This picture shows 25-year old Mirvat, a university student from Syria's second largest city, Aleppo. She was close to finishing her studies when she was forced to leave due to the war. She arrived in Italy along with 790 others via a humanitarian corridor and has now returned to univerity in the Italian city of Ferrara thanks to a study grant. But her case is exceptional; for most others, integration is not easy.
The humanitarian corridor was arranged by the Catholic Community of Sant'Egidio, the Federation of Evangelical Churches and the Waldensian Evengelical Church in agreement with the Italian government. One year on, there are stilll many migrants struggling with Italian and many of them are still looking for a profession in their new country.
No easy integration
"The fairytale of easy integration facilitated by the corridors does not reflect the truth," says Giulia Gori, who follows the project on behalf of the Federation of Evangelical Churches. She knows the personal history and problems of every migrant, particularly those who have settled in Rome. Maria Quinto of S. Egidio agrees it is not easy for many. "The migrants have to reinvent themselves, sometimes from scratch. In the first year they lay the foundations and continue from there."
Three stories of arrival
Syrian refugee Mahmoud who now lives in an apartment in Campoleone between Rome and Latina with his wife and three children. His home in Homs was bigger. "But it wasn't safe," he recalls. There he worked as a painter and decorator, here he puts the caps on shampoo bottles for Procter & Gamble, "and that's just fine". "But I am looking for a job for life, because I have three children, for the future".
Hamza, 29, a pastry chef in his former life in Syria, has learned to make pizza. He has done a certified course in Rome and now he wants to work. But "in Italy there's Tunisia, Morocco, Africans, there are a lot of people and this is bad, too bad, for work," he says. But he hasn't lost hope - he can't, because his wife is in her eighth month of pregnancy with their second child, a boy. He will be called Obaida, which means 'strong' in Arabic. His first child, a girl, is two-year old Rahaf.
Mirvat has gotten to know Italian people by listening. "Before leaving I imagined them to be closed. There is always this idea that we Arabs are a warm people… and instead I have discovered that the Italians are the same, they always want to talk and help".