Spring 2017, in the province of Florence,
life in Poggio alla Croce is turned upside down by the announcement of the arrival
of a group of migrants.
Between fear, anger and indifference, inhabitants are looking for a solution.
(Background music and kitchen noises)
I AM BECAUSE WE ARE
Piera, a resident in Poggio alla Croce
In these last few years a lot has changed
Things were different before
people were different
They often came into the centre.
Now they stay at home,
the village is less lived in.
Before we were all in my shop.
Most of the world,
most of life took place around it.
A place to meet, to understand each other,
maybe argue with different opinions
but still have a dialogue. It was easier
it was life... I mean it was life
Andreas, project creator
Poggio alla Croce could be defined
as “a small Switzerland”
Located in a beautiful spot
between Chianti and Valdarno
Residents are active and cooperative
In summer a nice festival is organized
attracting people from both valleys
When problems arise, like ice in winter,
informations flow over the internet.
Looked like and ideal place
Then in April 2017 the “bomb”:
thirty migrants coming in the “palace”,
a former hotel in the village
It sounded as if a spaceship full
of little black men was about to land
(tense music)
Black men are coming, black men are coming
We are all with our hairs raised,
very worried, me too to be honest because
Even if you hear a lot of good
but also bad about these youngsters
The strongest reaction, intense and wide,
was an immediate refusal,
a “belly” reaction that caused
an immediate decision
to collect signatures against,
in less than three days
230 signatures were collected
even if we are some 190
Attilia, a teacher in migrants school
A first meeting was held
one and half year ago in summer
before the migrants arrived,
so we did not know them
They had no face for us, they had no name
and there was a meeting in the village
I don’t live in Poggio alla Croce,
I come from a nearby village
During the meeting there were
some very aggressive people,
I guess they were sincerely scared
Martin, parson of Poggio alla Croce
Their reaction was not due to being bad.
Behind there was also a reality
that must be told. It must be told that
none was pepared because none
had been alerted that these foreigner,
these migrants were coming
Noise of iron hammering
Paolo, a resident in Poggio alla Croce
Someone started collecting signatures,
and I agreed only because I wanted to know
where would these kids be hosted,
what did they come for then it became
clear that this was not the reason
they did not want to welcome them
So I said my signature was extorted
and was not in agreement any more
Luana, a resident in Poggio alla Croce
They told us
in a year time we’ll remind you of this..
we are scared..
I have an 18months old little girl
who won’t be able to walk outside anymore
They asked us to sign against
but I refused
and became the black sheep...
They are simply black
and this is not easy to accept
Integration is not easy, not easy.
Also on their side
There was a bad feeling around,
an awful atmosphere
My legs trembled, really.
I recognized kids that I knew
when they were little children.
And now as grown ups they were scared
and said they did not want the migrants
because their life would change,
it would not be possible
anymore to go quietly around in Poggio.
No more walkabouts but they shouted
all this in a really aggressive way..
and I started to tremble and was unable
to tell what I meant,
that I felt very sorry to see children
who had grown up together and were
used to share… and I remember
there were also coloured children
in our classes and all played together
and had now become so
And now I was more scared of them
than of the incoming migrants.
I could sense a rage and violence
that really frightened me
(laundry noise)
When the spaceship with the little
black men had actually landed
we managed to organize
a first circle in a room under
the church that our parson Martin
put at our disposal
for the rest of the story
we organized a first circle
where we played,
by arranging ourselves on the chairs
in a completely random way,
so mixed up, a little bit of them and
a little bit of us.
We sticked a piece of paper on the wall
and each and one of us started to write
Andrea Formiconi, italian, speaks italian
Then casually pointed the felt-pen towards
one or the other and they wrote in turn
Each and one of us wrote his name,
which country he came from,
which language he spoke,,,
This simple game basically opened up
a whole world, a universe
because it turned out that with
fourteen-fifteen of them there were
twelve-thrteen languages spoken
Then we discovered illiterates,
you could tell by the unlikely way they
held the marker...
In fact they did not write the name but
drew it. At the same time
some of them attended school
and to one extreme there was a guy
that had escaped while in his fourth year
of mathematics at university.
This helps understand the enormous
range of stories and different human
situations hiding behind this stereotype
which we call with univocal names:
the migrant..
which prompts the image of the
little black man, always the same, and his
standard story.
Absolutely not!
(gentle music)
(kitchen noises)
Malò
I think that the spark that triggered
all this craving for school
was a Malian boy, Ali,
who had spotted me because
we had spoken a little French
and one day I saw him arrive at my house
I don't live in the village,
there is about a mile of dirt road.
he arrived alone, with paper and pencil, telling me:
«Io voglio imparare l'italiano».
