Goosebumps in Lampedusa

Pope Francis greets the people of Lampedusa as he makes his way through the port. Freeze frame of video shot by Trisha Thomas (yes!!) July 89, 2013
Pope Francis greets the people of Lampedusa as he makes his way through the port. Freeze frame of video shot by Trisha Thomas (yes!!) July 8, 2013

Dear Blog-readers —

Pope Francis has just left Lampedusa and it has been a goose-bump experience.  What you see above is a freeze frame of video I shot, yes me, running in front of the Pope’s car with his security guys shoving me aside.

But let me take a step back and tell you all about the past 24 hours.  Yesterday my cameraman Gianfranco Stara, AP photographer Alessandra Tarantino and I got permission to enter the holding center on the island and speak to some of the immigrants who have arrived in the past week.

Immigrants leaning on fence at holding center in Lampedusa as soldiers stand outside. Photo by Trisha Thomas, July 7, 2013
Immigrants leaning on fence at holding center in Lampedusa as soldiers stand outside. Photo by Trisha Thomas, July 7, 2013

At the holding center on the island there are currently 112 immigrants all from Eritrea and Somalia, 75 of them are minors, three of which are girls.  I can’t even imagine what the girls have been through, but I was not allowed to speak to them and did not see them. The young men were playing soccer on the cement outside while a group of Italian soldiers and military police stood around watching.

I interviewed a couple of men who were not allowed to give their names, but they were happy enough to be interviewed.

Muhammed–not his real name– told me he was a soldier in his country.  He began his journey heading to Sudan and paying 800 dollars for that leg of the trip.  From there he went to Libya, another 1200 dollars.  In Libya he was thrown in jail and then escaped a couple of times.  He eventually paid 1600 dollars for the trip across the Mediterranean.  There were  80 people on board their boat.  After many hours their motor broke down and they floated helplessly at sea.  Finally after 36 hours at sea, the Italian Coast guard came to save them.  Muhammed hopes to find work in Europe.

Amal–also from Eritrea– left his wife and two children, 8 and 2 years old to make a similar journey.  He said he spent a total of 14,000 dollars to make his way through Sudan, the Egyptian desert to Libya.  He wants to reach his uncle in Norway where he hopes to find work.  He told me, “I made this huge sacrifice, the journey was terrible, but I don’t feel lost.  I had to do it for my family, for my wife and children.”

Both Muhammed and Amal are Muslim said they didn’t have much familiarity with the figure of the Pope, but they both were happy that he was coming to Lampedusa and were hoping they would get to meet him. (note: this morning I saw Amal waiting in the line to meet the Pope, I am glad he got the chance)

Me, on a rented motorino outside the holding center for immigrants on Lampedusa Island, July 8, 2013
Me, on a rented motorino outside the holding center for immigrants on Lampedusa Island, July 8, 2013

To get around the island we rented mo-peds (motorino in Italian), and I have to admit I am having a blast.  At 6:30am this morning I got a text message from Francesco Malavolta, a photographer who works for the EU covering Human Trafficking and Immigration.  He said that at 7:20am roughly 200 immigrants would be arriving escorted in by Coast Guard boats.  I took off on my rented motorino (with a quick stop at the coffee bar for the required caffe latte and croissant) and headed for the Molo Favarola (Favarola Pier) to wait for the immigrants.  There I found several photographers and cameraman, police, and ambulances waiting for the immigrants and a big bus to take them to the holding center.  Then suddenly Francesco got word that they were going to take them to the commercial port on the other side of Lampedusa because the Pope would be coming to Molo Favarola.  The photographers took off and me right behind them gassing it up on my little motorino careening along the port, through the city center, and back down the other side.  At the commercial port we saw a Coast Guard ship and a Finance Guard ship with the immigrants sitting on the decks.

A slightly fuzzy shot of immigrants from Eritrea sitting on the deck of the Finance Guard ship heading into the port of Lampedusa.  Freeze frame of video shot by Trisha Thomas July 16, 2013
A slightly fuzzy shot of immigrants from Eritrea sitting on the deck of the Finance Guard ship heading into the port of Lampedusa. Freeze frame of video shot by Trisha Thomas July 16, 2013

I filmed a bit for AP Television and then Francesco announced to us all, “they’ve changed their minds, they are going to Molo Favarola”. We all ran for our motorinos and off we went whizzing back along the port.  As I went zipping along I heard the voice of AP photographer Alessandra Tarantino yelling at me from her Motorino “Siamo Paparazzi!!!”  A paparazzo is one of the Italian gossip photographers who race around on their motorini chasing stars.  The name emerged in the 1950s Federico Fellini, Dolce Vita period when Paparazzi chased stars around Via Veneto and Cinecitta’.  I must admit, it did feel a bit like that, and boy was that fun.

