Abdullah, a refugee from Ivory Coast, musician and MEDU cultural mediator, is one of those who came up with the idea for the project. ''The band was created about three months ago inside our Roma Psyché center of psychotherapy,'' he said, and the aim is to ''give an opportunity to youths to learn to sing or play instruments and to have fun.'' Music, for those who have suffered torture, ''has a positive impact on the mind'.' 

Abdullah has been in Italy for 7 years and he, like many others, fled violence and war. ''Two years ago I took part in different cultural projects and a music workshop, and then I decided to share my experience with others.'' The Italian and foreign youth taking part in the band play African music and create their own, which focuses on their lives and migration. Thanks to this project, ''migrants have been able to meet other Italian youth and leave the reception centers. For some of them, this is the only time when they do so.'' The band has performed on a few occasions but the official launch will be in a few weeks. ''We are looking for other Italian and foreign musicians that want to take part in the project. We welcome everyone,'' he said. 

In Rome, MEDU offers healthcare assistance to refugees and migrants transiting through the Italian capital who are living on the street or in train stations. ''Over the past few years we have seen a sharp rise in the number of victims of torture and serious violence,'' ANSAmed was told by Alberto Barbieri, the general coordinator of the organization. 

Those working with the migrants have found that ''90% of the people we are treating have suffered serious, repeated traumatic experiences in their countries of origin or on migration routes, especially in Libya.'' These terrible experiences ''have a devastating impact on the minds and bodies of these people',' to the extent that ''about a third of those who have lived through these traumas develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorders,'' he said.

Roma Psyché was created to deal with this emergency. Roma Psyché is  the psychotherapy clinic of the MEDU organization. In addition to clinical treatment, MEDU attempts to deal with trauma through an ''integrated and multidisciplinary approach," Barbieri said. The center includes cultural, artistic and sports activities ''complementary to the therapy',' he added. The migrants, whose average age is 25, "often spend entire days without being able to do anything. This inactivity is devastating against a backdrop of the suffering they have gone through'' and ''creates a vicious cycle, in which psychological suffering and isolation feed off each other,'' while music and dance ''have a therapeutic value'', he said.(ANSAmed).