My name is Laurence Breton, and I am a U3 Social Work student, with a minor in Indigenous Studies. For the past six years, I have been involved in numerous projects revolving around providing support to migrants, which led me to see this population as the one on which I want to focus my social work practice. For the summer of 2024, I decided to dive further into understanding migration issues by interning with No Name Kitchen (NNK), an organization that provides a wide array of services to people on the move along the Balkan route.
The NNK base where I interned this summer was located in Trieste, Italy, at the border with Slovenia. For many people on the move, Trieste is the end of their journey on the Balkan route as it is where they express their desire to seek asylum and finally settle down after months of walking in inhumane conditions and trying to escape police violence. Although arriving in Trieste might seem like the magical end to the nightmare of border crossing in the Balkans, the reality is more than disappointing. Indeed, while the Italian government is responsible for providing adequate housing to asylum seekers in the form of welcoming centers or camps, the current housing options are insufficient and inadequate. Many newly arrived in Trieste end up living in a building called the "silos," or "khandwala," meaning "broken houses" in Pashto. The conditions in this building are far from optimal: there is no electricity, no running water, a very permeable roof, and a significant rat infestation. At the peak of my stay, around 180 people resided in this "broken house," many having been there for weeks and even months.
As a member of the protection focal point team, I was responsible for collecting testimonies on the living situation in the "silos" so that NNK could advocate for better conditions. Through my interviews, I came to understand that while all residents agreed they deserved more dignified housing, many consciously chose to stay in the "silos" rather than request a spot in government-provided welcoming centers. While this decision might seem irrational at first, many explained that they would rather fight hordes of rats every night in the "silos" and feel like they have agency over their lives rather than spend months stuck in an isolated, prison-like government-provided "house."
In welcoming centers, residents are indeed reduced to passive service recipients with little agency over the what鈥檚, when's, and how's of their lives. In these camps, often situated in locations difficult to access by public transport, residents must share overcrowded dormitories, usually unsanitary (e.g., bed bug infestations). They cannot welcome visitors, and most importantly, they cannot cook their own food. After having been on the move for months, cooking and sharing a meal is not important to them because of the food itself but for the feeling of community it creates, and more significantly, the feelings of dignity, agency, and humanity that come with being able to prepare a warm meal with your loved ones.
I encountered a significant challenge with my project on reporting the situation in the silos when, on June 21, 2024, the local authorities decided to evict the "silos" and transfer all its occupants to different camps scattered across a neighboring region, which rendered our project obsolete. Over the following days, many of people who had been transferred called us and shared the numerous issues with their camp. This led my team and I to decide to morph our initial project into a report on the conditions of the government-provided camps, which became our new focus for the rest of the summer.
There is no doubt that my work with NNK has been incredibly rich in experiences that will complement my social work training. For example, the interviews I conducted allowed me to practice many of the skills I learned in my program about how showing empathy, providing a safe space, and encouraging the expression of emotions. I now feel much better informed on the difficulties of migration journeys, which will certainly improve how I interact with newcomers in my future social work practice.
To conclude, I wish to thank the King family who made it possible for me to receive the Hinda Ordower King Internship Award. This award allowed me to cover my expenses for the duration of my internship, which gave me the privilege to take part in this experience without having to worry about my financial situation and instead focus on my learning outcomes.