We are three guys who embarked on this
'little school' adventure in Poggio alla Croce
without really knowing what to expect.
We felt the urge to do something
to help these guys,
and we thought that teaching them
italian language was the thing to do
also to improve their trust in themselves.
As we are scared of them blacks,
they are scared of us whites
This has to be understood.
They are afraid, they are afraid of us.
The funny thing is that a lot of people
were involved who had nothing .
to do with teaching.
People like Marcie who is canadian
with very little italian but
she taught italian.. and Willy (a Peruvian resident)
who is still with us who reads
and does dictation
and anything else with them.
I teach in primary schools
on Tuesday when finished
With my class, often very tired like last
year when I taught in first
I sit in the car and say to myself
“why do you do it ? I'm crazy...
you should go home to rest or make dinner”
then I close my eyes and think
“if it is the right thing to do I'll find
the missing energies” and there I go
and afterwards I am happy because you get
there and see those smiles with white
teeth, peculiar of black people
those happy eyes...
I see Ajan, I see Dedo, the Kurds...
waiting for you who thank you for
being there, thanking you for being there,
looking forward for you
to teach them something.
(Car noise...)
Laura, Andreas' student
I arrived here a bit by chance,
I got to know this experience
thanks to Andreas, his stories
in university classrooms and I decided to
to come and have a look.
The question I get asked most often
is why I'm doing this, especially because
what strikes me about me is the fact
that I come from almost 90 kilometres
almost two hours by car anyway
just to get here.
It's not easy to explain,
because the reason
lies in so many little things:
gestures, looks, emotions,
the feelings you have when
you get in touch with these people
which in the end are lives
are experiences, are worlds
with which you come into contact
and of which you often know nothing.
(Traffic noise...)
(Country noises, chirping...)
(Squeaking bicycle...)
(Background music...)
Madou, student of the school
I go to school in Figline Valdarno
every day, On Mondays and Tuesdays
I go by car but the other days
I ride my bike. It's not difficult to go,
but it is difficult to return
because it takes an hour and thirty
minutes, it's difficult, It's tiring.
When I was in Africa I didn't go to
school and fortunately I found myself in
Europe and met the people who
are helping me
and enrolled me in school.
My goal is to learn the Italian language
I would like to stay in Italy,
I would like to work to help
my family in Africa. Therefore
I have to concentrate on studying,
it's my goal.
My name is Madou Koulibaly, I come
from Guinea and I'm 20 years old.
I arrived in Italy a year and
two months ago, it was a very
difficult trip, I can't forget it,
It was very dangerous.
I sacrificed my life
to seek my fortune in Europe
and thank God I entered Italy
on 13 June 2018
and I was transferred
to Poggio alla Croce.
I met some very good people who
treated me like one of their own,
they are like my parents here,
not only me but all the Africans
who live in Poggio alla Croce.
I would like to continue studying,
if there is a possibility,
I'd like to study and learn
a job, for example a welder.
(Noise spring water, chirping...)
Italy saved me in the sea,
in Italy I went to school
and I would like to continue studying,
I don't know what will happen afterwards.
Poggio alla Croce is my village.
The path is chaotic,
one cannot expect to follow
a preordained thread:
it would kill this kind of school.
So you have to follow the wind.
An example would be when
Samba had written the curriculum
on the computer,
then of course you try to help:
"Samba, what does this mean?
What's this...?"
Then we read:
"driving experience", so I ask:
"Samba, what did you drive?"
He light up immediately and says
"Cow!"
and a whole other discussion
started from there
about how things change over time,
how they change in Africa,
how they change here.
This is an example of digression.
It's a people-centred school, essentially
(Soft music, dialogue in the background..)
We all have attics full of old computers
and we don't know what to do with them.
It's a problem because we have to take
them to the eco-center and so we've been
spreading this information:
"Do you have an old computer?
You don't know what to do with it, is that a problem for you?
Instead of giving it to the recycling centre, give it to us,
we install a free software operating system, i.e. Linux
a lightweight version of Ubuntu
that fits into old computers
and easily "resurrects" them.
The Ubuntu operating system
is so called because it is a concept
from southern Africa and
Nelson Mandela in a beautiful
video that we used for a work with the students,
describes it with a little story:
"Once upon a time, when a traveller
arrived in a village and he was
tired, thirsty and hungry, no one would
ever ask him any question,
they simply brought him something to drink
and food. This is Ubuntu, that is
thinking about the other being aware
that this creates a community
that lives well if we all do that."
