http://www.nannifontana.net descrizione follow al list of available items. copyright 2009 Nanni Fontana en-EN nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) Wed, 29 May 2013 18:17:01 +0200 Wed, 29 May 2013 18:17:01 +0200 720 http://www.nannifontana.net/compo/dia_logo.png http://www.nannifontana.net 144 39 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=103 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=103 nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=102 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=102
MARIA BASTI
Disability affects hundreds of millions of families in developing countries. Currently, around 15% of the total world’s population are said to be suffering from a disability. Having a disability places you in the world's largest minority group and as the population ages, this figure is expected to increase.
80% of persons with disabilities live in developing countries, according to the UN Development Program (UNDP). The World Bank estimates that 20% of the world's poorest people have some kind of disability and tend to be regarded in their own communities as the most disadvantaged.
Poor people are more at risk of acquiring a disability because of lack of access to good nutrition, health care, sanitation, as well as safe living and working conditions. Once this occurs, people face barriers to the education, employment, and public services that can help them escape poverty. Statistics show a steady increase in these numbers.
In India, the figure is estimated around 100 million people. Basic services for handicapped people are hardly accessible to less than 5% of the disabled persons. Families with a low or zero level of education and very low purchasing power are ill-equipped to bring-up the handicapped, who are often considered "a curse from God" or an "unwanted burden".
HOWRAH SOUTH POINT was founded in 1976 by French Father Francois Laborde to help handicapped children and provide a medical support to the most deprived from the slums in Howrah, the industrial suburb of Kolkata.
HSP, a non-confessional organization opened to people of all caste, creed and language, has the aim of facilitating the rehabilitation of the physically, mentally and socially challenged back into the mainstream of society.
Today HSP encompasses 5 handicapped children’s Homes and 7 outdoor physiotherapy Centers located in Howrah and Jalpaiguri, providing residential care to 275 children among whom 160 are physically or mentally challenged. They are provided with basic needs, food, shelter, medical attention, physiotherapy, education and training.

Maria Basti, among the specialized for spastic, mentally and physically handicapped children centers of Jalpaiguri, is a very unique place. All the 13 girls living there are of age and suffer major mental and physical disabilities, more than 90% in some cases. Solidarity is the main feature of everyday life in Maria Basti. There are precise rhythms, repetitive gestures that give each day a specific schedule to follow in order to lighten the burden for the people who work and live in the center and to make the days for the girls, as much sliding and independently manageable as possible.
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UDAYAN
Since ancient times, leprosy has been regarded by the community as a contagious, mutilating and incurable disease. Many myths and stigma have always surrounded it. Of course, it is not a curse of god. And it's not hereditary. No child was ever born with leprosy and, contrary to popular belief, it is one of the least contagious of all the communicable diseases, only 15% to 20% of cases being contagious. When 'Mycobacterium leprae' was discovered by Hansen in 1873, it was the first bacterium to be identified as causing disease in man. Today, Leprosy is curable disease, at all stages.
It is estimated that there are between one and two million people visibly and irreversibly disabled due to past and present illness who require to be cared for by the community in which they live.
It is not totally clear how leprosy is spread, although all sources agree that prolonged, close contact is necessary for contracting the disease. It normally thrives in conditions of low nutrition, lack of hygiene, and insanitary conditions. Thus, in overcrowded slums the incidence of leprosy is much higher than in other establishments. Early detection and regular treatment are necessary means for the elimination of the disease.
The diagnosis and treatment of leprosy is easy and most endemic countries are striving to fully integrate leprosy services into existing general health services. Multi-Drugs-Therapy (MDT) must be made available in all primary health centers to enable patients to be treated as close as possible to their homes. This is especially important for those under-served and marginalized communities most at risk from leprosy, often the poorest of the poor.

All the children of UDAYAN, located in Barrackpore, are affected by leprosy in some way. Most of them were born in leprosy colonies and have parents who suffer from the disease. About 5% of the children themselves suffer from the disease. The Center was founded by Reverend J. Stevens who started taking care of eleven children in 1970. After 40 years and 7 thousands children, today Udayan caters 100 girls and 200 boys between 4 and 18. Udayan provides a loving home and an opportunity for a new life - free of the scourge of leprosy and its associated poverty - through education, food, clothing, medical care, access to recreational facilities and vocational training.
