Documentario "Ubuntu. Io sono perché noi siamo"

Piera, a resident in Poggio alla Croce

In these last few years a lot has changed

Things were different before, people were simpler

They often came into the centre.

Now they stay at home,

the village is less lived in.

Before we were all concentrated on 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. That was life,

in my view that really was.

Andrea, who conceived the welcoming project

Poggio alla Croce could be defined

as “a small Switzerland”

Located in a beautiful spot

between Chianti and Valdarno

Residents are busy at work

and like to collaborate.

In summer a nice festival is organized

attracting people from both valleys

When problems arise, like with ice in winter,

informations flow over the internet.

Looked like and ideal place

Then in April 2017 the “bomb” went off:

thirty migrants to be hosted in the “palace”,

a former hotel middle of village

It sounded as if a spaceship full

of little black men was about to land

Piera

Black men are coming. Black men are coming.

We are all with our hairs raised,

very worried, me too to be honest because

you hear a lot of good

but also bad about these youngsters

Andrea

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 though the Poggio’s residents

are around 190.

Attilia, a teacher in the the school for migrants

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

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

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 the streets anymore”

But I refused to sign in

and became the black sheep

Paolo

They are black, and that may be difficult to fathom

Integration is not easy, not easy.

Also on their side

Attilia

There was a bad feeling around,

a terrible atmosphere

My legs trembled, truly.

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

accustomed to sharing…and I remember

there were also coloured children

in our classes and they all played together

And now I was frightened

by what they had become

Was more scared of them than

of the coming migrants because

I could sense a rage and violence

that really frightened me

Andrea

When the spaceship

with its little black men finally landed

we managed to organize

a first meeting in a room under

the church that our parson Martin

put at our disposal

for the whole project.

Sitting on chairs in a circle

all mixed up some of us,

some of them, we played a bit.

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,,,

A simple exercise that opened

a whole world, a universe

because it turned out that with

fourteen-fifteen of them there were

twelve-thrteen languages spoken

That some of them were illiterate,

you could tell by the unlikely way they

brandished the feltpen in their hands,

In fact they did not write but

drew their name. At the same time

some of them attended school

and to one exreme there was one kid

that had escaped while in his fourth year

of Mathematics at university.

This helps understand the enormous

fan of different human stories and situations

hiding behind this stereotype that we call

with just one name: the migrant..

which prompts the image of one

little black man, the same, and his

standard story.

Absolutely not like that !

Malo’, a teacher in the school for mugrants

Three of us that embarked in this adventure

of the “little school of Poggio alla Croce”

without really knowing what to expect.

We felt the urge to do something

to help these youngsters,

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

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

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 ?

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 happiness in their eyes…

see they are thankfully waiting for you,

see they can’t wait for you to teach

them something.