(ANS - Rome) – Golap is a young man of nineteen. He arrived in Italy from Bangladesh in February of 2014. He landed on the coast of Puglia, after one of those "journeys of hope" that are common to many migrants, and was welcomed along with a compatriot by the Salesian Centre for unaccompanied minors in Naples. The Centre is aptly named Il Sogno - The Dream. Golap is now integrated into society and has become a Civil Service volunteer.

He had set out from a village about 100 km from the capital of his country, to escape poverty. His journey took forty days. He travelled on buses, trains and trucks until he reached India. From there he embarked clandestinely in the hold of a ship and stayed hidden for nine days along with seventy other young people and reached Turkey. Another ship left Turkey laden with Golap and other refugees packed like sardines and dropped them off near Bari. Then by night, fearing for their lives, they were transported by boat to the coast.

There they were met by fellow countrymen who told them to wash and tidy themselves a bit and then led them in small groups to the railway station and put them on trains to different destinations. Golap’s father was dead. He had left his mother and brothers at home. Despite hardship, through borrowing and the sale of a piece of land they had scraped together 1,300 Euros to be paid before departure to the human traffickers. From then on it was up to himself. He would have to find work and send some money home.

That young man who was welcomed into the Salesian Centre has now completed a good training programme and has become a co-worker, thanks to the national Civil Service’s Fondo Garanzia giovani (Fund to support young people). Golap speaks four languages. He has always had a great love for Don Bosco. He never loses hope and says that Allah and Don Bosco will help him. But, thanks to the civil service, he has been helping Don Bosco and the Salesians for the past year, along with 83 other young people from the south. Six of them are employed in the Community for Minors run by the Salesian Association called "Small Steps Big Dreams".

Published 19/03/2015