Welcome to Europe! A view from Italy

Among green rolling hills and picturesque small villages in central Sicily, about four kilometres outside the ancient city of Caltanissetta, we meet Ahmed*, a forty- something Pakistani man. We were told that scores of people sleep rough around the sports stadium located just a few hundred metres from the detention centre of if we are missionaries. A bit taken aback by the question, we start laughing and say, no, do we look like evangelists? He gives us a big smile, and explains that usually the only people interested in asylum seekers in this area are missionaries merely concerned to save souls but not to he volunteers to show us around after we explain that we want to learn more about the living conditions of asylum seekers. “The hundreds of people who currently live in the centre, or wait outside to get their papers, have no chance to work, no access to money, and only those 370-something who live in the centre have regular access to food,” he tells us while we cross a dry patch of land with rubbish scattered everywhere. (…)