BASIC CARE FOR REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS AT THE BORDER
Trieste, Italy
1 place in protection: from July 21st to September 15th
1 place in communication: from July 1st to August 31st
1 place in health: from July 1st to August 31st
(approximate dates)
Postgraduate and/or final year undergraduate students (22 years of age or older). Previous experience in intensive volunteer projects with forced migrants and refugees. NNK balances its team with people of different ages and backgrounds.
The following degrees would be an asset: International Relations, Engineering, Law, Business Administration and Management, Psychology, Nursing, Social Work, Social Education, Master's Degree in Cooperation, Master's Degree in Migration and Master's Degree in Humanitarian Aid.
Positions:
3
Trieste, Italy
1 place in protection: from July 21st to September 15th (approximate dates)
1 place in communication: from July 1st to August 31st (approximate dates)
1 place in Health: from July 1st to August 31st (approximate dates)
The minimum stay is 2 months, with the possibility of extension to 3 months. Exceptionally, a stay of one month will be considered.
English is the common language in the field. Local languages, as well as those spoken by the immigrant community, will be highly appreciated.
*Language in which the project will be developed.
NNK Field Volunteer
"It is better to make fewer distributions with humanity and a smile on the face than to make several distributions in a hurry, forgetting the people behind each displacement. Most of the time, people on the move travel for years and go through hundreds of cities, NNK is only in 5 cities along the Balkan route. Along all these cities they have eaten, slept and walked: all without any NNK volunteers. What we do is only support, in solidarity, but we do not save lives. Relativize your importance while you are on the ground."
No Name Kitchen is an independent movement working alongside the Balkans and Mediterranean routes to promote humanitarian aid and political action for those who suffer the hardships of extreme travel and violent rejections.
This is a real phrase that a member of the NNK field team said in 2021 talking about a person on the move: we don't help, we decide to fight injustices and empathize with those who suffer the illegalities of an unjust system. After a field experience is much more what we learned as volunteers than what we gave to those who suffer conditions of vulnerability. NNK teams are looking for those who are able to understand that we are not saviors, but simply willing to make our contribution when possible, without feeding any false expectations about the importance of what we can do (and more importantly what we cannot do). People on the move have crossed all of Europe from Iran to the border of Europe and NNK is in only 7 cities out of thousands along the Balkan route: people must rely on their resilience and not on humanitarian projects. We provide aid and human closeness as much as possible, we do not save lives.
Located in north-eastern Italy, Trieste is a strategic point on the Balkan route. People on the move arrive here from Rijeka, Ljubljana and Bihac after a long journey through the Balkan area. Trieste has a double soul and while some POM have reached their final destination and seek asylum in Italy, others simply cross a transit zone and stay in the city for only a few days or hours. This aspect profoundly conditions NNK's work in the city.
In 2020, arrivals in Trieste increased as migration flows along the entire Balkan route generally intensified. While the expected response from the relevant authorities would have been to take responsibility for vulnerabilities, the city registered an absent or discontinuous response from the supposedly responsible services and actors. This dynamic fuelled a societal movement of independent activists, collectives, small and large NGOs aiming to respond to basic and unmet needs. In 2023 No Name Kitchen joined these efforts.
The city centre represents the central area where people on the move spend their days in the city. Piazza Libertà is the place where distribution and health cures take place every day, between 19.00 and 21.00 hours. The Daily Centre ("Chai Khana" among the PoM), managed by the Comunità di San Martino al Campo, is where the POM can count on other services such as showers, medical care, recreational activities and access to electricity.
The Silos squat ("Khandwala" among the PoM) is where the POM stay (live, eat, sleep). In the absence of adequate facilities to meet the need for day and night hospitality for people on the move and asylum seekers, Silos has for many years been exploited as an informal settlement. It is a huge dilapidated building next to the station, where people find shelter once they arrive in Trieste. In some cases, people have applied for asylum but are forced to wait up to months to enter formal reception facilities. Conditions in the silos are substandard and inhumane:
No access to safe drinking water;
No access to sanitation facilities;
Without access to electricity;
No adequate walls to protect from cold and rain;
No adequate shelter (people rely on tents);
No access to rubbish collection
Rats inhabit the site;
Lack of adequate infrastructure for persons with disabilities;
Total lack of accountability on the part of the authorities.
The population can be considered divided into 2 main groups:
- TEMPORARY STAY: people who are really on the move, try the game whenever possible and eventually stay in Trieste for only a few weeks or days;
- PERMANENT STAY: people who want to stay in Trieste, but are stuck in the Silos because there is no space in the reception centres.
Most of the people staying in Trieste come from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Bangladesh. In the last period we have also started to see a lot of minors from Egypt.
Having such a constant presence in the field is not easy. We have suffered the criminalization of our work. Once you are on the ground, representing NNK 24/7, there is no time off in the perception of the local community (which doesn't mean you can't take time off from NNK work). However, the local community will still perceive you as NNK: low profile, respecting national law and behavior is an obligation throughout your stay.
What are we going to do?
The main activity of all the teams is represented by the distributions, which are composed of a chain of sub-activities (direct line, packaging, purchasing, distribution) in which the team has to move and act as a single body.
