March 12, 2018 - MEDU Music Group and RV at Termini

I’ve had a couple of experiences with MEDU that seem worth writing about.  Last Saturday I attended a music group that they provide for the refugees.  Six to eight people (all men) from several different African countries (I’m not sure where everyone was from, but there were people from at least Senegal, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Mali). The purpose of the group is to give refugees a chance to do something fun together in a connecting way.  There is a professional musician/music teacher and an administrator from MEDU who run the group.  They have various musical instruments, including guitars (an acoustic and an electric bass), an electronic keyboard, bongo drums, tambourine, etc.).  For about two hours they play various kinds of music, including traditional African songs, songs they wrote themselves, reggae songs, etc.  They are actually preparing for a concert they will be putting on in a month or two in Florence.  I have little to no musical talent, but it was a lot of fun.  It was clear that music is extremely meaningful for them.  There were several interchanges between them that were quite kind and supportive of each other.  A man from Senegal was singing a traditional song from his country and another man from Nigeria said in English, “You have a nice voice.  I really like your song, but I don’t know what it means!”  He then asked the other man to explain what the words meant, saying that he wanted to be able to sing along and to understand the meaning of the song.  Maybe it does not seem like much, but it seemed quite touching in the moment.  I asked if Hannah could come next week, and they said that would be fine.  I’m excited for her to have the experience.

Monday night I went out with the mobile medical clinic again.  They go out three nights per week, each night to one of three different locations.  Monday night we went to Termini Train Station, Rome’s main train station.  There isn’t a specific camp there like at the other train station, but there are many homeless people who live there or nearby who need medical attention.  The people we saw that night were typically older and had been in Rome or other cities in Italy longer than the people we saw when I went to the camp at the other train station.  The cultural mediator told me that many people who they see at this train station are there because they originally got their permission to stay and work in Italy in Rome and then had to come back to Rome to renew it (He actually said that he often meets old friends from his country there.).  They come hoping to take care of it in a day, but then they get stuck trying to navigate the bureaucracy for days, weeks, or even months.  They can’t afford to pay to for a place to stay while they’re there, so they live on the streets. 

I was amazed at the diverse people we saw and the number of languages that were used to try to work with them.  The doctors treated people from Poland, Slovenia, Mali, India, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Palestine, and Italy.  I heard the doctors and nurses use Italian, English, and French (quite fluently) and the cultural mediators use Polish, Italian, English, French, Arabic, and various African languages.  It was quite impressive!  They treated many skin conditions (rashes, lice, scabies, wounds, etc.), fevers, coughs, etc.  They also saw people with more serious problems that they referred to hospitals and other specialists, like serious liver or vision problems.  It is a pretty amazing thing they do every week.  I hope to be able to go with them to their third site in the next few weeks.