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BENEDETTA D'INTNO FOUNDATION was founded in 1992 to improve the quality of life for children in distress and to support their families. The Centro Benedetta D'Intino Onlus was opened, in Milan, in 1994. Soon after it became one of the most specialized existing services in Italy, providing clinical rehabilitative interventions in communicative and language disorders associated with motor disability. In 1996, along with Dominique Lapierre, the Foundation began to support and actively help Maria Basti and Udayan.

India, february-march 2011]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=101 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=101 Since its very first AIDS case report back in 1984, HIV prevention and control have always been a national priority at the highest level. Between 1997 and 2009, HIV prevalence was reduced by an estimated 45% while in the last decade the incidence of new infections among the population has fallen by more than 25%. Despite the pharmaceutical industry disapproval, the Thai government broke patents on AIDS drugs and, through compulsory licensing and the production of generic drugs, increased dramatically the number of people accessing care and support.
Thailand, though, is also a reminder that success can be relative.
Data on the current status of the epidemic – there are still 480.000 people living with HIV today, mostly in Bangkok – are giving a warning signal of a reverse to an increasing trend in some most-at-risk groups. Changes in Thai society in the midst of socio-economic challenges and lowered budgets on prevention have led to an 85% of Thai youth who don’t see HIV as something that they should be concerned about.
Injecting drugs and commercial sex, generating more HIV routes of transmission, have also led to a new epidemic, especially among both women married to men infected through needle sharing or commercial sex and men infected sexually by other men.
In 2009, growth in investment for the AIDS response has flattened for the first time, impacting the lives of the most vulnerable populations and putting their health at risk. Today, with 33 millions estimated people living with HIV, the virus remains an unparalleled global health threat. Knowledge about HIV is the first step to avoiding its transmission. Yet less than one third of young men and only a fifth of young women in developing countries know basic facts about the virus.
Stigma, discrimination, and bad laws continue to place roadblocks for people living with HIV/AIDS and people on the margins, who continue to experience negative attitudes or exclusion from family members, loss of employment, refusal of care, social exclusion and involuntary disclosure. Any time there is misunderstanding about AIDS, the idea that people living with HIV have a different set of rights than the uninfected gets stronger.

This reportage is part of an ongoing project on the Aids epidemic on the cusp of the fourth decade. Women and children’s health is its main focus. Prevention, treatment, care and support are the guiding principles of the battle against Aids and of this project as well. HIV/AIDS in Thailand, Mozambique, Brazil and Ukraine will be investigated approaching each country from a different perspective and focusing on a specific aspect, investigating sexual, reproductive and children’s health.

Bangkok, February 2011]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=98 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=98 Anonymous, 1569

We asked young people from eight cities on the Mediterranean shore – Beirut, Alexandria, Tangiers, Barcelona, Marseilles, Naples, Athens and Istanbul – if this four centuries old phrase still holds true.
We have invited them to define their relationship with their urban landscape, thinking about it as a social environment where the relationship between citizen and governing body comes to life. Comparing their statement, we have tried to understand the obstacles and problems these young people encounter in their journey towards personal fulfilment.
Rather than forming a neat jigsaw puzzle, the interviewees’ answers resemble the Domino, the Chinese game of similarities and differences built as a method of divination, of prediction, of a future that, now more than ever, is uncertain and engaging at the same time.
The Mediterranean is thus a set of dominoes: some of its tiles are matching and equal in value, others are incompatible. The ancient Mare Nostrum has come to resemble - in recent months of social unrest and revolution - an ebullient magma that is struggling to strike a balance between unifying and dividing facets.
To the south, freedom is pushing for change, supported by thousands of young people who have suffered decades of static dictatorships. To the north, the economic crisis is turning Europe even more inward-looking, and all the while a new wave of immigration towards Europe can be anticipated in young North Africans’ aspirations for a promising future. To the east an awakening of the ghost of political unrest threatens the outbreak of a new war.
A particular aspect emerged in each metropolis, either a feature or a problem that stands out and profoundly influences the way these young people experience or sometimes suffer their city’s landscape. These aspects are common in all the cities examined. This is where the dominoes match up.
But the dominoes are incompatible when one compares the historic, social and economic circumstances of each city. Peace, freedom and rights are acquired values in the north of this area whereas in the south they are concepts yet to be attained. Interestingly, the two areas show the same need for the creation of new jobs and the need to be independent citizens.