Ubuntu is a great African philosophy,
a great African thought...
that before getting to the help
it starts with the fact that we're all
brothers, if I help one person
that person can help
another person close to me,
therefore a general connection
of society in that we all consider
ourselves brothers and sisters.
What happened in Poggio alla Croce
is Ubuntu, it's definitely
authentic Ubuntu.
(Chorus of African children...)
I think that following a principle
where helping someone will help me
in turn is good for both, better than
fighting with each other,
even though in fight wins may be
happier than the loser.
This principle guides my whole life
since I started reasoning I have always
used the time I had available in social activities.
But not for “goodism”, not because
I am good and consequently must do good,
help others, help beggars, no.
Maybe I am led by selfishness,
I think I earn something this way
and so live a better life, be serene.
You get a lot of rip-offs, but not like
those you get when fighting and losing.
More like opportunities that leave
a bitter taste in our mouth but do not create
big problems. (Opportunities) that I know I must seize.
There were problems of an almost racist nature in Poggio alla Croce, so to speak,
and I stepped in for that too.
It was my way of doing things.
I'm a migrant myself in Poggio alla Croce,
moving from town to the country.
I choosed to and almost from start
And I tried to integrate myself into the association.
here in Poggio alla Croce,
because it was natural for me.
It is a way of living,
no heroism, it's normal I think everybody
can understand this.
Marcie, canadian teacher
When I hear the word Ubuntu it strikes according with me
because it means “humanity”.
And in hebrew religion we have a word
which I just learned
“tikkum olam”, which means
healing the world.
So I see how they connect together
and it's really quite beautiful,
because slowly slowly people are one by one
healing the world and show humanity.
We must concentrate on this positive part
of the world because if we don’t,
if we do nothing, we are doomed.
So for me, coming here is a small small
thing but it has a lot of meaning in my life
This idea of Ubuntu, this idea of refurbishing computers,
objects tools that were doomed to be
thrown away, is what inspired also
this community to act and slowly to
re-generate itself. This is what actually means our motto “We need you”.
That motto, in fact, means just that.
Our local community was re-generated
by your arrival, thanks to your spaceship
with you, little black men, because it generated
into us a new need to co-hoperate, to leave
our homes and our sofas, forget about tv,
get out trying to solve together a problem
for the benefit of the whole community.
Samba, student
(words from a malian rap song, music in headphones)
I am Samba and I come from Mali,
I am an artist
but before when I sang with my friends
my family was against me making music,
but I love it so much.
In 2016 I went first to Algeria
then also to Libia
Then I arrived here two years ago.
I have a complicated life,
I would like to be an artist
a rapper like many italians (Ghali, Sfera Ebbasta..)
I would like to do what they do
Luana, a resident
I don’t really know what happened
but we have all changed
I found out they changed in relation to us
in the begining they would just pass by,
just give us a little smile but when they
realised we really liked them…
I cannot speak for all, but for people like me.
When we see a new one we stop him
with a “ehi”, and if he is tall tell him
to bend down or we can’t reach him, and he
calls us and we say “grandmas and grandpas”
and he replies “grandpa,grandma”,
We speak italian so we try to make
ourselves understood and when we see
they reaaly don’t understand we gesture
like this..to make them bend down
And so they learn and when they pass
they ask “nonna, need help ?”..
”no, not today, tomorrow”.
Some know some english and so I tell them
“tomorrow” and they understand.
Yes, but if you knew the story about "tomorrow"... Bloody hell!
I always said I have no room at home but
if I did I would happily take one or two,
depends on how many I could take in
If the house were mine,
because in my view
they also need to be understood
they need to feel the good
not just through a smile...
There are other essential things in life of all, especially in their case,
they leave their families and flee from
very bad systems, suffer hunger...
...many things... to come in Italy they faced... and so on...
Maybe we are able to give them this
things, we are just two or three that
are really fond of them straight from our
hearts not just from our mouths
And they can feel it, as soon as they see
us they come for a kiss, for some food,
for biscuits, as with a little child that
needs to be taught to speak.
With those we see more often,
we got this contact, so we spend time
but it's not wasted time, it's good time
Therefore... people who saw us doing that
in the beginning were critical
but now they say “it is true they make
themselves loved, but how did you do it ?”
How ? Well we talk to them!
Sooner or later they understand…
Slowly things got more stable,
these guys are very nice
they don't bother anyone, they greet everyone,
they pass they call you, we reply,
at least I do, others won’t.
The village is quiet now,
it showed the worst of itself because
misleading informations help produce
bad reactions. I mean...
Then you learn things, you see them,
you live them because in the end
it's about leaving with them, isn't it?
and it's also nice.
