Fernetti (Trieste), March 15, 2022 – La war in Ukraine e i refugees seen from crossing of Fernetti a Trieste. The gateway to Europe, on the Eastern border, is an uninterrupted flow of buses, minibuses, cars that unload mothers, children, the elderly but also young fathers. Like this forty-year-old lawyer from Kiev headed to Spain with his family and 4 children, “we have friends there, we will try to rebuild our lives. Going back to Ukraine? Too painful to think about it now “.
From there it is Sloveniaon this side a hope for the future.
Soldiers and policemen nod, all Ukrainian vehicles must stop, the others continue. Documents have to be checked. Mothers with babies in their arms, grandmothers and grandparents, in their twenties, get off the overloaded buses and huddle with more frightened dogs. Their faces are sleepy, shocked, absent. But they manage to smile when they encounter generosity, with the passing of days and arrivals the square has been transformed into a reception center to give a caress to those who have seen too much. There is the civil protection tent and there are volunteers who organize themselves among friends and arrive here from Trieste with cars loaded with everything: water, biscuits, fruit juices, toys and puppets, things placed on the ground. In a few minutes a small crowd approaches. The spontaneity of the gestures overcomes the distrust. Understanding between women.
Liria de Polzer, in Trieste for 7 years after a life in Tanzania, single mother of two girls, offers a tube to a young woman. “Because I wondered, what would I take with me if I had to run away. Surely also the hand cream, the hands cracked by the cold “. Francesco Stumpo he is here with his wife, they are the founders of Expats, a community created to make foreigners feel at home, in Trieste which is the world, with an online newspaper, Intrieste, which reports on everything. “We are also here to give a smile“. Liria has been living in Fernetti for more than a week, she organized everything in a short time, with a group of friends. “Because I always tell my daughters, you do what’s right because it’s the right thing to do. The first day I arrived, I saw the children how do you go away when there are children. We have also organized the collections thanks to the international school that my daughter attends. We collect, we can then everything is loaded onto a truck that goes to Ukraine. The Red Cross will distribute where it can. They are all women, children, mothers, girls of all ages, very young who are my daughter’s age. The children are half asleep, you see the girls chatting, they smile. But mothers have a look that is indescribable: there is nothingness and terror “.
Trieste at the center of history once again. At the center of the tragedies, the 75% of refugees that arrives in Italy, those ‘registered’ are almost 39mila, recalls the Civil Protection. In the 1990s, they were civilians fleeing the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Then came the Balkan route of Afghans and Pakistanis. But before, much earlier, the refugees were the Italians, fleeing from Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia.
Roma, Milan, Naples, Abruzzo, the Marches but also the Spain. Beyond the madness, this the future. However, some remain suspended. This is also the gateway to Europe elderly couple sitting with resignation in the restaurant that has turned into a refreshment point, she says using all the words in Italian she knows, “the bus was supposed to take us to Rome. The driver said, I’m tired, I’m going to rest. But it disappeared, we stayed here. Who is taking us to Rome? “.
There is a little girl dressed in pink who walks towards the toys and makes her mother smile, because she cannot hold all the ones she would like. Here and there.
The elderly couple carries their luggage to the square when they see yet another bus stopped for checks. Who brings us to Rome? The lawyer resumes the journey, the youngest son greets and smiles. How much is the smile of a child on the run from war worth?