Presentation by Costantino Montuori
A story of a couple that crosses the historical events of the moment and comes to terms with the Russian-Ukrainian war conflict. It is that of a 33-year-old health worker from Lucca, already a graduate in Nursing as well as a student in Medicine, and of his girlfriend. His name is Michele Pio Ritucci while Hamrah Mehribabadi, a biotechnologist from Australia, is her name.
Until a few days ago they lived together in Ukraine and together they were perfecting their university education. Now, far from what was their daily life, they are in Campobassano. They left the Eastern European country just in time to do so. They define themselves as “war refugees”. Unfortunately they are and they cannot say how long they will be forced into such a condition.
The (dis) adventure that occurred to them is very well outlined in Stefano Di Leonardo’s interview-story. It is the one that appeared today in the Molise newspaper www.primonumero.it.
Below we propose some portions, inviting you to read the rest by copying-pasting this link https://www.primonumero.it/2022/02/via-dallucraina-appena-in-tempo-michele-e-hamrah-rifugiati-universitari -of-war / 1530714172 / on your browser. It is worth it. And for a whole series of reasons of quick intuition.
“The Ukrainians told us to rest assured that nothing would happen. But the Embassy advised us to leave the country and we were afraid that the airports might close.” So two weeks ago Michele Pio Ritucci, an Apulian nurse who graduated in Termoli in 2012, chose to return to the city of Molise “where I feel at home”. Together with him now is Hamrah Mehribabadi, his girlfriend who is a biotechnologist. She, an Australian of Iranian origins, he Italian with a decade of work experience in Great Britain. Both medical students at Dnipro Medical Institute for a few months. They met there, where now everything has fallen apart.
We have been in Termoli for two weeks, for me here is being at home. We have rented accommodation but we do not know what will happen ”, they confess during the morning that marks the return of the war in Europe after decades of peace.
Michele’s story is not the classic story of an Italian abroad. Originally from Lucera, 33, he studied Nursing Sciences in Termoli, when the Faculty was still on the Adriatic coast. After graduating in 2012, the choice to go abroad. “I would have stayed in Italy too but I didn’t find many possibilities”. So he chose Great Britain, where he worked for about 10 years. Period in which “I traveled half the world. I have been to the countries of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Scandinavia, South America. Also in the Canaries, for a period of reflection ”.
Like so many other people, the pandemic was a turning point for him. “I worked in the ICU in England during the second Covid wave that swept the country. I was really wondering what was going on, it was a very difficult time ”.
So he decided to change. “My dream was to be a doctor and I am struggling to become one. I would have liked to continue studying medicine in Italy at the time but as happens in other countries too, there is an absurd selection method that prevents people from continuing to study “.
So he chose Ukraine and in particular the University of Dnipro, a city not far from the eastern border with Russia. “There we were in the muzzle of the gun – he says -. It is a city where weapons and missiles are produced. We knew it would be among the first locations attacked to prevent Ukraine from arming itself. ”
We stop here so as not to abuse the valuable work of others and to push you, with a surge of curiosity, to read the complete contents on www.primonumero.it. Do it: it will be useful to understand what is happening all around us.