My last day at the center, and my last on-the-ground day of my LiA, was a sad one. For context, I've been volunteering at a Center for First Welcome, which receives funding from the Italian government to care for young migrants who arrive in Italy as minors without an adult guardian. The center takes care of these children and educates them until they are ready to move on to a foster home oriented towards kids with a foreign background.
During my first two visits to the center in early April, I met one of the kids who was staying there at the time. For privacy, I don’t want to share his full name, so I'll refer to him by his first initial, A. He was in his early teens and had migrated to Italy from Sudan. He was very close with the other kids at the center and was known for making the card games the kids and staff play together especially fun.
He had cancer. Some time after my first two visits, he moved out of the center and into hospice care, where several of the caretakers who work at the center continued to visit him and help care for him. This morning, a few employees from the hospice facility visited the center to tell us that A had passed away. It was, of course, incredibly difficult for the kids and staff who had been close to him.
I was particularly touched by one thing the hospice worker said to the other kids at the center: the best way that they could honor their friend's life was to use the opportunity they had that he hadn't been given: to try to live joyfully and responsibly, and to follow their dreams.
A lot of the kids at the center are from North Africa and are Muslim, including A. At lunch today, one of the center's volunteers, who is also Muslim, gave a prayer for A. I found out later that it had been a suggestion of one of the kids who had been close to him.
It feels impossible for me to even conceptualize how difficult it must have been for A to go through his illness so far away from his home and family. It's even more difficult to think what his situation would have been like if centers like this one didn't exist and if the Italian government didn't commit itself to taking care of unaccompanied minors. I'm finishing my LiA with a profound understanding of how important the support provided by these centers is, and how vital it is that children in circumstances like A's never have to face their challenges all alone.