The way I see it, these guys were jailed
they are locked in there...
without this group of people that taught
them italian and other things ..
what could they do? I mean...
If you close thirty guys in a shelter....
What for ? What's the use?
it seems to me that it does not help anything
If they are not made active, they are all young, 20 years old guys
what are they supposed to do ?
If they do something, if it is possible
to make them do something, work, play..
then it is different. They can be useful
but you must train them, let them in,
something impossible to do in two-three months
Since then you have to overcome distrust,
seeing a black man by your side
has some effects - it has to be said.
But in the end this means nothing
in the end he's like me, I mean...
You learn to know learn him, he's a guy.
But even if I'm with you, who don't know you
may be we share the same opinion;
it seems logical to me.
(Car noise)
Sibghat, student
The first village I saw after entering Europe
was Poggio alla Croce
I will never forget because they gave
a new life, an unforgettable experience:
the people, the joy, they gave me a respect
for society, from day one when they
took me around to look for a job, to take
the driving licence, to school..
and I thought “look, these people ask
nothing of you, but give you a lot,
indeed a life, a new life
(music in the bar)
Hi anna...
Ciao Sibi!
I have to give them something back
so I thought, all right, it can be a good
thing that I go along
with them, helping them also phisically”
In my life I will never forget
this village and the people
who know me, as well,
My family,even if not in Italy,
they know Poggio alla Croce!
It is a big joy for them too, and in my view
if they ever meet an italian or european
person they will respect them because
they have given a good thing, a new life
to their son.
In future I would like to help with the school,
I don’t speak Italian well but I could help
with the Pakistani who don’t speak english
and have not studied. I could be
an interpreter between them and an italian
explaining the rules and other things.
It would help them but also one way
to give something back to society, to the village.
You are integrated in this society but now
you are teaching other people to integrate in society
so that they can do good new things.
I have a lot to learn still, but people
from Poggio gave me a nice life, something
difficult to explain in words, but I will
always try to give something back to this
unforgettable, beautiful village.
This initiative (the school) helped people
who did not know each other to get in touch,
collaborate, become friends.. Not only the migrants
have a school for italian and mathematics
but we all from the village have learnt to mix,
live together and it is much better.
Another memory that I have and I think
I will never forget is the second day
that I came back to the school and it was
the birthday of the great Duccio,
our mascot. He was one year old
and at a certain point during the mini
buffet that his mum had prepared for us
the boys opened a bag and pulled out
a little wooden cart, all coloured
and you could see that it was homemade,
the kind that I could find
in my grandmother's attic.
They were pieces of wood assembled with
this rope attached to pull the cart along
with wheels it was really well made.
Claudio, resident, father of Duccio
It was handcrafted by them
and the gift was really appreciated by
Duccio because among the many toys here at
home, fantastic toys that play, sing,
shout, this simple wooden cart made with
pieces of wood and buttons... he liked it
immediately and played with it without
knocking it on the ground as he does
with other toys after thirty seconds of
of holding it in his hands and throwing it away.
Also because, maybe, since when he was
a baby, as soon as he was born, we tried,
both me and my partner, to integrate
Duccio together with these guys,
without letting him live this experience as if it was something outstanding
but as if they were our relatives, our
friends, our brothers, when he sees them
he laughs and goes to meet them.
You know, my son is just 18 months old...
He has practically become the mascot
of the shelter because every time they see
him they call him: "Duscio, Duscio"
you can see that when there is "Duscio"
they smile... and
and I am really happy about that.
It's a cliché, but I want my son to become
a citizen of the world, not a citizen of
Poggio alla Croce.
So... everything's fine... and work?
(Dialogues not intelligible between Claudio and Salif, student...)
Duscio! Hello Duscio...
And bread? Bread? Bru
(Madou explains the recipe for bread, oil and salt in his own language)
cocò...? bru, cocò... And oil?
tulù bru, tulù, cocò...
So: bru, tulu, cocò!
You are good!
Yeah, good.
(Laundry noises...)
My name is Omar and I come from Senegal,
I have been in Italy for two years.
I've arrived in Poggio alla Croce
and I'm happy, I've met many people.
they teach a bit of Italian and I became
friends with these people I go to school,
I did the grape harvest and the olive picking.
They helped me to find a good job,
I found a mother and a father,
I only miss my brothers but my mother
and my father are close to me,
they are Paola and Gabriele.
They are very good, all of them in Poggio alla Croce.
(Pruning noise...)
When a foreigner comes here and leaves
his homeland, he still has this nostalgia,
he believes that where he goes
he will perhaps find a welcome, a smile.
When he comes and finds rejection it is
a moment of great difficulty, a sadness.