A predominant feature that emerged from this project is the divide between the rich north and the poor south. The boundaries of these areas lie in the middle of the Mediterranean sea, but geographical and social boundaries are constantly fluctuating, even inside each urban landscape, and pose the challenge of emigration and integration respectively.
MedPeople’s ultimate aims are both to emphasize how certain problems which arise in these cities - and thus everywhere in the Mediterranean basin– are the same throughout the whole region, and also to highlight how national policies and local authorities are not committed to positively answering the demands of their young population.

This project was realized on behalf of Monaco Méditerranée Foundation between august 2010 and march 2011.

www.medpeople2011.com

All texts: Alberto D’Argenzio]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=93 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=93 The Camellia Sinensis is planted in autumn, right after the monsoons, and by the end of the winter the first blossoms appear. By march the plants are ready for the first harvest. Once the leaves are plucked they have to reach the production line within an hour or two. In this moment begin the different processes to obtain the different qualities of teas. In the Nilgiri district farmers produce only black tea. Leaves are left on benches to dry for a short time without being exposed to direct sun light. After this passage it is possible to decide weather to follow the orthodox method or the CTC (crush, tear and curl) method. In the first case tea leaves are rolled three or four times before going on the sieves while in the second case, before fermentation, the leaves are pushed through a particular blower before being crushed, torn and curled. After this phase a hot and dry flux of air stops the oxidation of the leaves and some rolls remove the slag before packing and stocking the finished product.
In the Nilgiri district, Coonoor’s economy largely relies on the tea production compartment. Every year some 37.000 tons of tea leaves are harvested, nearly 8.500 tons of black tea after the production process. In the last years, consumption and demand of tea have constantly grown but recently also this compartment faced the economic crisis. Nevertheless eight of the most important estates in the area, all members of the cooperative Contaner Tea and Commodities, have received in 2009 the Rainforest Alliance certification of sustainability. Glensdale, Havukal, Coonoor, Kairbetta, Dunsandle, Sutton, Parkside and Warwick are the estates where Lipton buys the tea for its famous Yellow Label and Earl Grey brands and are seconds only to those of Kericho in Kenya to obtain the certification, matching all the criteria of the Sustainable Agriculture Network whose fundamentals are wildlife protection, social equity and economical feasibility.
The Camellia Sinensis cultivation has a strong impact on the ambient. The agriculture industry is, in fact, one of the biggest polluter of the planet and a rapacious user of water. The increasing rhythm of forests transformation into farmlands and unsustainable practices of spoiling the earth led to an increasing level of poverty suffered by farmers, especially in those areas where the ecosystem is more at risk. Tea plants’ natural habitat is that of tropical and subtropical countries, regions where the main problems are related to the substitution of a rich biodiversity of a tropical forest with a monoculture, to the erosion of the soil, to the pollution caused by chemical fertilizers, to the excessive misuse of water and the great need of firewood for the machineries that exsiccate tea leaves during the production process. Reaching higher working safety standards, a more efficient labor organization, the right to earn a decent salary, to have medical assistance, a house and schools for kids are all problems that these people as well has to face every day. The certification of Rainforest Alliance is a practical answer to all these problems meaning, in concrete, less pollution of the waters due to a controlled use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, reforestation to prevent soil erosion, wildlife protection and better waste management in the plantations thanks to the educational programs for children and adults introduced among the communities of villagers. The certification is also a warranty of the improved conditions of living of the farmers and their families thanks to the houses provided by the different estates, the supply of drinkable water and the schooling and medical assistance programs.
This reportage was done on assignment for National Geographic Italy and with the collaboration of Lipton.
India, Tamil Nadu, 2010.]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=88 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=88 OSPEDALE AMICO is a pilot project conceived by Imagine Onlus that will be realized in partnership with San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome. Aims of the project are both improving the quality of the sanitary services offered to migrant patients living in Italy and the relations between them and health officers. Taking its moves from the “Migrant-friendly hospitals” experience, a tried and tested European Union project, financed in collaboration with the W.H.O. and implemented in 12 hospitals spread all over Europe, OSPEDALE AMICO wants to define, together with the staff and the migrant patients of the Departments of Gynaecology, Obstetrics, Neonatology and Internal Medicine of the San Filippo Neri Hospital, the activities and the necessary arrangements to do in order to improve the quality of the services offered to migrant people and, therefore, the benefit they can receive from the Italian National Health Service. The project intend to reach these goals developing the two fundamental components of vocational training of the sanitary personnel on the thematic of intercultural medicine and that of awareness growth intended to reach the migrant population living on the territory directly served by the hospital. Part and parcel of the project was the shooting of these hospital daily life portraits of staff members and migrant patients of San Filippo Neri Hospital. The pictures will be printed and exhibited on the walls of the San Filippo Neri Hospital’s Departments starting from the first of December 2009 until the end of June 2010, when the results of the pilot project OSPEDALE AMICO will be gathered and announced.