Back at Molo Favarolo we found the immigrants already off the ship and on a bus ready to go to the holding center.  I got a few shots of them departing.  Then I buzzed back to the center of town to talk to some people from Lampedusa waiting for the Pope.  I interviewed Maria Bruno who was waiting near the altar with her severely handicapped son Salvatore. As she caressed his head, she told me that Salvatore was looking forward to seeing the Pope and added, “I like him as a Pope, I like his humility, I like everything about him. ”

When Pope Francis arrived he headed straight out to sea to throw a wreath on the water in honor of those who have died trying to reach Lampedusa.  My cameraman Gianfranco Stara and AP photograher Gregorio Borgia were on a ship nearby and Gregorio took the below photo.

A wreath of flowers thrown by Pope Francis falls towards the water off the coast of Lampedusa.  Photo by Gregorio Borgia. July 8, 2013
A wreath of flowers thrown by Pope Francis falls towards the water off the coast of Lampedusa. Photo by Gregorio Borgia. July 8, 2013

A little behind the scenes with AP note:  we had to fight tooth and nail to get a photographer and a cameraman onto the boat that would follow the Pope’s boat out to sea so we could catch the wreath-throwing shot.  Unfortunately, the media boat was placed in a position where the photographers could not see the Pope throwing the wreath.  When I had to edit the video I could hear Gianfranco’s voice in Italian saying “Managgia” which roughly translated means “darn it”.

Later, speaking to journalists in the press center, the Pope’s spokesman told us that for Pope Francis, that was the most important moment of the trip.  He told us that Pope Francis wanted to “cry for those who have lost their lives on the road to a better life.”

Francis was eager to show his solidarity with the people of Lampedusa in their hospitality and generosity but he was hoping above all to draw attention to this tragedy and touch the conscience of those outside of Italy who are not aware.

According to Fortress Europe, an observatory on migrations and refugees, there have been 13,869 victims counted in the Mediterranean sea between 1988 and Nov 2012. Of those, 6649 died in what is known as the Sicilian Canal between 1991 and 2012.

According to the Italian government 6,970 immigrants landed on Italian shores between January 1 and June 19th of this year, 3,500 of them on Lampedusa.

The island, with a local population of roughly 5,000 people, has struggled desperately to keep up with the pressure. There is a holding center on the island which has room for nearly 400 immigrants but it is often packed with hundreds more waiting for a flight to transfer them to the Italian mainland.

I was waiting for the Pope when he came through the port to the soccer field where the mass was held.  Security was much more lax than on other papal trips and the photographers and cameramen were buzzing around the Pope’s car like a bunch of mosquitoes.  I joined in and got the closest I’ve ever been to this Pope.  He face was so kind and he seemed to be enjoying himself kissing babies and greeting the crowd.

His message to the Lampedusa –and the world– during the mass was as crystal clear as the waters around this little island.  In his words,

“Immigrants who died at sea, from that boat that, instead of being a way of hope was a way of death. This is the headline in the papers! When, a few weeks ago, I heard the news…I felt that I ought to come here today to pray, to make a gesture of closeness, but also to reawaken our consciences so that what happened would not be repeated. Not repeated, please! ”

Pope Francis concluded his remarks decrying the “globalization of indifference” and saying:

“Who has wept for the deaths of these brothers and sisters? Who has wept for the people who were on the boat? For the young mothers carrying their babies? For these men who wanted something to support their families? We are a society that has forgotten the experience of weeping, of “suffering with”: the globalization of indifference has taken from us the ability to weep!

Pope Francis dressed in purple, the color of penitence at Mass in Lampedusa. July 8, 2013 Photo by Gregorio Borgia
Pope Francis dressed in purple, the color of penitence at Mass in Lampedusa. July 8, 2013 Photo by Gregorio Borgia

Note: The Pope is holding a pastoral staff made from the wood of a boat “carcasses” left in the nearby boat cemetery where all the boats that actually make it to the shore are left to rot.

