–   BEFORE THE WORKSHOP: WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO LEARN FROM THIS SESSION

Expectations were high as I thought we were going to be a group of professionals, and indeed there were tremendous amount of experience among the participants. I also expected to network and share contacts and develop my understanding of what people know about the refugee crises from their own background and cultural understanding.

–   AFTER THE WORKSHOP: WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

The first day was mostly about getting to know each other through introduction and networking.

I already knew most of the info in the presentation as I am a refugee myself and network with other refugees, so I’m very familiar with the system.

–   SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

·         Asking all participants to prepare a PPT and keep it 5 minutes long as some participants took more than 15 minutes talking about personal stories and drifting away from the main topic which is telling their experience in the refugee field. Having a PPT helps sticking to the topic and time.

·         Being honest and objective and having a safe space to share opinions.

·         Individual cases about one or two refugees cannot be generalised.

·         Having the main presentation in Italian and English made it too long and a bit boring so I suggest having visuals, photos, videos in English while the Italian speaker speaks so the audience would still have something to look at and read (such as statistics, reports, numbers, whatever).

·         Having a detailed timetable and sticking to it.

·         Having time to gather around at the end of the day to reflect on the day, share opinions and plan next day.

·         Creating a social platform to share ideas, photos and contacts ( which I created at the end of the first day on whatsapp).

·         Sharing twitter accounts and encouraging EVERYONE to TWEET and make some noise about the program.

–   WHAT DID YOU LIKE THE MOST

·         Chatting with the participants and learning from their experience.

·         Visiting the clothes distribution charity thought it was a bit too late.

·         Food, of course.

–   BEFORE THE WORKSHOP: WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO LEARN FROM THIS SESSION

I expect to see positive change in a town that was completely changed by refugees. I expect to hear their stories, struggle and success. I also expect to meet the mayor and understand his vision and the steps he took to make this come true and the obstacles he faces now that the town runs on refugees. I think we will have the chance to meet the mayor, interview him for the film and interview and talk to the refugees and hear their journey, struggle and dreams.

–   AFTER THE WORKSHOP: WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

·         I was comparing the way Turkey runs similar program with the refugees.

·         Had some conflicting reports from refugees and mayor which are not what mainstream media claims.

–   SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

·         Spending more time with refugees

·         Spending more time with the mayor

·         Having chance to talk to the refugees and learn more about how they feel after claims from the mayor and staff.

·         Organizing more activities to spend the day at Riace or anywhere since we do not have anything to do back in the hotel ( You can ask participants to prepare a one hour presentation about a topic they have worked on and lead discussion)

–   WHAT DID YOU LIKE THE MOST

·         Claudia’s presentation and discussion

·         Having the chance to film some workshops though sadly did not have the chance to chat about it.

–   BEFORE THE WORKSHOP: WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO LEARN FROM THIS SESSION

Based on the first day presentation, I hope this wouldn’t be a very long presentation in Italian and English without any visuals or things to keep us interested when Alessandra speaks Italian.

I hope the trip to the new village wouldn’t be like the one yesterday where we did not have a chance to talk to the locals, refugees and NGOs.

–   AFTER THE WORKSHOP: WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

The presentation was nice and I was surprised to hear about the Spanish islands’ situation and how some European countries have tried to open a registration centre in Africa.

–   SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

Sticking to schedule time and extend it if possible. We started at 10 am and came back to the hotel at 7:45 pm. There is a lot of free time where people just stay in their rooms. It would have been much more beneficial if, at least, have more discussion among the team or work collectively on producing something. We could watch documentaries about the situation now, and these documentaries are available on-line for free, or we can have more presentations or work together on making something.

–   WHAT DID YOU LIKE THE MOST

–   BEFORE THE WORKSHOP: WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO LEARN FROM THIS SESSION

Looking forward to see examples and case studies and personal account of intergration.

–   AFTER THE WORKSHOP: WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

Economical situation plays a huge role in radicalisation and integration. If the politicians do not create legit and legal ways to accommodate to the need of the market and the new migrants, the new migrants would find illegal ways, and sometimes harming and dangerous, to make some money to stay alive. We do need more discussions among different ethnicities and religions but those things should also be guided and supervised by experts who could provide mentoring and advise to the troubled young.

–   SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

Finding more experts who have real-life experience in the mental health. Amal does not have any experience and Eulaila has had a couple of years of practice in the field. I did feel that Amal’s presentation was one-sided and bias presentation (and I wasn’t alone in thinking so) as she blamed everything on the locals or government and simply making things white and black, while things are much more complicated in real life. We should also be more careful how we address people when we give examples, I think saying “ Tholani just because he’s black and fat does not mean he is criminal” is very offensive and inappropriate to say. The same way about Rahim when he was told “ You’re not a terrorist just because you’re a muslim”. And I was not the only one who felt that this was not appropriate at all.

I think the Imam was somehow trying to spread his views of Islam instead of telling us of how people integrate in Italy. I would have loved to hear his story living here and learning and mingling with the community instead of hearing his views. But on the other hand, how can someone talk about being inclusive and accepting of other religions when he does not consider Shia as Muslims? I think his views were very basic and childish and out-dated and did not expect such strong opinions from someone who’s been living in Europe for 26 years.

–   WHAT DID YOU LIKE THE MOST

Tholani’s presentation: it was very insightful and useful and full of examples from London and elsewhere.

–   BEFORE THE WORKSHOP: WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO LEARN FROM THIS SESSION

Talk to the migrants and get their stories and understand their struggle. Also talk to the locals.

–   AFTER THE WORKSHOP: WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

The migrants at this center need a better access to Italian language classes, maybe on a daily bases.

The volunteers are amazing, however, it raises questions about funding.

–   SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

Maybe travel in a smaller number. There were too many people at the same time which did not allow us access to the whole center and just a short time to talk to various people.

–   WHAT DID YOU LIKE THE MOST

Chatting to the migratns, unfortunately, I don’t speak their language.

–   BEFORE THE WORKSHOP: WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO LEARN FROM THIS SESSION

–   AFTER THE WORKSHOP: WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

–   SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

There are some ethical issues to be addressed. The volunteers allowed us to take photos and videos of the minors at the center and allowed us in the center without any security checks which is not very ethical.

I think showcasing the migrants to a huge group of participants from the UK was a bit inappropriate and in a way humiliating. It reminded me when I was in Turkey and a group of journalists come and take photos and videos and talk to us. I would definitely drop the port visit and double check why it was OK to take photos and videos of minors?

–   WHAT DID YOU LIKE THE MOST

The presentation at the church and hearing what volunteers do.

–   BEFORE THE WORKSHOP: WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO LEARN FROM THIS SESSION

Expect a lot from Tholani’s presentation today as his first part was very engaging.

–   AFTER THE WORKSHOP: WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

There are too many issues with migrants and integrating them and it’s a multi-layered problem that needs to be addressed by various organisations.

–   SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

Make use of the whole day and use more presentations.

–   WHAT DID YOU LIKE THE MOST

Tholani’s presentation.