We are all foreigners to someone else,
I too am a foreigner and I arrived here
in 2000 and now 19 years have passed
and I am here as a priest in Poggio alla Croce.
They give the idea that they have somehow
taken the destiny of their lives back
into their own hands.
The transformation of course,
and this is perhaps one of the significant aspects,
is not just about them:
it is always wrong to focus on 'them'.
Things work when the context allows
itself to be changed and in this sense
this is a positive reaction of the population.
Old ladies who were perhaps terrified
in those famous, awful meetings
at the beginning can now call them,
when the woodcutter unloads a ton of wood
in front of their house and for them
there is the problem of taking it to the
garden, bringing it inside...
and so, as they say, they call a couple
of these "big guys" and say
"Will you bring it inside?"
and clearly these guys do the job
in ten minutes and they maybe pay them
a cappuccino or give them some money.
In this way a normal life has been
recovered, it is healthy normality that
makes up the real civilisation of a population.
And by the way, and this moves me,
the people who are now with me and
who have involved me in this adventure,
two in particular, two women who started
this adventure, are the same people
who welcomed me twenty-six years ago
when I arrived here in San Polo.
And this is important for me, because
it was a beautiful experience that I had
and that I want to give to others, to them.
What is the name of this dish? Mafe
How do you make it?
Just meat, vegetables...?
How do you manage this dish?
Meat, some vegetables... tomato...
Peanut... Peanut butter Good...
.opala...show him, show him...
Ah! Is this opala? Yes, this is opala.
(undecipherable dialogue)
How do you do it, do you have
to clean, cut?
Yes, clean, cut... Good! Bravo!
I'll let you guys work
while I watch and help you.
What is this white thing?
In Poular: "Bantara"
and how do you cook it?
A long time...
Does it take a long time?
yes, it takes a while... I don'tknow...
In Senegal yes, I don't know in Europe...
it's too hard
ah you don't know...
(undecipherable dialogue)
...because if it is fresh it cooks
very quickly if it is old
it takes longer...
(Music, kitchen noises...)
This sort of migrants' Barbiana
at Villa Viviana in
Poggio alla Croce closes.
Today there is a great silence
since these young people who
had brought life back to the
depopulated village two years ago
were forced to leave.
(Music...)
They left in a hurry without warning,
some things are still there.
The Cristoforo cooperative,
which ran the centre, is leaving because
its budget, reduced from 35 to 21 euros
per migrant, has already had to close
5 out of 17 centres and this
is only the beginning:
the situation is no longer
financially sustainable.
Some thirty migrants arrived in
Poggio alla Croce, in the municipality of Figline and Incisa,
two years ago
amidst the mistrust and protests of
the few inhabitants of the village.
But then everything changed
some adopted them, some decided
o improvise a school, to teach them
how to cook or prune olive trees...
The result was a unique experience
of integration until now, when all of a sudden they were
forced to move to another
centre in Sesto Fiorentino.
(gentle music)
Today was the last day of study at
Poggio alla Croce, it was a school
where foreigners learn a lot of things,
it was the school where we learned
everything we needed
Italian, English and above all Italian culture.
At this time it is very difficult to be
away from the inhabitants of
Poggio alla Croce or to be away from our teachers.
We are very sorry but we have
not chosen, we tell you that we do not
have many words to say because living
with you has been very beautiful.
You must be proud of yourselves for all
that you have done
and are still doing:
you have created an incredible and
unforgettable history in your little
village, a village where humanity
is respected a lot.
For some people, living with African
boys is a bore or a sin.
But with you it was not like that,
always with smiles, nice words
without swearing or distinction of skin.
We were lucky to live with you
in this journey. After the study
in Poggio we understood that each of us
must be the master of our own destiny.
Thank you for teaching us a good attitude
how to behave in Europe, thank you for
making us understand that we should not be
like people who are delinquents or beggars
I will never forget you,
warm regards....
In my opinion, this story of the Poggio,
of the little school, is really a love
story because we volunteers love each
other, because we are together
in a special way, and we with the guys,
and they love us, real friendships have
been born, it's a love story.
It is these small gestures, these tales
of everyday life that make our experience
so special. It is what makes you say:
"I care about you" It is the most
precious gift we can take home.
Ubuntu I am because we are
Despite the closure of the migrant centre, the experience of the "Scuolina"
has not been interrupted and is continuing in Poggo alla Croce and
at the COSPE, both for teaching and for supporting integration.
Thanks to the project "Open Laboratory of Active Citizenship LACA19" a crowdmap
based on the Ushahidi software has been developed to witness
and connect the welcoming practices at regional, national and European level.
Filmed between February and September 2019
Closing credits