“DIMMI” project: the first Italian-Iraqi exchange

As part of the “DIMMI” (“Tell me your migrant tale”) project, 5 students from 5 Italian universities have just left for a cultural exchange programme in Iraqi Kurdistan.

This 10-day exchange programme will include various activities in the towns of Irbil and Sulaymaniyah with a group of Iraqi boys and girls who will then visit various Italian towns in June. The Italian participants will visit UPP youth centres and refugee camps to experience first-hand our peace-building work in Iraq.

The aim of this exchange programme is to give young people from different backgrounds the chance to interact. They will share stories from their peers who have lived through war and violence and who are now starting all over again, reclaiming their future. They want to overcome the notion of Iraq and Kurdistan as nothing more than places of war.

These young men and women all had different reasons for taking part in this project. But they all displayed enthusiasm and curiosity. As explained by Davide, a 21-year-old Italian student of Political Science, International Relations and Human Rights at Padua University.

“I am passionate about journalism and I am involved in initiatives in my town, I believe it is vital to start opening up to informed debate about the current situation. As well as exploring refugees’ living conditions  and how we treat them, I also want to understand more about the complex and varied realities that we will be witnessing first-hand, which we usually only experience through articles or broadcasts”.

Tommaso, who is 22 years old and studying Political Science at Milan Public University, agrees:

“We often talk about the Middle East, but mainly through negative and alarmist news stories, but it is actually a complex and fascinating world that we know very little about. The opportunity  to go there and see it for myself is a real privilege that very few people are lucky enough to experience. I hope increase my understanding and then relate this journey properly with a fresh point of view. I also hope to be able to overcome my European point of view for a better understanding of this different culture”.

These young men and women are not afraid of facing challenges, despite concerns about witnessing the suffering of people who lost everything because of the war. Alessandra, 27 year-old Language and Intercultural Communication student at the ‘Orientale’ University of Naples: “I am a bit worried about meeting refugees living in the camps. Although that is also the most interesting aspect for me”.

Luigi, a 25-year-old student studying for his Master’s degree in International Cooperation at the Pontifical Lateran University, agrees: “The visit to the refugee camp is very important to help us really understand the events. But I am also loking forward  to visiting the Youth Centres set up by Un Ponte Per…. , to see the peace-building process for myself and to see how the young Iraqi men and women are rising to the challenge posed by the Centres, which consider them not as victims, but as key players for their country’s future”.

Raffaella is 25 and a student of Peace Studies, describes the concerns of her friends and relations when she told them she was going to Iraq. “I think it is due to our partial understanding of the region’s history. It can seem frightening because we always hear about the Middle East in relation to terror and war. I really wanted to go there to see for myself the country’s history and culture and to understand its people”.