This is Talking Hands, a migrant-run design workshop where asylum seekers make and sell furniture, embroidery and textiles. Similar initiatives are popping up around Europe; Green Light in Wien and Venice and Cucula in Berlin are two of them. But Talking Hands defies prejudice and puts forward a grassroots solution to the immigration crisis in one of the most xenophobic areas of Italy.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in the first half of 2017, more than 80,000 migrants arrived on the coasts of Italy fleeing war, poverty and persecution in their home countries. Due to the number of asylum-seekers and the bureaucracy involved in evaluating their cases, the majority of those asking for refugee status end up waiting for months— sometimes years—in overcrowded, privately run “temporary hospitality centers,” some of which take the concept of hospitality to extreme lengths. [...]
Located just outside Treviso, the center where Yaya resides currently hosts 800 migrants, both men and women. Each person there receives a monthly allowance of 75 euros, plus food and accommodation. The worst thing for Yaya is sitting around all day, with nothing to do, a psychological burden he shares with many other migrants, according to a 2016 dossier that Doctor Without Borders released in temporary hospitality centers across Italy. [...]
Talking Hands typically make 500 to 700 euros each time the group participates in a local market. Part of the money from the sales gets reinvested in tools and materials for the workshop. Another part is used to buy food for collective meals, which are also available to undocumented immigrants who don’t receive the monthly allowance from the Italian government. A third portion of the money is designated for those who need to send money home for family emergencies.
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