Italy, september-november 2009]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=91 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=91 Sulma and her grammy speak no spanish at all, only the miskito language. Ledy Carina Antonio Feldeman, a 20 years old miskito nurse, tells me the girl cut her hand with a machete while collecting rice in the field to help out her family. Sulma’s been loosing a lot of blood at this point so the nurse injects directly in her wound some anaesthetic. This is all she can do here in Tikiuraya. No painkillers, no needles, no sterile lints. No nothing. The only solution is to bring her as soon as possibile to the hospital in Puerto Lempira, four hours away on the Rio Kruta with a small offboard, the luckiest mean of transport that can be found here. Sulma’s grammy doesn’t want to go with her and entrusts Anja, a UN volounteer, Coban, the driver, and me to bring the girl to the hospital. Sulma doesn’t cry at all while on the boat, never moans nor behaves as you would expect a ten years old kid to do in such a situation.
We arrive at the emergency room after sunset. The young doctor immediately stops with a clamp the bleeding, disinfects the wound and patches it. Sulma is now safe, tired more than scared. She is brought to pediatrics for the night. Doctors says she could have died because of the bleeding if she had not arrived in time at the hospital. The day after, at dawn, I find her looking out of the hospital window waiting for her mother to arrive. Once in a while she calls her out and finally starts cryng. The surgeon, Doctor Hugo Reyes, and the paediatrician, Doctor Margarita Marulanda, decide Sulma has to get surgery straight away, even though fortunately they won’t have to amputate her finger. In a few hours Sulma is ready to get surgery, after a first shot of anaesthetic she is brought to the surgery room. The surgery itself is quite an easy one and lasts less than a couple of hours. While Reyes is at work some of the doctors that took care of her the night before enter the surgery room to be informed about the girl’s conditions. Everything has worked out fine and Sulma is brought back to pediatrics while still asleep. She is now out of danger and has nothing left to do than waiting for her mother or anyone to come and take care of her.]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=87 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=87 Honduras, march-april 2009]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=86 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=86 Honduras, march-april 2009]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=85 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=85 Honduras, march-april 2009]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=83 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=83
Gracias a Dios happens to be exactly half way on the narco cartels’ paths between Colombia and the States. Puerto Lempira and its surroundings are often chosen by the narcos to make a stop while travelling to bring drugs on the American market. Drugs are carried on small and fast boats or on small airplanes that sometimes are forced to stop half way, either to hide from the Coast Guard or to reload fuel. Among the residents of the only prison in the department, many were caught and judged guilty of narco traffic related crimes. The living conditions within the prison are inhuman. Prisoners sleep in overcrowded cells made of concrete walls and tin-plated ceilings, hygiene is a major problem, bread and coffee are the only food supplied and a constant lack of drinkable water make this one of the worst jail of Honduras.
Honduras, august 2008/march 2009]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=78 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=78 There is a total lack of infrastructures, medicines and medical assistance. The only hospital is in Puerto Lempira, the capital of the Dipartimiento de Gracias a Dios. There are two surgery rooms but unequipped for most of the surgeries needed by the population. Most of the Miskitos live in small rural communities far away from the hospital and most of these communities do not have a "Centro de Salud". Only the luckiest families can rely on small 15-horses-offboard boats but even with those boats it can take many hours to reach the hospital. This is a major cause of maternal-infantile deaths. Another major cause is that there is no disease prevention at all and no monitoring on pregnant women as well.
La Moskitia is very inaccessible. As a matter of fact it is reachable only by plane or by boat. There are no roads that connect it with the rest of the country. Water is the predominant element in the life of the Miskitos. Naturally it is a mean of survival but it is an enemy at the same time. In fact, Honduras is the first exporter of red lobsters in the USA and most of the business is run in this area.
