The cultural mediators Chiara Picciocchi and Yassin Ramadhan Afa
from our correspondent on Life Support of Emergency
Here in Sicily summer seems to never end. The island of Ortigia is crowded with tourists, some are swimming in the sea, many are queuing in front of the ice cream parlors to eat cones and granitas.
But further south, off the Libyan and Tunisian coasts, the situation is different. Strong winds are blowing and the waves are high. However, the weather situation is constantly changing. Yesterday the forecast was terrible, today it was better. It seems that November is as unpredictable as March. Thus the “Life Support”, the Emergency ship for search and rescue in the central Mediterranean, postpones its departure for the 25th mission.
The red and white ship remains anchored in the port of Syracuse, but exercises and preparations continue on board. It’s an industrious wait and even with the ship in port the days are full of commitments.
We start at 9 in the morning with a general meeting, then off with the various activities. The journalist on board is also part of the team. I did cardiopulmonary resuscitation exercises and the exercise to organize the reception on board of castaways in precarious health conditions, who need to be loaded onto a stretcher. The rule is: do everything precisely, but quickly. It’s part of the preparations too fill the bags with the Emergency logo in which the shipwrecked people brought on board will find blankets, towels, slippers, toothbrush and toothpaste.
The necessary things to live in the “shelter area” until they disembark in a safe port. In the next few days, sea permitting, the “Life Support” will move offshore to be able to carry out exercises involving the Rhib (acronym for rigid keel inflatable dinghy), the fast dinghies that leave the ship to reach the shipwrecked people at sea.
The Rhib crew is the first face of salvation for people at the mercy of the sea. Emergency cultural mediators also travel on board the dinghies. They are the first to address the shipwrecked people in their own language to reassure them. The message is: we are Europeans, we are here to help you and take you to a safe port.
On board the “Life Support” there are cultural mediators Chiara Picciocchi and Yassin Ramadhan Afa. Chiara is 34 and comes from Naples. He lived and studied in Morocco and Tunisia, so he speaks Arabic, English and French. Yassin, an Italian of Eritrean origin, speaks English, Tigrinya and Arabic.
“Calming and reassuring people is our priority,” says Yassin. “On board it is important to be attentive to vulnerable, lonely, sad people who isolate themselves from others. And special attention must be paid to unaccompanied minors”, adds Chiara. Regarding the reaction of people at sea when help arrives, Chiara and Yassin agree: “As soon as we bring people onto the ship you can sense fear in their eyes, then hope prevails and finally joy when we tell them that we are finally arriving at a safe port.”