Following the Mass I had the chance to interview Mauro Casinghini, who is part of the rescue corps of the Knights of Malta.  He accompanies the Coast Guard ships when they go out to rescue the sinking boats.  He told me that he has recently seen a big increase in children aboard these boats, and often pregnant women, many at the end of their term.  He said that sometimes he has had to help a woman in the early stages of her delivery in a sinking boat.  “Can you imagine delivering a baby in a boat filling with water that has gas floating on it, urine and even human faeces?” he asked me.  No, I cannot imagine.  He explained that for these women it is so important that their babies be born in Italy so they will have a better life, that they risk both their own lives and the child’s life to get here.

 

18 thoughts on “Goosebumps in Lampedusa”

  1. Part of me wonders what the Muslim deceased would think of the Pope’s wreath laying on their watery tomb. I love that the Pope is attempting to draw attention to this issue, do you think it makes a difference of any sort?

    1. Trisha Thomas

      I think the Pope might have thought about that too. In his comments at the Mass the Pope said he wanted to give a special greeting to the Muslim immigrants and wish them a “Buon Ramadan”.

  2. Part of me wonders what the Muslim deceased would think of the Pope’s wreath laying on their watery tomb. I love that the Pope is attempting to draw attention to this issue, do you think it makes a difference of any sort?

  3. Another fine post, I can see the whole thing in my mind (with help from your photos!). I’m glad for the fun of it, the moped, the relaxed security, the paparazzi feeling, because it keeps the hardship from becoming unbearably grim. The people in the holding pens must be sustained by any joy or brightness of life they can see and feel and hear in people like you, who are outside and free. I wish that you could have interviewed the girls – and even the men about their journeys, were they harassed by fellow refugees, or did they bond to each other, how did they endure the physical conditions of the boats, the desert, etc. And where on earth go poor people get 20,000 dollars to pay for such a voyage? Financially, won’t it take them decades to replace that money? How long are they likely to be held on the island? So many questions, and you have given us the pictures that make us ask. Thanks for doing your job so well!

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Nancy– you ask so many good questions and I am not sure where to start. First the easy one…they try to get the immigrants off the island within a week because there is no place there to keep them. Today just before I left the island another 340 immigrants arrived. The holding center can only hold 400 and they already had 112 the other day. As far as the money is concerned, I blanched when Amal told me about his 14,000 dollar odyssey and asked him where he got the money. His answer was very vague something along the lines of “I owe a lot of people.” I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of the money question. I mentioned in a response to a comment above that I interviewed a police woman last year who was head of a department that investigates human trafficking. There is a lot of Italian Mafia and African Mafia involved in the moving of women for prostitution into Italy and Europe. The families of young women pay for them to make these hazardous trips to someone who has promised they will be given jobs as maids, or housekeepers in Europe. Once in Italy they are forced into prostitution and the Pimp says they won’t be freed until they pay back the enormous debt they owe for the crossing into Europe that is suddenly a price much higher than their families were originally told.
      As far as the question of “bonding” on the boats. From what I have witnessed most boatloads have people of the same ethnic origin. Eritreans all on one boat, Pakistanis all on another, Tunisians on another. I suppose it is easier that way because they can communicate better among themselves and share some values about how to handle disastrous situations (like what to do with the body of someone who had died). I was told by one rescuer that often they are packed in so tight that they cannot move at all and have to relieve themselves where they are seated. It makes me ashamed I ever complained about feeling tight and squished flying back from Rome to Boston in economy class on a trans-atlantic flight with three young kids.

  4. Gwen Thomas

    Sound like a very exhilirating and moving day. We were watching a program last night and in it they said “All men are brothers, that is why we shed tears for people we don’t know.” It struck a chord in me and I even wrote it down. It seems appropriate to the Pope’s Lampedusa experience.

    I would also love to read another blog at some point on how these immigrants are treated once they are airlifted to the mainland. Are they shipped home as is often the case in the US? What is the procedure? Is Amal likely to get to Norway? What will their lives be like now that they have survived the horrendous voyage?

