Kikeme Blessing arrived in Italy in 2017 and is now living with an Italian couple in the southern town of Restinco thanks to Refugees Welcome Italia, an organization that finds private accommodation for refugees.
Thousands of people took to the streets of cities across Germany on Wednesday to show their solidarity and to call on the German government and the EU to take in more than 12,000 migrants left homeless by fires at Moria camp on Lesbos.
The Refugees Welcome project, which offers the possibility for families to host refugees in their personal homes, has resumed following the coronavirus lockdown in Italy. Eighty families that applied for the programme are currently being evaluated to participate.
Italy has just entered "Phase Two" of its coronavirus lockdown, that is a gradual easing of restrictions. But the worst could be yet to come, thinks Andrea Costa, one of the founding members of Baobab experience, a group which works to help migrants in Rome.
A court in the French city of Lyon has scrapped all charges against Cedric Herrou, a farmer in southern France who had helped about 250 migrants cross the border to France from Italy in 2015 and 2016. His case became synonymous with the term “crimes of solidarity.”
The experience of an Italian family that took six migrants into their home has inspired the EU-funded project Embracin. Their reception model will be replicated in six EU countries.
When Afghan refugee Syed first arrived in Italy, he was freezing, scared and alone. A local pizza baker offered him help -- food, clean clothes and a bed to sleep in. 13 years later, Syed was able to reunite with his good samaritan.
The mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, participated in a meeting in Berlin with German cities that have offered to receive migrants rescued at sea. Orlando said there are 120 German cities involved and that they want to continually increase that number.
Pope Francis called for "eradicating borders that divide and create opposition" and reflected on the message of "peace with no borders." His message was part of this year's "Prayer for Peace" meeting., which was attended by top-level delegates in Madrid in recent days.
Right-wing extremist protests are on the rise and migrants continue to be targeted for violence. Has Germany's "welcome culture" come to an end? A new study by the Bertelsmann Foundation suggests otherwise.
The campaign wanted to force the EU to introduce more welcoming asylum and migration laws. While it did not gather the necessary signatures across Europe, the campaign exceeded expectations in Italy - and beyond.
"Refugees Welcome" gets Italian citizens to open their homes and their hearts to refugees and migrants. Well over 100 families have participated in the initiative in the last two years.