“In Aidone, I met young people who had seen and experienced things no one should ever have to endure, who had left their families and the safety of their distant worlds to try to come here without any certainty of arriving. I saw their expressions change. From terrified and empty as they were on that mid-August day when I went to the Pozzallo hotspot to pick up a group of young Somalis, to radiant, colorful, cheerful, and serene—even after just a comforting word or a simple game of Uno that helped them forget their past for a moment.In the end, no matter how long or short this experience is, it benefits us volunteers more than the beneficiaries. I will always remember them; their faces and the lessons they taught me will stay in my heart, and their names will echo in my mind for a long time. I will be happy if, twenty or thirty years from now, these young people look back and remember those hot summer days in Aidone and think of the slightly clumsy volunteers who had come from far away to spend time with them.”
