‘International Day of Charity’, was originally established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012 and is celebrated every year on the 5th of September commemorating the day when the Nobel Peace Prize was conferred to Mother Teresa of Calcutta. To celebrate this occasion we are interviewing Regina Egle Liotta Catrambone, the Director of the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS).
In this interview, we will be discussing her recently published book with the name of ‘Raccogliere il mare con un cucchiaino’ which translates to ‘Collecting the Sea with a Teaspoon’. The publication is an anthology of testimonies gathered by the author from the children, women and men encountered through her charity work. The book also delves into reflections on empathy, solidarity and migration as well as the growing importance of the need for humanitarian assistance in the world today.
How did the need to share the experiences and realizations amassed during years of humanitarian missions come to fruition?
There is a moment in life when we realize that we cannot pretend anymore. That moment came for me in 2013 during a discussion with my husband Christopher and our family. The seminal question brewing in our minds was ’What can we do to help save the lives of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean?’. It was then we decided to pool our strengths and talents, bringing together a team of experts who would eventually come to form MOAS.
Our pursuit in answering this one question resulted in rescuing over 40,000 men, women and children in both the Central Mediterranean and Aegean Sea through the provision of search and rescue operations. From 2017 onwards we have provided emergency medical assistance through aid stations affectively touching the lives of more than 90,000 Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar. MOAS’ has since expanded into the delivery of essential firefighting and flood prevention training in the region. Over the years I have come in contact with the despair, hardship and hope of the world’s most vulnerable people and these stories must be told.
The sensitive and controversial issue of migration has been at the center of public debate for years, and the initiatives aimed at achieving a true resolution to this tragedy have been few and far between, all the while, the public’s empathy and solidarity experienced from the first shipwrecks have since slumbered.
In this context, I felt both a need and a duty to share the experiences and emotions that have resonated with me the most, to give a voice to those who have none, to speak to those who have closed their hearts in the face of the heart-wrenching phenomenon of migration, and to stimulate a constructive dialogue within families, schools, and universities that can help overcome the stereotypes and unfounded fears that often mire discourse.
What is the chapter titled “Glass Men” about?
Glass men are the migrant men who live among us. Sometimes we reject them, at best we remain indifferent to them, as if they were transparent and like glass they too are fragile. Too often, they are not really welcomed and we are unable to offer them jobs, housing, hope or perhaps even a simple a hug. By not giving substance to their existence they will always continue to remain empty, fragile and transparent. In this chapter I discuss the hope of Yusuf, a carpenter from Syria, and the despair of young Gambian Pateh Sabally, who found no other solution than to take his own life in the Grand Canal in Venice.
And who, on the other hand, are the “Women of the Sea”?
The women of the sea are those who have faced their fates as tides, who have had to confront the merciless destiny of a difficult life, women plundered in intimacy, petrified by grief, consumed by bereavement who, despite everything, remain messengers of hope and dignity until the very last moment. They are uncomfortable women, transcending all borders and witness to inhumanity. Simple heroes, without medals, builders of peace. Like Fatima, a victim of sexual violence perpetrated on women inside Libyan “lagers,” or Rosna, a little Rohingya girl who fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh and was treated by MOAS’ doctors inside one of our Aid Stations. It is the story of Somira, a young Rohingya woman who witnessed the bloody massacre of all the men in her village and who, due to the psychological trauma from the event developed a peptic ulcer. Or that of Jhanu, who lost her husband, shot simply because she belonged to the Rohingya ethnic group. She decided to flee so that her sons would not suffer the same fate and her daughters would not have to experience the pain of sexual violence.
What is the globalization of indifference?
In the summer of 2013, listening to a speech given by Pope Francis in Lampedusa, I was struck by the statement “globalization of indifference.” Indifference turns our heads the other way, makes us dry and callous as we slowly lose our humanity. We entrench ourselves behind our selfishness and interests while remaining indifferent to the needs of those around us, those who are asking us for a hand. This is the worst kind of globalization, it makes us worse parents, worse children, worse friends. We risk becoming poorer than the materially poor who scare us so much, because their wealth from the feeling of fraternity still thrives. I find it interesting that people’s indifference is at times subject to the geography of crises, where a refugee from Ukraine is accepted with open arms, while those from Afghanistan, Syria or sub-Saharan Africa are often shunned.
What can each of us do so that we do not remain indifferent to the tragedies taking place in the Mediterranean and all over the world’s borders?
The United Nation’s General Assembly, with the establishment of the International Day of Charity, calls on member states, nongovernmental organizations and individuals to encourage the promotion of acts of solidarity through education and activities that increase public’s awareness of the issue.
Each of us can help ensure that indifference does not prevail in the face of tragedy. We can start with words of kindness that kindle hope. This can be followed by action and finally, example. Although our choices may carry little weight when isolated, together they constitute a powerful tide. We can combat indifference by spreading love until it goes viral and ultimately replacing the globalization of indifference with one of solidarity.
By purchasing ‘Collecting the Sea with a Teaspoon’ you will help save lives.
A portion of the proceeds will go to MOAS’ missions active around the world. Happy reading!