3 faces and 3 stories of  3 people welcomed and assisted by Centro  Astalli.

They are not just refugees, but individuals with their particular faces, names and stories full of suffering and hope. Their stories have been assembled by Centro Astalli and recounted on Vatican Radio.

Charity Nanga, from Cameroon

“I have been in Italy since 2017. My mother and my two sisters are in Cameroon. My father had to flee to another country to save himself. My older brother has been arrested and I don't know where he is. My parents were teachers in a public school. There was a period when everything was going very well". She graduated and then found work at an NGO. She specialised in Economics and Business Management. The political situation in Cameroon was deteriorating. "My father was a member of an opposition party and, after my brother's arrest, he had to flee to another country. The internal crisis in Cameroon apparently linked to the rivalry between the Anglophone and Francophone groups actually resembles a real war. To date, there are over two thousand dead, more than 500,000 displaced and 40,000 refugees in neighbouring Nigeria.” In 2016 a very severe repression took place. Charity was arrested while looking for her brother in jail. Through a relative she managed to get a visa for Italy. She flew to Rome accompanied by a person who left her alone and without references on arrival. She was met by a wall of indifference "until one day by chance a lady....".

Moussa, from Mali

He arrived in Italy in 2014, at the age of 21. He was a mechanic and repaired government vehicles. His mother who was a merchant died after a long illness and he took care of his father of his 4 brothers. Everything happened abruptly with the coup d'etat of 22 March 2012. Arrests and torture followed. “They entered our workshop. They arrested us, questioned us, tortured us and locked us in a prison camp. Then I escaped to Algeria. “I had been wandering around for days. I found shelter in a mosque. Here a gentleman heard my story and offered to send me to Libya to work with his son. I was actually sold as a slave. When I realized this, I ran away and took refuge in a camp with other migrants. I had a day job then was arrested by some traffickers and boarded desperately a boat that arrived in Italy after two nights at sea. From Sicily I went to Genoa where I applied for asylum and given a refugee status. I searched in vain for a job. Then I left again for Rome where “I slept under bridges and at the station. In the afternoon I was at the Centro Astalli. Here I started to orientate myself. Now I work at a Japanese restaurant. I took hold of my life again, together with the emptiness I feel because of the loss of my land and my loved ones”.

Shadamgul Zadran from Afghanistan

“I arrived in Italy in 2008, at the age of 23”. He comes from a large family, the eighth of eleven children. "My father was a merchant; he travelled a lot". He studied languages. Shadamgul was born during the last years of Soviet occupation. The conflict turned into a civil war and in 1992 the mujahideen took over power and founded the Islamic State of Afghanistan. This event caused a fierce clash between the 'warlords'. The Taliban regime collapsed in 2001 following US military intervention, but this was only a new stage in the endless war. "My whole childhood was marked with fear. You couldn't play outdoors, and you didn't feel safe even at home. Groups of militiamen roamed the villages to recruit young people. At 23 I decided to leave my country. I had heard of Europe. There it would be possible to build a life in peace "He left with 5 friends, paying 13,000 euro to the head of a network of traffickers. “In the end, there were 300 of us. This was a huge business: Indians, Sri Lankans, Afghans and others. We travelled only by night.”  It took them one year to arrive in Greece, travelling under the frost of the mountains in Iran and then marching in the snow in Turkey and finally reaching their destination. In Athens he bought a fake passport and arrived in Spain and then in Italy in 2008. It took him long to integrate in a reception centre in Crotone. “Now I work in court as a mediator and interpreter. I married an Italian girl, and we are expecting a child. I would like to open a restaurant one day”.