The roller-coaster ride of an African child

Description

Ce récit autobiographique en langue anglaise constitue le témoignage poignant d'un jeune gambien parti de Banjul pour rejoindre l'Europe en empruntant les voies clandestines. Lamin décrit son enfance au village, ses études, son travail comme enseignant et explique ce qui l'a forcé à quitter son pays pour débarquer, après une véritable odyssée, dans le sud de l'Italie.

Sujets

• Harmattan Littérature
• Immigration
• Autobiographie
• Témoin
• Interculturel
• Récit
• Témoignage

Informations

• Publié par: L'Harmattan
• Date de parution: 23 novembre 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9782336857046
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Métissage collana diretta daALBERTOTAROZZI

Metissageraccoglie e divulga materiali per un confronto tra culture, generi, gruppi, generazioni, soggetti e progetti differenti, approcci allo sviluppo e al servizio sociale, al cambiamento locale e globale, diversi per visione teorica, metodologia e prassi d’intervento. Un lavoro sociale che agevoli la comunicazione Nord e Sud, maggioranze e minoranze, utenti e operatori dei servizi, normalita del centro e anomalie della periferia. Comitato scientifico :Ambrosini, Pietro Basso, Fabio Berti, Costantino Cipolla, Vittorio Maurizio Cotesta, Catherine de Wenden, Maria Caterina Federici, Guido Giarelli, Fabio Lo Verde, Antonio Mancini, Marco Martiniello, Umberto Melotti, Alberto Merler, Everardo Minardi, Giacomo Mule, Maria Lucia Piga, Andrea Pitasi, Micol Pizzolati, Raffaele Rauty, Paul Statham, Carolina Stefoni, Mara Tognetti-Bordogna, Laura Zanfrini Coordinamento edit.: Antonio Mancini, Elisa Pelizzari, Alberto Tarozzi

La presente pubblicazione è stata realizzata con il contributo di A.N.P.E.A.S. Onlus (www.anpeas.it)

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Métissage THE ROLLER-COASTER RIDE OF AN AFRICAN CHILD FROM GAMBIA TO ITALY Lamin DARBOE foreword,Patrizia Pano L’Harmattan Italia L’Harmattan via Degli Artisti 15 5-7 rue de L’Ecole Polytechnique 10124 Torino 75005 Paris

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www.editions-harmattan.fr

© L’Harmattan Italia srl / L’Harmattan Torino / Paris, 2018

EAN Epub : 978-2-336-85704-6

Couverture

e 4 de couverture

Métissage

Titre

Copyright

FOREWORD, Patrizia Pano

INTRODUCTION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. MY CHILDHOOD LIFE IN THE VILLAGE OF KIANG KARANTABA

2. MY PURSUIT OF EDUCATION IN THE TOWN OF BRIKAMA

3. MY LIFE AS A TEACHER

4. THE JOURNEY OF DARKNESS

5. THE BITTERSWEET LIFE OF A MIGRANT

CONCLUSIONS

ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES

DATA ON REPUBLIC OF GAMBIA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have given me encouragement to write this book ; to all those who provided me support, talked things over with me and assisted me in editing and proofreading. I would like to thank Patrizia Pano for creating an enabling environment for me by showing me support to fulfil my ambition of writing the book and I thank Miriam Sauro and Laura D’Aurizio for their invaluable assistance towards me throughout the course of this work. I would also like to thank Ian Soulsby of Newcastle, Salif Sankareh of Bergamo and Borry S. Jarju of London for helping me in the process of editing and proofreading.

