Va bene… I am here in South Italy almost for 2 months, and all the time I’m trying so hard to understand the people speaking in Italian… sometimes it works, but sometimes it definitely doesn’t ahahaha. During these 2 months I understood that...

I have been in the South of Italy for two months now. My project involves the integration of 40 refugees from several places in Africa into Salento society. I understood that the work would be difficult from the beginning.

Ciao a tutti!

I am Tanya from Bulgaria and I am going to live in Italy for six months… my dream came true! The reason for this adventure to start was this great EVS project situated in Montesano Salentino, a small town in this beautiful part of South Italy called Salento.  Now I am a volunteer in the center for refugees where Ruth and I are trying to “Breakdown the Wall” between them and the local community.

Ciao a tutti, 

This is just a small introduction to myself as, for the next 6 months I will be working with SEYF on a brand-new project called:

“Breakdown the Wall”

My name is Ruth (which is a pity in Italy as no one can pronounce it. Apparently in Specchia dialect my name means “broken” and in Italian I am blessed to have a name that means “burp” ….) and I am from Ireland. I decided to participate in this project as I had reached a stage in my life where I wanted a new challenge, an opportunity to help others and the chance to experience a new culture and to meet new people. Italy is a beautiful country but I had only ever visited the North.

During the next 6 months, I will be based in Montesano – Le Salento. Montesano is a tiny town in Puglia in the “heel” of Italy and it is beautiful. The population of Montesano 3,800 and whenever I mention to anyone that I am living there, they pinch their finger and thumb together and say; “piccolo piccolo”. The streets are tiny and the roads are full of holes, but the people are friendly and the food is delicious. The buildings are old and full of pastel colours, there are plants sitting on every balcony and rusty bicycles leaning on every wall. The cobbled pathways add character to the petite town and every coffee bar is within 20 steps of each other. There is one school, a church, a post office and a bank, one supermarket and one building that sits at the edge of the town called Hotel Rendevouz.

It is here that I will spend most of my time until the end of the summer. Within the former hotel reside 40 men who have found themselves in the unfortunate position of living as refugees. My job and project is to help to integrate the 40 men into the lovely community of Montesano and show both the refugees and the Italians how beautiful it is to live united and to share a part of each other with one another. I hope to introduce new ways for Italians to understand the predicament of the refugees, for the refugees to learn about the Italian culture and traditions and ultimately to create a harmonious experience for all for as long as we live together.

Throughout my time here I will be posting regular updates to this site along with photos and results of any actions that we put in place.

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Instagram: seyf_italy

Twitter: @seyf_lecce

Facebook: @seyf.inclusion

Buona Lettura a tutti ❤