Update From The Field: Southern Italy

Our mobile clinic staff have been working in Piana di Sibari, an area in Calabria, southern Italy, for the whole winter, to offer free healthcare and assistance to the migrants living and working there in clementine harvest time.

‘I noticed a man wandering around near the “Politruck” — that’s what we call our new mobile clinic — for more than half an hour’ says Alessia, cultural-linguistic mediator at our mobile clinic that has been providing assistance for the immigrant seasonal workers harvesting the citrus fruits in Piana di Sibari (Calabria, Southern Italy) this winter.

‘He had his hands in his pockets, and kept watching the door all the time. I approached him and asked whether he needed anything. He said he’d hurt himself but also that he didn’t have any documents. I reassured him, explaining that it didn’t matter, and at that point he took his hand out of his pocket. He had a deep wound to his finger, and told me he’d got injured in the late morning when he was using a chain saw to prune the plants in the fields. The wound wasn’t treated straight away; in fact, he had to wait until the afternoon to return home on the truck that carries all the workers to and from the fields. His employer ordered him not to tell anyone what had happened, and to just go home and wait a few hours before going to a doctor and saying he’d hurt himself at home.’

‘We convinced him to come into the clinic to be examined; he had blood on his clothes and was clearly weak. The wound was very deep and needed a few stitches. It was also necessary to make sure the tendons hadn’t been injured. We explained to him that he had to go to the local hospital emergency department, but he was afraid someone would report him. We only managed to convince him by reassuring him that we’d take him there ourselves. In the car, he asked me why we were doing all this for him, and he also asked me a number of times how he could repay us.’

‘Three days later, while we were working, we found a bag full of oranges at the bottom of the steps leading up to the “Politruck” door. Looking up, I saw him in the distance. I called to him, and he turned round and smiled at me: he was happy he’d found a way to thank us.’