Rich businessmen form the islands of the bay send their ship in Puerto Lempira to collect people wishing to be employed. Their equipment is old and not sure while divers are pushed by the perspective of gaining more money to go up and down the waters of the Caribbean without paying attention to their health. The result is that the rate of men suffering the Decompression Syndrome, that naturally lead to a paralysis and therefore to the inability to work, is very high and the government doesn't provide any kind of assistance for them nor their families.
Another problem of La Moskitia daily sanitary emergency is the lack of drinkable water. In fact in the region there is only one purifying water plant which mainly serves only the area around Puerto Lempira, leaving the rest of the population in need and more subject to get related diseases.

In September 2007 the General Assembly of the United Nations ratified the ÒDeclaration on the Rights of Indigenous peopleÓ. The Declaration was voted against only by four countries, Australia, USA, New Zealand and Canada, where the biggest communities of Indigenous minorities, the Aborigines, the Native Indians, the Maori and the Inuit, live. I therefore decided to start a long term project on Indigenous minorities willing to reach those who are facing different problems across the planet and to narrate their way of living, focusing on the main struggles regarding the respect of their rights as human beings and as indigenous people.

This project was realized on behalf of IMAGINE Onlus.
Honduras, august-september 2008]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=80 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=80 A lot of people. Moving. Japan is a country that surely recognize the many advantages of rail transport, including its convenience, energy efficiency, low pollution, and safety. Every day millions of Tokyo residents commute from their houses in the suburbs back and forth to work or to school. There are 13 subway lines in Tokyo, many of them are linked up with commuter lines and extend their service to the suburbs. They currently carry more than 7 million passengers per day. On an average base they spend 74,5 minutes to go one way from home to work. Two hours and a half on a train, every day, is a lot of time. Specially if we consider how much time most Japanese people spend working. 28 percent of the people living in Tokyo work more than 50 hours a week. Some 16 percent double their weekly hours schedule working overtime. In the last ten years more than 30.000 people died because overworking. Occupational sudden deaths. Those who don’t die commute on trains. And sleep. At any hour of the day. People of any age, occupation, social class, suburb. They get on the train, find a seat and sleep till the stop they have to get off at. Even if it’s just one.
Japan, july 2008]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=73 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=73
In September 2007 the General Assembly of the United Nations ratified the ÒDeclaration on the Rights of Indigenous peopleÓ. The Declaration was voted against only by four countries, Australia, USA, New Zealand and Canada, where the biggest communities of Indigenous minorities, the Aborigines, the Native Indians, the Maori and the Inuit, live. I therefore decided to start a long term project on Indigenous minorities willing to reach those who are facing different problems across the planet and to narrate their way of living, focusing on the main struggles regarding the respect of their rights as human beings and as indigenous people.
Japan, june-july 2008]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=79 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=79
In September 2007 the General Assembly of the United Nations ratified the ÒDeclaration on the Rights of Indigenous peopleÓ. The Declaration was voted against only by four countries, Australia, USA, New Zealand and Canada, where the biggest communities of Indigenous minorities, the Aborigines, the Native Indians, the Maori and the Inuit, live. I therefore decided to start a long term project on Indigenous minorities willing to reach those who are facing different problems across the planet and to narrate their way of living, focusing on the main struggles regarding the respect of their rights as human beings and as indigenous people.
Italy, june 2006]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=82 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=82 Slovenia, may 2006]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=81 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=81 Cyprus, september 2005]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=75 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=75 Italy, may 2004]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=72 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=72 Il primo cedimento riversa nell’Atlantico le prime 4.000 tonnellate. Dopo pochi giorni lo scafo, sommerso a 3600 metri di profondità, si spezza letteralmente in due: ecco la seconda ondata di greggio, 6.000 tonnellate.
A distanza di tre mesi dalla catastrofe si calcola che il petrolio raccolto, di cui ancora non si sa bene cosa farne se non trasportarlo in apposite discariche nei pressi di A Coruña, raggiunga al massimo le 20.000 tonnellate. Il resto è ancora in acqua.
Non è la prima volta che si rovescia del petrolio nelle acque della Galizia, anche se questa volta la situazione appare ben più grave rispetto a quando, nel ’92, la petroliera greca “Aegean Sea” si incagliò al largo del porto di A Coruña riversando in mare milioni di litri di greggio.
