Back to School: A Voice for the Immigrants

Saturday, May 18th, 2019  

Piazza Duomo in Milan is crowded and loud.

Hundreds of people gathered to witness Italian vice prime minister and politicial Matteo Salvini presenting his dicriminatory and aggressive political propaganda based on nationalism and the exclusion of migrants.

As it might be easy to infer, I am not pleased to see so many people supporting a neo fascist so–called politician filling the heads of my compatriots with doctrines of racism and xenophobia. However, I reckon the only way to fight hate and ignorance is with knowledge and awareness that when it comes to people, there is no “better” or “worse”. We are all the same and we should all be given equal possibilities.  

For this reason, I met up with Tania Di Leo, founder and president of the cultural association, cooperative to be, Giro Giro Mondo, to ask some questions about how the association has worked so far, in order to tackle the anti-migrant movements in Italy.  

I am very fond of their action on the field and I admire how passionate Tania is about her job. When I ask her to shortly define the association, I can see a spark of pride in her eyes. 

“Giro Giro Mondo was founded in 2004, with the aim to spread cooperative learning and intercultural education, including all students, of every age and ethnicity. We started working in primary schools and through the years we have broadened our horizons, changing our target group and proposing educational programmes for adult immigrants, as well.” 

Tania teaching Italian to primary school children

One of their most recent projects, indeed, was specifically created for women of different ethnicities and from different parts of the world, who have migrated to Italy, looking for better chances at life. But who are these women and what do they need? The answer is short and simple: “Knowledge and inclusion”.

The president of Giro Giro Mondo explains that the purpose of this initiative is to create a space and time completely dedicated to and specifically customized for women, who come from communities and societies where they are not given the chance to grow and develop their abilities.  

“Teaching how to read and write to these women allows them to have a voice. They are mothers, sisters, daughters, but they are just puppets if they are not able to communicate. Our workshops have the aim to fight illiteracy and help them to fulfil their desire and need to feel part of the Italian community”. 

Two students of the worshops for women

Back to school is a real motto and this time it is all about women.  

Tania proceeds to clarify that the idea of these workshops also stems from the awareness that parents of children, whose first language is not Italian, tend to be less involved in the education system. This phenomenon is mainly due to a language barrier that inevitably creates a gap and, as a chain reaction, children will tend to be less included in the Italian speaking community. Giro Giro Mondo wants to fill in the gap and the only way to do it is to teach the Italian language. 

I cannot help but ask where the association gets its strength and motivation from, especially in such hard times for immigration and cooperation. Tania explains that it was not easy to start this project, due to the fact that women were distrustful and insecure.  

“We advertised our workshops through leaflets that invited the interested people to call us and ask for information. However, if you do not speak the language or you feel uncomfortable with it, why would you even call? We were scared it could have been a flop but it was our only chance, so we took it and the results were better than we expected”. 

By the end of the first workshops series, 90 women had attended and 20 of them tried the language assessment for Italian A2. Thirteen women that initially were completely illiterate in their native language, learnt both how to read and write. 

Tania teaching during the workshop for women

And the best has yet to come. Giro Giro Mondo’s goals for 2019 is to get bigger and better, turning into a cooperative, so to be allowed to take part in competition announcements and get a more solid financial support to widen their field of action and involve more and more women. 

I can see the pride and emotional involvement on Tania’s face, and I reckon it is utterly fascinating and overwhelming to see such a positive and driven initiative as a way to counterattack the impending racist and xenophobic ideologies that are currently being spread in my home country. It almost moves me. 

Concluding the interview, I cannot help but ask one last question. I tell Tania about the crowd of people in Piazza Duomo, standing up for everything that Giro Giro Mondo aims to fight, and I dare to ask where the Association stands on the issue. 

“We firmly believe that all men are migrants and it has always been so. Parents have always tried to offer their children better life chances and a better future. Our vice prime minister Matteo Salvini and his political party will not stop migrations, because it is just not possible. The fear of what is different or strange has to be abandoned, for it only causes gaps and mistrust. We must believe in humanity, since we all share the same needs and desires”. 

It is surprising to hear how sincere and honest the answer is. There is no shame in Tania’s tone, no sugar-coating, just brutal honesty to describe a country that has a lot to offer but is falling into the hands of the wrong people. 

If you fancy learning more about Giro Giro Mondo and its projects, you can visit their website here: https://associazioneculturaleggm.it/