The team is doing fantastic work! They are doing an excellent job and walking many miles each day to reach refugees and migrants (my phone tracked me at 6.7 miles, more than 10 kilometers yesterday and I’m the lazy one in the group). In all those steps, each team member is meeting people, loving people, caring for people.
In the morning, the women of our group took the Care for Catania women to a Tea. The men didn’t understand this but were supportive, by offering to watch the children. The women truly enjoyed themselves, drinking tea and shopping for trinkets. The men were able to watch The Incredibles and play the card games Uno and Cover your A$$ets (we still don’t understand this last one as instructions were non-existent). Both groups think they had the better time.
One of the primary goals of this trip is to better connect with refugees and immigrants of Muslim backgrounds; this is a passion of Shane’s and a driving motivation for our visit. Over the last three years, Shane has established a friendly connection to a local Imam who is a loving and generous man and enjoys working with everyone from Care for Catania. If you are interested in learning more, I would highly recommend that you sign up for his weekly blog, Muslim Connect. His writing is thought-provoking and sensitive.
To that end, Shane was able to set up a tour of the local mosque for our group. We all enjoyed learning more about those we are trying to reach. We all agreed that this was an invaluable experience. No one on our team had ever visited a mosque before, and it was helpful to ask the Imam questions about his community, the customs and practices of the mosque, and those who attend. We saw children playing, women sewing, and care for the migrants and refugees that was heartwarming.
In the back room of the mosque (a fellowship hall, if you will), we found food stacked up on folding tables. Bread and other items were available for those in need. They can come and pick up food at their convenience. In a separate section of the building, the Imam showed us what was the most heartwarming and heartbreaking room in the building.
The Imam led us up an unfinished stairway to an attic space. Where windows might be, there were hanging tarps and rough-hewn boards nailed. On one side of the room sat a pile of sinks, building materials, and old suitcases. A dozen mattresses lay one upon another. Spaced around the room were individual beds, some with blankets and pillows, others nothing more than bedframes and a mattress. This is where the members of the mosque house refugees that have fallen through the cracks. It is where men and women live when they have nowhere but the street to call home. Police might wait by the mosque door in hopes of finding these people, but they never come in. It is understood that the residents of this attic space have a sanctuary within the mosque walls. It is messy. It is dirty. It is incredibly sad, and yet, incredibly hopeful. Here is a congregation that offers protection to those who don’t fit into the system. Here are people who need extra support, love, and care. And they’ve found it within the walls of this mosque.
After thanking the Imam for his hospitality and the tour, we went to the port where many migrants and refugees enter the city of Catania. Hundreds-of-thousands of men, women, and children come through this section of the country, and it was a sobering moment as we stood on the doc, considering the implications of this mass migration that has been happening over the past few years.
The last half of our day found us walking again, meeting young men, talking with them, offering hot tea from a thermos and handing out sweaters and jackets to help them brace against the cold Sicilian nights. It was a wonderful evening for all.
These posts have been extremely insightful. I love reading them each day and look so forward to a full debrief upon your return.
Thank you, Curt.