Among the main ones are:
- Silo cleaning sessions
- Distribution of firewood Silos
- Distribution of NFIs, food and food vouchers Silos
- Trips to the border
- provision of tea, sandwiches and blankets to people arriving in the evening and waiting for the train early in the morning
- trips to Gradisca camp (assess whether distribution can be useful)
- trips to Gorizia to see if we can support PoM there in any way (contact organisations/collectives there)
In addition to the daily rounds that are an essential part of the job, each person has specific tasks. In this project this is the position needed and the dates to be covered (to be selected you must secure two months in the field):
1 PLACE : FOCAL POINT FOR HEALTH, WATER AND SANITATION
Street medicine: NNK is not a medical NGO; activities under this pillar can be carried out by non-specialist staff. However, whenever possible, doctors, nurses, pharmacists and paramedics are recommended for this post, mainly because of their experience. Key activities are: cleaning wounds, treating scabies and skin infections.
Specialised medical care: when street medicine is not sufficient, the HWH focal point accompanies people on the move to hospitals/clinics ensuring access to them (e.g. identifying people in need of dental, physiotherapeutic, orthopaedic, gynaecological, etc.).
Water and hygiene: organise with the rest of the team the distribution of hygiene items, showers and scabies treatment.
1 PLACE : PROTECTION FOCAL POINT
Legal information session: liaise with Legal Clinics in other countries (e.g. Italy, Germany) to develop online information sessions for PoM to ask questions about the asylum application process, steps to be taken upon arrival and other related issues. Gather people on the move, prepare them before the session, collect questions and systematize the information.
Identify push backs and write reports in accordance with the NNK Testimony Collection Guidelines. Report writing follows a specific methodology, sometimes volunteers get a wonderful interview that cannot be uploaded to our database because key information is missing. Inaccuracies jeopardize our ability to advocate.
Strategic litigation: seeking justice for those cases that can be supported with relevant documentation in case of illegal and violent retaliation.
NNK collects testimonies from those abused at the borders and publishes monthly reports with other partners in the Border Violence Monitoring Network to call for change in policymaking. In addition, we launch advocacy campaigns with visual testimonies of violence and try to connect people on the move with lawyers who can initiate a lawsuit against the perpetrators who committed the abuses.
1 PLACE : COMMUNICATION FOCAL POINT
Produce multimedia content: videos, photos, posts, interviews, texts, audios. Just produce the results, NNK Communication Reference organises the publication calendar and manages NNK's social networks.
Think outside the box! Be creative and original. It is recommended to take a look at NNK's social media before being assigned to this position to get a general idea of what has been published lately (it is very common for communication focal points to publish very similar content: for example, people on the move don't have shoes!) So again, be creative!
Welcome journalists. Spreading the word and talking about the situation at the borders is very necessary. In most cases, people on the move are tired and want to talk.
There is a lot more information about the organization, the places where you work, the responsibilities of each position, etc., for those who want to participate in No Name Kitchen projects. Please ask your university references before the selection interview if you are interested.
Migrant refugees and asylum seekers at the border of Croacia and Italy.
All students selected for the VUELA program will receive common training for participation in volunteer activities.
Consult YOUR UNIVERSITY in the following links for training dates, location and conditions. Don't forget to mark them in your calendar. This training is mandatory and is part of the project.
Field accompaniment will be provided by the organization itself. NNK has established a system of personal and professional support that includes:
✔ Free legal protection in case of abuse of power perpetrated by the authorities. In case a volunteer acts against national law and/or NNK policies, this service will not be provided.
✔ Continuous monitoring and training in the field.
✔ Free access to supervision and psychological support.
✔ A great experience to get in touch with people on the move and local communities.
This accompaniment is carried out through different people who act as referents:
1.CREW REF: for the validation process and volunteer agreements, always reachable in the field;
2. COUNTRY REF: main reference to deal with during the whole experience. This person meets with the team every week during the Assembly, where the main decisions are taken. The whole team is guided by this person, who represents a kind of human hard disk of the base (knows the past, the current situation and the long-term strategy of NNK).
3. TECHNICAL REF: specialized in the specific focal point that the volunteer will cover. It is the reference to contact in case of doubts about the position covered and the tasks foreseen.
4. CARE TEAM: The NNK team provides PSYCHO-EMOTIONAL SUPPORT to all focal points. The Care Team is reachable before, during and after any field experience.
5. ADDITIONAL SERVICES: Translators (former displaced persons, who facilitate communication between the migrant community and the focal points) and lawyers for free legal protection.
The cost of this project is 170 euros/month. This amount covers the following items that will be provided by the organization:
Lodging
Free Wi-Fi.
Free transportation for activities.
Cleaning products (broom, mop, sponge, bleach, dishwasher soap).
Toilet paper, kitchen napkins, garbage bags (150 liters).
Basket of basic foodstuffs. It is not intended to fully cover the needs of each team member, but to contribute to them. Eventually, the teams could decide to integrate the purchases collectively on a weekly basis; the amount of the contribution depends on the agreement taken by the team in the field and may vary according to the context; the range could go from 20 to 50 euros per week, depending on the teams and people's habits.
PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT: Free legal protection in case of abuse of power by the authorities. Continuous monitoring and training in the field. Free access to supervision and psychological support. Free translation services, provided by former displaced persons who are still associated with the Organization.
Information on the possibility and conditions of financial support for these concepts can be found below, by consulting YOUR UNIVERSITY:
The student is responsible for arranging and paying for transportation to the intervention site, and must inform the project's reference university of the date and time of arrival at least 15 days in advance.
Comillas Pontifical University (María Iglesias Martínez)
