Bedessa Primary Hospital – Wolayita, Ethiopia – February 2025
Housing Chinese workers in Ethiopia to build roads in exchange for access to natural resources. When a stretch of km of road is finished, they abandon their accommodation. Today the Ethiopian government has taken over this structure by creating a new basic clinic.
In certain areas of Ethiopia, there has been extreme drought for more than 5 years due to climate change. Much of the livestock has died and food is scarce, as are the still active wells. People are forced to dig holes in the ground in search of water to drink which in reality is nothing more than mud. This is then transported long distances in jerry cans on donkeys or carts.
Inauguration of a well that will provide water to around 3000 people. In these years of drought, an event like this really makes the difference between life and death.
Far from tourist routes, far from resources valuable to the Chinese, far from the roads and infrastructure that they are building.
According to the people interviewed, in this village and area, no people from outside come, and even fewer Westerners or NGOs.
This is confirmed by the way they react to my presence, completely different from other villages.
This source is inside a small cave in the ground under a root, is the only source of water for 3 Kebelè, which includes about 9,000 people.
Because of the drought, many people are leaving the area,
but for those who remain, if this source were to suddenly
run dry, there would not be much choice, migrate or die.
Beirut, Lebanon. The media portrayal of the war between Israel and Hezbollah is returning to the West an image of Beirut devastated, bombed, of buildings reduced to piles of rubble, of some neighbourhoods overcrowded with displaced people, and others, on the contrary, deserted. All this is real. And the many correspondents on the ground are reporting it. But it is not complete, and risks hiding the other – human – face of a city that is used to war, or has had to get used to it quickly: and finds instruments of resistance in its everyday life. In the apparently simple act of remaining, of continuing to live. Through the voices of women, youth, children, elderly; of volunteers, journalists, restaurateurs; passing from overcrowded markets to empty clubs, from schools turned into shelters to the hectic corridors of a hospital; from the nostalgia of Lebanon’s golden age, to the innocence of children in a Palestinian refugee camp, to the serene, yet conscious acceptance of the surrounding turmoil of a man smoking shisha on the beach, Alessio Cassaro and Valeria Rando have collected the human stories of fourteen people two months after the start of the latest escalation of violence that has hit Lebanon, involving the capital. Trying to fill an information gap, and return a more varied image of the plural, diverse faces that Beirut resembles, despite the war.
In the southern suburbs of Beirut, there is a place where the joy of the ceasefire with Israel has never arrived. It is called “The Shelter” and is a former event venue transformed into a shelter for migrant women following the intensification of the conflict in the country’s south. Inside there are more than 200 women, all from Sierra Leone, who worked as housekeepers for wealthy Lebanese families, before being kicked out of their homes or abandoned under Israeli bombs.
Many of them found themselves in a few days without a job, without a roof to sleep under, but above all without a document. Their “masters”, as the women call them, kept everything while they left the country or took refuge in safe places away from the bombing. Now some have returned to their old jobs to find them destroyed, still, others would like to return to Sierra Leone but cannot leave the country until they get their passports back. Despite the ceasefire, “The Shelter”, therefore, remains the home of more than two hundred migrant women who are still displaced today.
Through the voice of Lea Ghorayeb, a volunteer at the Shelter, the story of three young women who live there, we would like to tell this story which – right now that the spotlight on Beirut has turned off – seems important to us bring to light.
The project “Italiani DOS (Di Origine Straniera)” attempts to conduct research at a national level among people with a migrant background, born or not in the country, trying to reflect the expectations, ambitions and difficulties that they face during their lives in a country that is far behind the level of progress to which it aspires.
These people, whether they are citizens without citizenship, children with parents of different nationalities or adopted, or otherwise, are resources too often snubbed by institutions and discredited (not to say racialized) by a society too tied to ancient canons of culture and individual identity.
People with a migrant background are a precious resource for every community today as in the past, because, if well-inserted and integrated, they bring new knowledge and development, but above all they read society from a different perspective, often identifying problems invisible to most.
Unfortunately, this category of new Italians is still often discriminated against and held back by outdated laws (such as the issue of citizenship, voting, etc.) that limit full access to socio/educational/political structures (as well as healthcare, etc.) that, in addition to creating dissent and social hardship exploited by populists of the moment, prevents the development of a modern society based on equality and meritocracy where diversity is valued instead of being used as a discriminatory vector.
Italian culture and not only, should also be composed of new names and forms, more than anything Italy should realize that the country and its population has changed.
Claviere is the town on the Italian-French border where many migrants try to cross the border in any way to reach France or northern Europe. This is the destination of their journey which began in the desert, then by sea and various routes on foot. Currently the crossing at Ventimiglia is armored by the security forces and the route has moved to these mountains where the already high numbers have risen dramatically to reach peaks of 60 – 80 rejected per day, with them also the rescue interventions and accidents. This last stretch of their journey is very difficult and dangerous. Especially in winter with low temperatures and snow that children are not used to, the risks of accidents increase drastically. Some don’t make it, others lose their limbs due to hypothermia. In addition to the risks linked to the cold, migrants often go high in the mountains or towards little-traveled paths to try to evade the checks of the Gendarmerie who patrol the routes day and night, often inside makeshift shelters camouflaged in the bush to take cover and be able to “jump” on migrants to identify them and reject them. The path for those who want to cross to France is very difficult and migrants use various tactics: some pass alone, some in a group, some wait for bad weather and some even decide to do everything at night with the lights off, even if they don’t know the paths. Practically walking blind for 8 hours in total darkness. The percentage of getting lost is very high and in case of emergencies the mountain rescue, managed by volunteers, takes at least 1 or 2 hours to reach them and rescue them. In the valley and in the nearby towns there are various organized organizations or independent citizens who take care of these kids, simply warning them of the risks or helping them by distributing jackets or snow boots, as some think of making the crossing in flip-flops. Others provide a hot meal or the mountain rescue number for any emergencies. The humanitarian will of some citizens to help them is limited by law, in fact they could be accused of aiding and abetting, so even simply stopping to talk to groups of kids on mountain paths could be risky.
Ventimiglia, on the Italian-French border many migrants try to cross the border in any way to reach France, many are rejected illegally, contrary to international agreements, many minors are often given false documents (simply changing the date of birth) which in addition not to let the boy pass, create numerous problems for him because they often lead to an obligation to abandon European soil in a short time such as 7 days. Many of these are welcomed by organized or spontaneous humanitarian associations but certainly not enough to cover the enormity of the phenomenon. For this reason, many young people are forced to live in extreme conditions, for example under a bridge among wild boars, organ traffickers, prostitution lords, passers-by and so on, as well as the constant threat of epidemic diseases and atmospheric agents. Some have given up (due to circumstances or the expiry of the Dublin Treaty or other) to cross the border and have effectively become homeless citizens, therefore people of another category with rights and needs completely different from migrants. Many others, however, remain confident and optimistic, maintaining high morale by seeking “alternative” ways of crossing the border (often facing mortal danger) and leaving behind the days of Ventimiglia which are very dangerous for them, emotionally as well as physically. Others after years of traveling around Europe are “Dublinized” and, not knowing where to go, return to Ventimiglia… everyone has their own story, sometimes similar but completely unique, often made up of journeys that last years.