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Thanks Gwen. My quick answer is my guess is that Amal will get to Norway. I think Italy turns a bit of a blind eye on the immigrants once they get them to centers in the mainland and make it pretty easy for them to cross Italy’s borders into France and up Germany. I think many–who don’t have relatives elsewhere in Europe– also end up picking tomatoes or oranges in horrible conditions in southern Italy, working as window-washers on the streets of Rome and other Italian cities, or selling fake Louis Vuitton hand-bags in Italian piazzas. Also, I interviewed a policewoman last year — head of a human trafficking investigations division–who said there is a lot of trafficking of women for prostitution. Gosh, it just breaks my heart to think of those poor women. They are promised jobs has house-keepers and maids in Europe and then end up on the streets. Yes, definitely worth another blog post.

  5. Gwen Thomas

    Sound like a very exhilirating and moving day. We were watching a program last night and in it they said “All men are brothers, that is why we shed tears for people we don’t know.” It struck a chord in me and I even wrote it down. It seems appropriate to the Pope’s Lampedusa experience.

    I would also love to read another blog at some point on how these immigrants are treated once they are airlifted to the mainland. Are they shipped home as is often the case in the US? What is the procedure? Is Amal likely to get to Norway? What will their lives be like now that they have survived the horrendous voyage?

  6. This is a very sad situation that tugs at my heartstrings and that is complicated and has long term consequences that impact both the refugees and their host countries.
    I don’t think the solution lies in bringing everyone out of the hell-hole that the fundamental Islamists have created in Africa, the Middle-East and Southeast Asia. Italy and my father’s homeland, Malta, cannot survive the onslaught of refugees if the flood gates were to be opened.
    Many of the refugees are not willing to put their religious and cultural prejudices aside and thus are not willing to coexist and be respectful of the society that they are fleeing to. Portland, Maine is a Somali refugee resettlement city and I know first-hand that female genital mutilation, intolerance toward gays and the physically and mentally handicapped is not going away anytime soon. In fact, several of my Somali female students told me that their families had become more fanatical in their religious beliefs since arriving in the USA. Portland is also home to Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees that arrived in the 1970s; this population has thrived because their religion allows for co-existence and is kinder and gentler.
    The solution has to include cutting off the funding of Islamist organizations that preach intolerance.
    The rest of the world also has to be brave and not fall into the trap of trying to be politically correct; Fundamental Islam is not a religion that can or should be tolerated.
    PS-Christian fundamentalists drive me crazy too! In general, I believe that religion is the cause of all evil!!!

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Lega, Thank you for this very thoughtful and interesting comment. I am fascinated by what you say about Somali, Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants. I agree with you that if people want to immigrate they have to adapt to the new society, respecting its culture and traditions and especially its laws. As you say, the United States cannot allow people to carry on traditions of female genital mutilation, that was a good example. I also agree with you that religious fundamentalism is dangerous whether it is Muslim or Christian fanaticism.
      I might add that it is funny in our globalized world how far apart people are. I was interested that the immigrants I spoke to, one of them who I saw on the pier meeting Pope Francis, didn’t really have any idea of who the Pope was or why it would be an honor to meet him.

  7. . . excellent post Trisha – the trafficking issue is appalling and has as core the problem of systematic exploitation of resources (and that includes people) by the ‘developed’ economies. The willingness of the West to destroy societies and even countries, as with Libya, Somalia, Iraq, Syria and others in pursuit of their neo-liberal agenda is matched to their hypocritical pontificating. At least Italy has enough humanity to turn a blind-eye and ease the passage of desperate people. UK, that has been the cause of so much misery in the region, is one of the meanest and narrow minded in respect of the refugees their actions create.
    This pope has an intimate association with state terror and repression – if he really has put his dubious actions behind him perhaps he should be pointing his pontifical stick at the murderous governments and praying to his god for fire and brimstone and a plague on all their houses.

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Alan — for some reason this comment got lost in the system and just showed up now. Sorry I missed it earlier, I always love hearing your opinions on everything.

  8. . . excellent post Trisha – the trafficking issue is appalling and has as core the problem of systematic exploitation of resources (and that includes people) by the ‘developed’ economies. The willingness of the West to destroy societies and even countries, as with Libya, Somalia, Iraq, Syria and others in pursuit of their neo-liberal agenda is matched to their hypocritical pontificating. At least Italy has enough humanity to turn a blind-eye and ease the passage of desperate people. UK, that has been the cause of so much misery in the region, is one of the meanest and narrow minded in respect of the refugees their actions create.
    This pope has an intimate association with state terror and repression – if he really has put his dubious actions behind him perhaps he should be pointing his pontifical stick at the murderous governments and praying to his god for fire and brimstone and a plague on all their houses.

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