A dirlo diverse organizzazioni ambientaliste, come Greenpeace, WWF o Legambiente, ma anche istituzioni del mondo della ricerca legata all’ambiente come l’Osrl (UK), la più sofisticata azienda del mondo nel campo dell’inquinamento petrolifero, o l’IFREMER, l’Istituto francese di ricerca per lo sfruttamento del mare.
Gli abitanti della Galizia, da sempre considerati nel confuso scenario etnico spagnolo come un popolo passivo, si potrebbe quasi dire atavicamente apatico, hanno reagito a questa ennesima catastrofe con una sollevazione immediata e spontanea.
Di fronte all’intervento poco reattivo della Giunta della Galizia e del governo centrale spagnolo, la gente non ha fatto altro che rimboccarsi le maniche e mettersi freneticamente al lavoro per arginare le ondate di marea nera che arrivano sulla costa.
Il lavoro certo non manca: secondo il Ministero dell’ambiente spagnolo, delle 1064 spiagge della Galizia ben 657 sono state, ad oggi, contaminate. Il “ground zero” di questa catastrofe si trova nei pressi di Muxìa, un paesino di poche centinaia di anime abbarbicato su uno dei bellissimi fiordi della Costa della Morte, l’area nel complesso più colpita. E’ qui che si è ritrovata la maggior parte dei volontari che da tutta la Spagna sono giunti in Galizia, creando addirittura problemi logistici per via delle scarse infrastrutture del luogo.
Qui, come nelle Rias Altas e nelle Rias Baixas, l’apporto dei volontari è stato fondamentale, soprattutto nei giorni immediatamente successivi alla catastrofe. In cambio di un pasto caldo e di un materassino su cui stendere il proprio sacco a pelo, migliaia di giovani, studenti, lavoratori in permesso e disoccupati si sono riuniti nei luoghi più colpiti per dare il loro apporto.
Sveglia presto, colazione e poi di corsa a raschiare, grattare, raccogliere la triste eredità lasciata dal Prestige. La giornata di lavoro è breve a causa della forte marea che inizia a salire nelle prime ore del pomeriggio portando con sé, oltretutto, nuovo petrolio e lasciando così una situazione apparentemente immutata rispetto a quella del giorno prima.
Il governo, anche se tardivamente, ha messo a disposizione dei volontari gli strumenti necessari per lavorare: maschere antigas, tute, guanti, arnesi di ogni genere. Ha inoltre attivato la protezione civile per l’organizzazione del lavoro e assicurato, laddove fosse più necessario, la presenza di alcuni reparti dell’esercito.
Ma questo non è bastato per placare le proteste dei cittadini.
La prima manifestazione è stata quella del 3 dicembre 2002 a Santiago de Compostela, capitale storica della Galizia. Si sono poi succedute ininterrottamente iniziative di ogni genere: assemblee, incontri, catene umane e dibattiti, fino alla grande manifestazione del 9 febbraio scorso nelle strade di A Coruña, intitolata “Salviamo il mare o non ci resta che la valigia”.
Quello della Galizia è stato storicamente un popolo di emigranti ma questa volta non sembra disposto a considerare tale eventualità. Dovunque, non solo nelle manifestazioni, si percepisce la volontà dei cittadini galiziani di ottenere una rapida soluzione dei gravi problemi causati dal disastro. Una volontà manifesta, scritta a grossi caratteri sui muri delle strade, sulle vetrine dei negozi come in quelle dei bar, sui baveri delle giacche o nei lunotti posteriori delle automobili. Una determinazione civile ed un forte impegno sociale percepibile, più che in ogni altro luogo, sui volti di queste persone.
Spain, february 2003]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=71 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=71
“Stato di allerta Bravo” avverte un cartello giallo appeso al posto di blocco all’ingresso dell’aeroporto militare di Bari-Palese. “L’allarme, però, non centra con la presenza di rifugiati nel centro d’accoglienza” spiega un militare di guardia. “Bravo indica una possibile minaccia, ed è una conseguenza della guerra in Afghanistan, non certo della gente raccolta là dentro”.
