NEW PROJECT BY GIACOMO BRUNO: LAS PATRONAS
"Three months on the road. An extraordinary concentrate of unique experiences and unforgettable encounters.
A last experience to finish my chapter in Mexico.
A last exhausting trip from Guadalajara to Cordoba, Veracruz, to reach the final destination in the middle of the Mexican Sierra, Amatlan de los Reyes.
Horrible tales, stories and warnings took away sleep and appetite for two days. Until the last I considered the hypothesis to give up, go back, and do not be so tantalizing. A mixture of feelings and fears have pervaded my body without letting a glimpse of serenity into the journey. In a nutshell, fear.
But waiting for me here at Amatlan de los Reyes, I found the warmth and the warmth of these incredible women in central and southern America famous by Las Patronas.
It is right here in this wilderness lost in the wild nature that every day the Beast passes, the freight train that crosses the country from south to north. The train of death, as the migrants call it every day challenging the fate by traveling on it without the slightest security in the most diverse atmospheric conditions, facing hunger, thirst, assaults of pandillas (criminal gangs), migratory police, but above all fatigue And sleep.
The dream, hope, and desire for a better future in the US are so great to push these migrants to challenge beyond all reasonableness the fate. Leave your own country, your home, your loved ones to embark on a journey that is most likely to end with repatriation, with serious mutilations or as often happens with death, and with the arrival of the target.
On the beast, migrants travel for whole days, and the fear of losing their place is that they try to find it impossible to stay on wagons and never get off, except when forced for migratory checks or assaults on bands for which Are easy prey to subtract all the savings made for the crossing.
the only relief for these humiliated desperate people is to meet along the journey people of heart and humanity like Las Patronas.
Every day of the year, from 1995 to today, here in Amatlan de los Reyes, this volunteer group of 12 women prepares fresh water bottles, cooking rice, beans and tortillas for hundreds of faces and desperate souls that an average of 4 times Every day they leap out of the carriages of the beast on the rails that lead to the north.
The fate of each of these people is uncertain, none of those faces will be recognized tomorrow and they do not know it will be theirs. But a freshly cooked meal is the most precious thing you can give to relieve some suffering and give a more chance to these men and women to get to the much-desired destination.
A "mother gracias" and a "Dios las bendiga" are the recipe and the engine of all this since the first day Norma and Bernarda Romero for the first time gave their bread and milk to a hungry migrant crossing the country on the rails . From that day on listening to the arrival of the train is a fixed daily appointment, so arrange it to the side of the street and launch migrants in the run of food and water.
Today I am here with these examples of humanity and I feel small. They give me food and sleep, they worry if I've eaten enough and want to know how the Italians behave in the face of migration to the Mediterranean. They are concerned about the sensitivity of the institutions and people in my country that is thousands of miles from here. They ask questions continuously, want to know everything about how people help these fleeing souls. I do not have many good news to give her, though fortunately Reggio Emilia, my city, has the golden reputation of being a step ahead of everyone else on the topic of welcome. These days I sleep with guys fleeing from misery and guerrilla in Honduras, Nicaragua, San Salvador, Guatemala .. I eat with them, I wash dishes with them, I share the sanitary facilities with them, but above all I look at them in the eyes. The word migrant has no meaning. it's annoying. I see people identical to me, most of them peers. But it is impossible to put themselves in their shoes.
I try these days I want to pretend them, with 3 minutes to call home waiting for their turn with the phone of the house, typing a memorized number to force it to repeat it in mind, away from everyone, with nothing but thanking for a roof , a mattress and two hot meals a day.
I will fill this experience with the promise of learning as much as possible.
Los sueños también viajan.
Dreams also travel. "
Giacomo Bruno