DEDICATION I dedicate every part of this work to Dembo L.S. Fofana, and the rest of my family and friends. Though far away, their spirits kept watch over me in all my ups and downs in my search for sanctuary and during the process of writing this book. I would like to dedicate the work to all members of staff of the “XENIA” RIPABOTTONI CENTRE who stood for us in the place of a family :Mama Rossana Catelli andPapa Angelo Spadanuda, Rocco Abalsamo, Giovanni MaurizioCaterina Pasquale, Alfonso Delliquatri, Viviana Vannelli, Laura Frenza, Antonio Serrecchia, Federico Franco, Alessio Sanzari, Giuliano Lafratta, Redouane Rahouli, Kevin Boccardo, Angela Malorni, Alessia Paradiso, Claudia Tommasoni, Mario Giarrusso as well as the ex- staff of the centre. My special dedication also goes out toMamaSauro and her family, Mariantonietta Mama Anna Carlone and her family,PapaFrenza, Michele Papa Vittorio Sauro,Mama Marialucia Carlone,MamaCocco and her family, Fernanda Mama Iolanda Mastromonaco and her family, Giusy Mastromonaco,MamaAssunta Volpe, Giuseppe D’Apruzzo, Claudio Matteo andMamaPina Corrado as well as the village youths that we always played football with and the rest of the village. I beg forgiveness of all those who have been with us over the course of our stay in the village and the surrounding areas whose names I have failed to mention. You are all valued and loved.

FOREWORD PATRIZIA PANO (president of A.N.P.E.A.S. Onlus and director of C.A.S. “Xenia” – Ripabottoni)

During the last years, immigration has increasingly become an important and highly discussed topic, playing a big role in political issues. Some parties have used the topic as a political tool to increase their popularity and win approval from voters. In 2016, many migrants reached the Italian coasts. At that time the national reception system was affected by internal conflicts between the ones who were trying to improve the formerly system and the ones who wanted to inhibit it. The C.A.S. (Extraordinary Reception Center) “Xenia” was founded in this uncertain and confused situation. It is based in Ripabottoni, a small village in Molise, Southern Italy. th On Sunday 9 October 2016, an apparently ordinary day, 36 migrants coming from Africa arrived in the small village. Among these poorly dressed and malnourished people, there was Lamin Darboe, an English teacher from Gambia – and later the author of the autobiographical story narrated in this book. At the migrants’ arrival most of the village residents were against them and their settling there. The locals eventually changed their mind as soon as they looked at the poor and frightened eyes of these new, different people. They even launched a solidarity campaign, based on small but socially meaningful acts. In this way the village residents ceased being afraid of “the strangers” and began involving them in many activities: the migrants even sang in churches’ chorus (the Catholic and the Evangelic one), which are part of the religious com munity of Ripabottoni. Some of them started playing football in the local team, to let the club survive the lack of young players. A few others helped the elderly with grocery shopping and household chores. Everything run smoothly in the little village and, what at the beginning was considered a catastrophic event for Ripabottoni, became an opportunity to strengthen the local values, to support the town’s economy and enrich its society. The younger ones learnt the village customs and had the opportunity to show the residents their traditions and habits. Therefore, the carnival as well as other religious holidays became perfect events to exchange knowledge and practices between the locals and the migrants. Everything seemed to work like a char m in the little village of Ripabottoni, but something unacceptable eventually happened. The city council of Ripabottoni had never approved the presence of the C.A.S. within the village and had tried to stop its activities from the very beginning, without respecting the achievements of the integration process. The city council adopted a strategy to dismiss the hosting center by sending many solicitations to the Campobasso prefecture. Its purpose was to obtain the closure of the C.A.S. “Xenia”. th Unfortunately, the strategy was successful and on J anuary 11 the Extraordinary Reception Center “Xenia” in Ripabottoni closed. In the meantime, a voluntary organization was founded in Ripabottoni. It collected 181 solidarity signatures in one day – an extraordinary success fo r such a small community. These signatures confirm the residents’ willingness to keep the center alive. Although many protests were held in the village, the hosting center was closed and the institutions didn’t provide any explanation for their decision. The Italian media and even the international press reported the events in Ripabottoni –CNN and Le Mondeare just two important examples. This small village became the center of interests, where an open question remains “why did they want to ruin a model of integration, which was actually so successful?” Although these events have called the whole country’s attention on Ripabottoni, the impact of the center closure was dramatic for the migrants. They were scattered in several centers in the region of Molise and will never be back in this village. During the events in Ripabottoni, the A.N.P.E.A.S. Onlus (National Association for Social Activities) provided a variety of services to the m igrants. Together with another voluntary