Qualche centinaio di metri dopo il posto di blocco, si arriva ad una seconda recinzione che delimita la vecchia pista d’atterraggio dell’aeroporto, adibita a ricovero per gli stranieri che sbarcano sulle nostre coste. Un nastro d’asfalto lungo e stretto, costellato di roulotte sistemate gomito a gomito, in cui vivono tre o quattro persone ciascuna. Nei prati circostanti sono di guardia alcune macchine della polizia. Dentro vivono 917 persone, 487 adulti e 430 minori. Praticamente tutti i disperati passeggeri della motonave “Monica”, giunti a Catania il 18 marzo scorso.
Al di fuori della recinzione, sono sistemati i container che ospitano gli uffici di quelli che nel campo ci lavorano: croce rossa, questura, prefettura e aeronautica militare. Quest’ultima si occupa della logistica, mentre i rappresentanti del governo sono impegnati nelle pratiche burocratiche e nella gestione della sicurezza e la croce rossa provvede all’assistenza sul campo e a quella sanitaria. Un’organizzazione che sembra funzionare piuttosto bene. Il campo è pulito e ordinato, il migliore fra quelli sparsi per il meridione, dicono.
Con le autorità collaborano assistenti sociali e mediatori culturali, nel tentativo di armonizzare le esigenze dei rifugiati con quelle dello Stato italiano. Gli abitanti adulti, che si dichiarano tutti irakeni (ma, probabilmente, sono in parte anche siriani e palestinesi), ricevono tre pasti caldi al giorno. I bambini, invece, hanno un regime d’alimentazione differenziato e possono accedere ai magazzini della croce rossa in qualunque momento. “Mediamente distribuiamo cinquanta litri di latte ogni mattina” afferma la responsabile del magazzino. Durante la settimana di Pasqua sono state effettuate varie distribuzioni: uova di cioccolata per i bimbi, vestiti, schede telefoniche e passeggini ai capi famiglia. Una squadra di pediatri del policlinico di Bari ha recentemente visitato i bambini e molte associazioni di volontariato si alternano nella gestione di attività ludiche ed educative per i più piccoli.
“Nonostante tutto, c’è un bel clima tra di loro” dice Stefania della Fondazione Giovanni Paolo II. “Esistono delle divisioni interne – continua la volontaria - ma la gente è generalmente educata e collaborativa. Credo che l’esperienza allucinante del viaggio per raggiungere l’Italia e l’incubo comune di sfuggire a Saddam Hussein li abbia resi più uniti”.
Tra i quasi mille rifugiati, tutti intenzionati a chiedere asilo alle autorità italiane, ci sono diversità di etnie, censo ed anche religione: un’intricata situazione che complica, a volte, la convivenza. Quando c’è da protestare, però, i rifugiati sanno ritrovare la compattezza. “Poco prima di Pasqua” - racconta un responsabile della questura – “gli abitanti del campo hanno organizzato uno sciopero della fame contro la loro condizione di semi-detenzione”.
Dalla Prefettura, però, assicurano che la permanenza in questo centro di accoglienza non dovrebbe durare più di un mese o due. Sembra difficile crederci, ma c’è da augurarselo. Lo spazio è angusto e, con l’arrivo del caldo, il nastro di asfalto rischia di diventare una fornace invivibile.
È difficile da capire perché l’area del campo non sia stata allargata un poco, sfruttando una parte dei prati circostanti, i quali, invece, restano per i rifugiati solo un miraggio da osservare attraverso il reticolato della recinzione.
“Sono dieci anni che le regioni del sud devono continuamente affrontare un flusso di immigrati e rifugiati” - sottolinea uno degli operatori impegnati nel campo – “ma ancora mancano le strutture adeguate. Sembra sempre che si viva in uno stato di emergenza”. Effettivamente, come fa notare un visitatore, il posto “pare proprio una scatola di sardine”. Le sardine che ci abitano, però, garantiscono di “preferire aspettare per poi uscire legalmente da questa specie di prigione, piuttosto che tentare la fuga” come assicura Hassan, giovane studente di ingegneria all’università di Baghdad. Gli fa eco Zana, un commerciante di Al Basrah, torturato e imprigionato più volte dal regime irakeno: “Molti di noi hanno abbandonato tutto in patria e abbiamo pagato tremila dollari a testa per fuggire. Ora chiediamo solo protezione da parte dell’Unione Europea”.
Italy, march 2001]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana) http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=84 http://www.nannifontana.net/work.php?number=84 Somewhere, 2004 - 2012]]> nannifontana75@gmail.com (Nanni Fontana)