In the academic year 2019/20 Ibrahim attended the first one of his two-year stint at UWC Adriatic in Duino. When he left Sierra Leone – at the time he was hardly more than a child – little did he know what lay in store for him here in Italy. Ibrahim’s is a story of deliverance – one of those instances in which a young boy is forced to leave his home and community in search of a better future and succeeds in proving that his opportunities in life are not inevitably compromised by his birthplace.
Ibrahim is a brilliant and passionate student, a kind soul who is always willing to share his story and act as a spokesman for many young migrants like him. Just before the current coronavirus pandemic forced the College to close its residences, Ibrahim was in Sarajevo, invited by UNICEF to hold a speech about his journey and about what it means to never give up hope. On his return to Italy, he too had to leave the College and is now staying with a kind host family in Rome where he had already spent some months before arriving in Duino. From there he is assiduously following online lessons, is working at his Extended Essay and is taking part in extracurricular activities.
None of this would have been possible without the support of Never Alone, an initiative dedicated to unaccompanied foreign minors in Italy, aimed at supporting and promoting their integration in their new country. Nine Italian foundations – Fondazione Cariplo, Compagnia di San Paolo, Fondazione CON IL SUD, Enel Cuore, Fondazione CRT-Cassa di Risparmio di Torino, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo, Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena e Fondazione Peppino Vismara – have joined forces to support young people who have come to Italy, often after long and dramatic journeys across the Mediterranean. The Never Alone project is helping these young students at a fundamental time in their life – the transition to from childhood to adulthood.
Never Alone is an important initiative that has not just changed Ibrahim’s life and future prospects, but which has also triggered an important sequence of acts of solidarity! Read more here.
Thank you Never Alone!
