International Congress: Words of Embracement

«Words of embracement» has been the title that has given rise to the international meeting that we have organized at our center, developed within the framework of the project «A Europe of Rights.» A project that began last year on the island of Lampedusa and which has been financed by the FAMI (Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund) and promoted by the Italian Ministries of the Interior and Education.
In this project, participants delve into understanding the migration issue and directly experience the need for a more humane approach to the complexity of this reality.
We were accompanied by different delegations from national and international schools, San Ignacio families, high school and baccalaureate teachers, and students.
During the first day, attendees were able to enjoy the performance of the musical «Under the Same Sky,» by the students of Liceo Marconi. A tribute and remembrance to the shipwrecks of October 3, 2013, on the island of Lampedusa, which contextualized the reality of migration through performing arts.
Throughout the following day, the word was the protagonist of a meeting with J.A. González Sainz, writer and translator; Francesco Valagussa, philosopher; and Ezio Aceti, psychologist. Three interventions challenged those present to question and value the word as a tool for integration and welcoming.
With this awareness of the power of language, of the importance that words and gestures play in welcoming, congress attendees listened at the end of the morning to the testimony of survivors who were present there. A heartbreaking testimony, full of deep emotion and with a common denominator: Seeking a better life. «That is the reason we are here,» they said, «even though our families and friends paid with their lives for seeking that life.»