Lampedusa is riddled with stories of horror and hope. Sarah Carabott spoke to the islanders who witnessed it all.

When Massa landed in Lampedusa, all that remained of her two children were the imprints of their fingers around her neck, as they tried to hold on to her when the dinghy they were on started taking in water.

The mother-of-four had left Liberia to ensure a better future for her family, but she arrived on the Italian island alone. The two children accompanying her, aged three and 13, had drowned, and her other two children and husband were still in Liberia.

Psychologist and former director of Lampedusa’s Centro di Accoglienza Caterina Famularo recalls the woman clutching a photo of her three-year-old son, his eyes half-open.

“I initially thought it was a photo she had brought with her from home… many women carry photos of their children on them. But it was a photo of her son’s corpse, which she had not been allowed to bring with her to Lampedusa to bury,” the woman recalled.

Famularo and fellow Lampedusans helped Massa come to terms with her loss and helped her break the news to her family back in Liberia. She has since moved on, leaving behind her a series of pictures depicting her journey to Europe.

Caterina Famularo, former director of the Migrants Reception Centre

One of her drawings shows the outline of a boat with a green spot in the centre, which started off as a symbol of hope but soon turned into tragedy, a hole in the dinghy they were on.

“Neither Massa, nor her children knew how to swim. They hung on to her neck but she was unable to save them. Only around 10 people made it to Lampedusa from that shipwreck.

“In the drawing, Massa included a depiction of herself, on her own, representing her loneliness and solitude. Her dream had sunk with her two children. Her story is very painful and is one I will never forget. It is one of many stories that I have vowed to tell the world.”

Before they went their separate ways, Massa asked Famularo to raise awareness about children lost at sea.

Famularo, who was deployed at the centre for three months but stayed on for four years, told Times of Malta that the sea around the island was full of children who never made it to land.

“I remember all the mothers who made it here without their children. I believe there is no greater pain for a mother than that of losing her child.

Massa and Caterina

“When you see a woman leave her home country and take a boat to provide a better future for her children, knowing she could die at sea, you realise that the right to freedom is an inviolable right.”

At the centre, Famularo met pregnant women with acid scars and burn marks they suffered on their way to Europe. Others were raped and had to come to terms with bringing up a child who reminded them of a past they wanted to forget.

Some migrants swap the name they were given at birth with a new one, in a bid to forget the traumatic past. And when children are given crayons to draw, they depict scenes from a war that they have watched unfold from the windows of their home.

When children are given crayons to draw, they depict scenes from a war

Despite the painful stories, the time she spent at the centre was the most rewarding for Famularo and she would do it all over again “a thousand times”.

“As a Lampedusan, I have the spirit of reception in my soul, and the centre’s directorship was one of the best experiences of my life. This is how we, Lampedusans, are made,” she told Times of Malta.

“Lampedusa is an invisible dot on the map, but despite their invisibility, Lampedusan people have shown the world how to welcome people… Lampedusans have handled the human tragedy of migration on their own, without Europe’s help.

“Every Lampedusan has done their part since the first disembarkation of migrants, despite being abandoned by the world and institutions. But this island needs help – it cannot continue being left on its own,” she warned.

‘Solidarity with people living at the border’

Famularo was speaking to Times of Malta at Lampedusa’s Favaloro wharf, as part of a field visit organised by the EU-funded Snapshots from the Borders project. The four-year project is a collaboration between 37 associations and civil society organisations from 13 European countries.

In Malta, the project is being led by the NGO KOPIN, which is focusing on documenting the challenges faced by residents of Marsa, a town that for the past decade has hosted a considerable number of migrants.

KOPIN executive director William Grech mirrored Famularo’s concern, noting that apart from encouraging residents to welcome migrants, solidarity should also be shown with the people of border countries, towns and islands like Malta, Marsa and Lampedusa.

Favaloro wharf where migrants’ boats land and migrants receive first aid. Photo: Sarah Carabott

“As the mayor and other people on the island told us, places like Lampedusa and Marsa have been left on their own for far too long, giving rise to challenges such as resistance to integration. “Local and European politicians need to understand these places cannot be left on their own to face the challenges of migration. It is important to not only ensure dignity for migrants, but also for residents of such localities.”

In Marsin’s Words*

“Come here at 6pm and you’ll see them walking like soldiers. There are good people and bad people. I cannot generalise and say they are all bad or they are all good. Just like us Maltese. No more, no less.

Marsa was shocked with the sudden influx of migrants. Marsa is a particular case study because the number of migrants that entered the locality in the past few years was exorbitant. I am sure that no locality is prepared for such an influx.

The minute you complain about their behaviour, you are asked: is it because he is dark-skinned?  My reply is: of course not. I complain because what he’s doing is wrong. We don’t want the removal of dark-skinned people from our community because they are people just like everybody else. What we want is for the situation to be monitored and controlled.”

*from KOPIN survey