Religion at the docks

  The first two actors in this situation are related because they work for the same association, the Red Cross. They do not know each other personally but they meet sometimes during the arrival of immigrants in Italy. The third actor involved is a Somali migrant woman, who just arrived in Italy with a boat and is being assisted by the association in question, going through the set of checks and controls at the docks. The critical incident occurred in Sicily, in the province of Trapani in November 2015, during the assistance to migrants at the docks of the port. It is an event that often occurs in Sicily, where many boats arrive from the North African coasts, loaded with migrants and refugees. It is always a very chaotic and tense context where the migrants receive material as well emotional support, and undergo initial medical assessments and care. Once migrants disembark the boats, they need to go through different tents placed at the docks, to undergo different treatments, checks and to receive food and clothes. The first two tents are destined to the first medical visit, to identify any possible health emergencies. I was assisting one doctor in the first tent. During this first medical visit, they are each given an identification bracelet, which allows them to have their own medical file, and to receive food, clothes and the anti-scabies treatment. The third tent is also managed by the provincial health authority (ASP), this time for the anti-scabies treatment. Migrants are led there after the first medical visit to undergo this treatment. They need to leave behind all of their clothes as they may be contaminated, and they get new clean clothes after the treatment. The Somali girl had just undergone the anti-scabies treatment. My colleague, the volunteer, had gone back to the first tent where I was, followed by the Somali girl, to talk to me. At the docks, a final tent is also present, and is managed by the police, for the final step of the disembarking procedure, which is the identification. Overall, there were about twenty civilian volunteers; about seven volunteers of the association, the Italian Red Cross, about seven doctors and nurses of the provincial health authority inside one tent, the police were present outside the reception place, about ten officers from the police. The narrator does not recall how many the migrants were, but they were more than 100. The image below shows the physical setting of the incident. The tent where the incident occurred is indicated by an arrow.  

The narrator felt anger. Her colleague’s attitude really bothered the cultural mediator even if she has the hypothesis that the colleague did not understand why. The narrator tried to keep it to herself, because a professional attitude was needed in the context, especially since the volunteer had lost hers by shouting. The narrator also felt frustrated and had a moment of confusion as to the reasons of the presence of the volunteer at the docks and her temper. “I exhausted myself by trying to keep her calm. Anyway, I tried to be helpful to solve the situation the best way”.

1) Human rights/human dignity/religion-freedom of belief/equal value of different cultures The narrator believes that everyone has the right to profess one’s religion and to be respected for this. Thus, the narrator believes that, regardless of the place, it is important to preserve freedom of expression, and in this case the freedom of belief; she is a supporter of the respect of human rights and convinced that a respectable welcome for migrants is a possibility and a duty. She considered it important to emphasise the value of respect but also the importance of anti-scabies treatments. She tried in the situation to compromise between both needs. 2) Integrity of the mediator role and the intercultural professionalism The narrator values her role in helping in the disembarking procedures for the migrants, as demonstrated by the fact that she maintained her professional attitude even when confronted with the lack of professionalism of the volunteer. She noted the incompatibility between the volunteer and her role; she thinks that the volunteer does not possess the values and knowledge that all volunteers should have to be able to offer their services at the docks. This gap between them might also lead to a conflict were the damaged one could be the Somali girl, as the message is getting chaotic and less and less clear for her. 3) Professional identity threat and hierarchy The narrator also suspects that the volunteer may be jealous of her role, as the narrator is paid for her work and the fact she is much younger than the volunteer can also have a negative impact on the volunteer colleague.

A negative image of the volunteer colleague emerges because of her lack of sensibility, empathy and ability to respond to the Somali girl’s needs. Perhaps, the most negative image is the volunteer’s lack of understanding of the young woman’s religious needs, which are just seen as caprices and manners or even hysteria.

1) Rules (Following protocol) and sanitary measures From the volunteer’s side, we can think of the incident as a lack of resources while facing an out of protocol situation. As the incident is described we can think that the volunteers are trained on a strict sanitary protocol which was violated by the young Somali girl when she wears her “unsanitised” veil. The procedure is not respected and it might imply a potential danger of any possible disease spread at the welcoming dock. We mention above a possible lack of resources as the volunteer cannot understand or think about the representation system of the newcomer or the symbolic weigh for the young woman of the veil. 2) Charity and solidarity The woman is probably driven by a sense of solidarity towards the “weakest”, otherwise it would be difficult to explain her voluntary work, except for the need to appear charitable. Her reaction may also relate to the expectation that the refugees should be grateful for the help they are offered – and this young woman appears to be ungrateful, when she is “complaining” about a subordinate need as a veil in a situation, where she just saved her life through the voluntary and professional helping organisations in Italy. 3) Acculturation and Italian identity Anyway, she seems limited in her actions by prejudices towards the migrants and by absolute positions that do not allow her to be open-minded enough to try to understand the reasons of the other person, the young Somali woman. The narrator brings forward the hypothesis that the volunteer may at the same time be scared of the changes that migrants may bring and she therefore values the precedence and preservation of her own culture, as shown by the phrase “Here we are in Italy”, hinting to the fact that the Somali girl should adapt to the culture of the country where she is being hosted, and therefore stop requesting privileges related to her religious belief.

It is complicated and exhausting to try and solve the situation or to put aside the divergences in order to avoid hindering work and to make sure that the beneficiaries do not face the consequences of prejudices or lack of professionalism. A solution might be to organise a more complete training course for all people working in these contexts. In this way, there would be more knowledge about other cultures, including through a share of information between colleagues. The incident actually reflects the need for professionalisation of the volunteering efforts, especially for the creation of professional attitudes towards variety of cultural-religious aspirations and requirements. It is also important to be aware of the experience that “a helping mind” is not enough for volunteering work. Intercultural understanding and communication is also needed in order to fulfill the job.