by Ester Giurgevich
Coordinator of the Rossetti8 MSNA Community
Lybra Social Cooperative Society – ONLUS
Prisma Social Cooperative Society – ONLUS
When about a couple of years ago I started working in the world of the so-called MSNA, or unaccompanied foreign minors, I was not very clear what adventure I was embarking on. The first real critical issues that I faced where the welcome that I personally carried out in the community: they were minors who arrived in the same conditions in which they had been intercepted by the police or who had spontaneously presented themselves at the police station. The longer their journey had been, the deeper the signs they carried physically.
After these initial welcomes, I began to think that a goal that I could have given myself would have been to find volunteer doctors ready to visit our newly welcomed children or in any case to support us in other medical and health needs, which could not always be easily resolved in an emergency room.
So I started talking about my idea to others, and I learned that what I wanted already existed! This consisted of the group of volunteer doctors of the DonK Humanitarian Medicine Association. At first I met one of them, Stefano, with whom I shared our needs as a welcoming community for foreign minors, while he explained me the service they already provided and what they were able to offer. Thus, began a collaboration with DonK volunteers, which has always been based on availability, welcome, professionalism, generosity of spirit and I know with certainty that when we call for one of our boys, whether small or large is the problem, they answer. Thanks to all the DonK volunteers and I hope that over time you will be able to grow even more to be able to reach an ever-wider audience, in need of people like you, who have not forgotten where humanity is at home.