It has been more than 6 years since I first met ASCS. It was a scorching Roman summer day when I first knocked on the door of Scalabrini House 634 to learn about the possibility of volunteering in the area. I felt the need to give something to others. That day, however, unexpectedly, a long unspoken desire began to take shape. So, arranged between Rome and Milan, I left at the beginning of October. It was 2017, destination: Nuevo Laredo, a Mexican city in the state of Tamaulipas on the Texas border. Yes, because at that time there was an urgent need for help in those parts, and I thought it was just the right time to have a unique experience of encounter with the other, and to realize the desire to volunteer abroad, particularly in a Latin American country. From that moment, a life-changing journey began.

When I arrived in Nuevo Laredo I was anxious and scared. The first impact was strong. The streets traveled in the evening during my arrival were deserted, only a few narcos’ henchmen keeping watch. I overcame my fears by reminding myself that I was going to do something good.

Service at the Nazareth Migrant House is a job I have learned day by day. The House takes in Central Americans applying for humanitarian visas, migrant people rejected at the border in an attempt to cross it illegally, and so-called Mexican “deportados.”

Guests are provided with primary assistance: a hot meal, a place to sleep and a change of clothes. The work done by volunteers is made up of simple things, which anyone can handle, but in their simplicity they must work at the right pace so that the mechanism does not jam and any emergency can be met. Such simplicity has great value, and it is precisely by understanding and respecting it that everyone can make a contribution. Such a context makes manifest the great value hidden in small things.

The House also functions with the contribution of the guests themselves, who gratefully cooperate. It is especially in these moments that conversations are struck and the trust established that makes them share their story. I have learned to listen, because in some moments it is the only thing you can do. Therefore, working with migrant people goes beyond just physical effort. It is a mental and, above all, an emotional commitment; it is acquiring responsibility toward the other who is a person and not a number, as the media often propagate to us; a person with needs, dreams and aspirations as well as those rights that are often denied because of the vulnerable situation in which they find themselves. These experiences make it possible to recognize faces in the numbers we read in newspapers.

It was an intense three months made up of meetings, stories, experiences, commitment and adaptation. Initially it seemed to me that everything was moving very slowly and that I could not make a big impact. However, as I watched how the director of the House and the community volunteers worked with the people in the project and stayed listening, I realized that I needed to focus on the small changes. I learned to slow down and appreciate those often very dilated cultural rhythms. It was an experience that I carry with me the memories, the emotions, and most of all the lessons, so much so that I later started working on intercultural communication as well.

I am so grateful for this opportunity that has given me so much and continues to give me so much many years later. The work I do today at the Scalabrini International Migration Institute is an integral part of this story.

There are many people to whom my gratitude goes. For all that I have experienced, I thank Emanuele, Lucia and Joachim, who first welcomed me and immediately believed in me. Thanks to the volunteers with whom I have served and to Father Giovanni Bizzotto, director of the House and a precious traveling companion; there are all colo whom I have met during my service and whom I hope to have helped with my small contribution. I certainly received much in return from them: a unique experience in an often forgotten place.

Finally, special thanks go to ASCS and the Scalabrinian missionaries. For its 20th anniversary, I wish ASCS to continue “becoming a migrant with migrants” with its signature commitment and dedication and to give hope to all of us.