Remember my blog about Yusupha Susso, the young Gambian refugee in Palermo who was shot in the head by a mafioso who wanted to prove he owned the territory the young man and his friends were standing in? Yusupha survived after five days in an induced coma. He speaks five languages, is the son of two roving folk singers with a culture similar to Sicily's own cuntastorie. He goes to high school in Palermo and has a job as a translator and cultural interpreter at the Palermo courthouse.
Gesap, the agency that runs Palermo's airport, paid for their flight and the municipality itself is paying for their stay. According to the La Repubblica, Mayor Orlando said, "Palermo is a city of welcome and knowing how to livie together."
My question is this: What kinds of strings did Orlando have to pull to get visas for Yusupha's parents? If he could do that for all the refugees from Africa they would not have to die at sea or in the desert getting to Libya in a dangerous two-year trek led by thieving, murderous human traffickers and plagued by rapist jailers and greedy border guards.
Gesap, the agency that runs Palermo's airport, paid for their flight and the municipality itself is paying for their stay. According to the La Repubblica, Mayor Orlando said, "Palermo is a city of welcome and knowing how to livie together."
My question is this: What kinds of strings did Orlando have to pull to get visas for Yusupha's parents? If he could do that for all the refugees from Africa they would not have to die at sea or in the desert getting to Libya in a dangerous two-year trek led by thieving, murderous human traffickers and plagued by rapist jailers and greedy border guards.