “old people”.
But Joshua said that he knows he cannot expect God to provide everything for him – he needs to continue to work hard and take advantage of what’s given to him. He has his official refugee papers, which should make it easier for him to stay in the country and get a job.
Despite all the help and support he’s received in Italy, for which he said he is extremely grateful, he wants to eventually go somewhere else. You see, when we first introduced ourselves and told him we were from California, his face lit up, and he immediately exclaimed, “America! The best country on Earth!”
I did not want to crush his dreams, nor lie to him, so I kept quiet. But that, that was when my heart broke.
Part of a series on my journalism faculty-led program through Italy and Greece.
It's day 5, I did not expect to be this tired, so quickly. I think I'm missing the siesta time that I'm supposed to get in Italy. But, I'm also having a blast, and at least trying to take every opportunity to explore / learn things. It feels waaaay longer than 5 days.
Today we started out heading to the university, saw some awesome street art (I'm going to be doing a "photo essay" on what we've seen so far) on the way there, and then double backed to get a few photos.
We walked a bit around the port and docks area, picking up b-roll and talking to some people. We went up to the tents where migrants are brought to after getting off the boat that brings them in. To be honest, it was pretty underwhelming.
We had lunch at a nice panini place, drank some Fanta, and then headed back to the hotel to start putting together our assignments. I think our group has started to get into rhythm - I do the writing parts, another person does images, and the last does the photos (generally, it's more nuanced than that in reality), and then we all edit each other's stuff. So far it seems to be working.
There's a bigger meta question starting to loom over my head now: if this is what real reporting work is like, do I want to do this as a career? To which my answer is still the same so far: "Maybe." I think I need more time to make a decision.
Part of a series on my journalism faculty-led program through Italy and Greece.
Today we went out onto the streets and started looking for people to talk to. Ideally we were looking for people to talk to us on video, but we knew that everyone would not be comfortable with that.
We have two interviews planned for later this week, which should hopefully give us some good content. We struck out a few times when people said no to us - but after we stopped trying, that's when we got the good stuff.
We started to give up and just shoot some b-roll so the day would not be a full failure, when one of the musicians in the University square walked in front of our camera and started playing for a full minute.
And then when we went to lunch, we found an empty pizzaria, ordered, and noticed that the chef was making the pizzas right in front of us. We quickly set up the tripod and started recording. And after we finished and paid, we asked if he'd be willing to do a quick interview, and his son translated for us. All of his responses are in Italian so we're going to have to translate and subtitle them before being able to publish it.
Later in the day we went to Siracusa and Noto for some touristy activities. Both were just incredible. Every time I go and see anything that old, the question in my head always is "What have I done that will last that long?"
My favorite place was the Ear of Dionysius. We played some music (Shake It Off of course) to try and get the acoustics to work, but couldn't. I don't think my phone speaker was loud enough to get it started. It was at this point that other people in my group were disapointed by the guidebook they paid a few euros for, while the Wikipedia articles I was reading had answers to all of their questions. Yay for free knowledge :-)
On Mastodon (h/t Greg) I saw that the Italian Minister of the Interior had called for the registration of all Roma people in Italy, which really saddened me. Coincidentally, tomorrow is the World Refugee Day, and we'll be going to some event for that.
