March in ASCS: Iftar, reception and migration routes.

Between group games, training activities and psychological support, March was a busy month for ASCS volunteers and workers. Once again, we were reminded of theimportance of welcoming and guiding migrantstoward full autonomy, as well as the value of training on migration issues. It can take place through face-to-face meetings, games or music, but it is a key piece so that everyone is aware of what is happening at the borders of our country and Europe.

ConFine: weekends of training, service and sharing at Europe’s borders

• Calais Border: The month opened with the ConFine weekend (Feb. 27-March 1), some 20 young people from Italy and England had the opportunity to visit some of the significant places of the border reality. Meanwhile, the ASCS house expanded and volunteer activities continued between excursions and art workshops.
• Border Oulx Schools: meeting days were held between students from some high schools in Chieri and people in transit at the Alpine border at the conclusion of the awareness-raising course on migration issues.
• Ventimiglia Border: the special camp open to the over-35s in collaboration with Pathways of Life has finally begun. The journey began by serving at Caritas in Ventimiglia, then listening to Diaconia Valdese’s testimony about the history of migration here and Emmaus Roya who told us how they help people on the move in concrete ways in the area. Crossing the Italy-France border, the same one that people on the move have spent time on, was an opportunity to reflect on the difficulties of the journey and the denied freedom of movement.

The ConFine experience unleashed new questions and new points of view in all participants, from Calais to Oulx and Ventimiglia, and made them aware that the border is a privileged vantage point on the world.

Awareness raising and training, two cornerstones of intercultural animation

Here is what we have been doing to train knowledgeable citizens in several Italian cities:

• Crossover: we had the opportunity to discuss and train on issues related to migration. In Milan, at the Carmine Church, we listened to two direct testimonies from rescue and assistance operations at sea; in Chieri we talked about caporalato in Piedmont; in Turin about voluntary and forced repatriations.
• The Game: Italian and international students, youth, operators and volunteers participated in The Game, a role-playing game to put oneself in the shoes of a migrant person trying to reach Europe along the Balkan Route. We played all over Italy, in Rome together with the CIE university group and Amnesty volunteers, in Montesilvano (PE) during the MSAC training school and in Cuneo with Caritas operators.

Casa Scalabrini 634

In Rome, at our Home, we celebrated the breaking of the fast(Iftar) together with the guests of the Home, a time of interfaith prayer involving representatives of various religious denominations (Muslims, Catholics, Hindus) followed by the breaking of the fast and the sharing of dinner.

Training and outreach

• Training and awareness-raising moment for CIEE’s Rome university group on hospitality in Italy.
• Another training opportunity was organized by the RAI Network on the European Pact and the future of asylum in Italy.
• Training meeting dedicated to Scalabrini House guests on online scams, how to recognize and avoid them, in collaboration with Migrants and Banks.
• Vivir lejos del hogar: workshop to share and confront the emotions and disorientation experienced in the aftermath of arrival in Italy. This workshop is part of the Wasi project, our language-based psychological support to migrant women, and was organized together with Redeemer Parish.
• Volunteer training in Rome: training time for ASCS Rome volunteers working at Scalabrini House and Redeemer.

Music, sports and games

We welcomed 20 children from the communion group of Saints Marcellin and Peter, the Scalamusic Academy and a group of people signed up for the marathon and ran for ASCS.

The Rome Marathon made it possible to carry out a team fundraising activity, thanks to the RUN4ROME relay that supports the projects of the Nonprofit Organizations participating in the “Charity Program,” such as the ASCS. Every kilometer run, every donation received, turned into something tangible: 29 welcome kits, for the children guests of Casa Scalabrini 634. We thank every donor and every runner who ran with us at Run4Rome: your commitment turned into something tangible that immediately makes everyone who arrives feel at home.

ASCS activities in Milan

Our activities in Milan also continued:

• In collaboration with ARC Centre for the Anthropology of Religion and Generative Studies of the Department of Sociology, Catholic University of Milan, we organized the course “From Fractures to Life“, a training session with Wasi project psychologists, community leaders and ASCS workers involved in the project on fragility and beauty on the personal dimension.
• Lab Remix: activity to become aware of the space and dynamic balance between being a person/woman and mother and between following and letting go of one’s children together with IBVA Foundation.
• A Remix Lab dedicated, on the other hand, to young people where we held autobiographical writing activities and djembè music workshop together with the Useful Theater.
• Scalamusic Let’s Play Interculture workshop: a workshop with women in which through acting, dance and singing we worked on women’s empowerment.
• Scalamusic Youth: musical exercises and theater games to think about what it means for each of us to trespass and how to try to go beyond our limits.
• Evenings to meet with Milan’s volunteers, a time to meet and share together with the people who help make all our activities possible and are the heart of ASCS.

International Volunteer Training Course

The second and third training weekends were held in Turin with volunteers about to leave for our missions in Europe and around the world.

The first meeting made us ask “why are you doing this?“, the second weekend taught us to stay: to stay in listening, in dialogue and in building a more inclusive society. They were intense days in which we listened to the challenges of interculturality and traveled with our minds through the stories of the last missions.

During the third meeting, we looked the fears and uncertainties that accompany every departure in the face and turned them into shared strength.

Being an ASCS volunteer means choosing not to be spectators, but protagonists of a change that starts from daily encounters. The path to departure is made up of these precious stages, where differences become our greatest wealth.

We sincerely thank all the people who took part in this training. Learn more about ASCS International Volunteering at this link.

ASCS in Europe

We flew to Luxembourg to meet with young people from the Italian Catholic Mission where, together with nearly 40 young people, we explored the theme of human mobility. Between workshops, shared dinners and the celebration of Mass, we breathed an atmosphere of true fraternity.

In addition, we participated in the Festival of Migrations, Cultures and Citizenship, a space for meeting, dialogue and expression of the multiple cultures that coexist in the area. The collaboration with young people from the Italian-speaking community in Luxembourg made our presence even more active. Their diverse cultural and linguistic background allowed us to animate the booth and tell the best, and in more than 5 languages, about the activities of ASCS and SIMN.

Your 5×1000 to ASCS

Imagine being sick and having no words to say it. Wasi is the ASCS project that offers free psychological support for migrant women in Italy with native-speaking psychologists. Because speaking in one’s own language is not a detail: it is the bridge that makes healing possible.

With your signature you build bridges. ASCS Tax Code: 03133600241

Learn how your signature turns your tax return into a gesture of welcome and integration. Read some stories from the Wasi project.