This morning, 63 refugees from the Horn of Africa have landed at Fiumicino on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa. The living conditions of these people, who had long been refugees in camps in Ethiopia, then in the capital, had been worsened by the ongoing conflict.
Their arrival in Italy was made possible thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding with the Italian State, signed in 2019 by the Community of Sant'Egidio and the Italian Bishops' Conference, which provides for the reception of 600 vulnerable people through humanitarian corridors. Scheduled for the end of November, their departure was anticipated due to security concerns and was facilitated by the active collaboration of the Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration of the Italian Ministry of the Interior, the Directorate General for Italians Abroad and Migration Policies and the Italian Embassy in Addis Ababa.
The 63 refugees - mostly families consisting of single women with minors and single young people under 25 - were welcomed at Fiumicino by volunteers and some family members, who have been living in Italy for a long time, some are already Italian citizens.
They will be receiveded in Rome and in some other Italian regions (Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont, Marche and Campania) by associations, parishes, private citizens and religious institutes. They will be accompanied along a path of social and work integration, guaranteeing services, Italian language courses, schooling for the minors, and adequate medical care.
This is possible thanks to a totally self-financed project with the 8x1000 grant of the Italian Episcopal Conference, funds raised by the Community of Sant'Egidio, the generosity of associations, parishes and citizens who have offered their homes and their free voluntary commitment.
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