Lampedusa

Lampedusa: For years, these desperate people have flung their hopes on tiny rafts, small boats and decrepit ships in the hope of reaching some safer place. Untold thousands have already drowned. Their deaths have been accepted as unremarkable casualties in Europes efforts to protect its borders. The lucky ones made it to the island of Lampedusa or to Malta or some such place. There they were detained, existing for years in a sort of limbo, according to The Star. Upon hearing of this tragic news, newly appointed Pope Francis took his first trip outside of Rome to Lampedusa, the tiny island off Italy, near where the drownings happened. Most Canadians had never heard of the island or the tragedies that regularly take place off its shores until Francis went there to address the survivors and those trying to help. He spoke about the ocean of indifference that separates us from our fellow human beings and It has been called Europes Sea of Shame. The Mediterranean. Thousands of desperate human beings fleeing from persecution and poverty in Africa have tragically slipped away into its waters. Then, in early October, a group of tourists on a yacht heard screams and saw black dots in the water. They re people, yelled Linda Barocci, one of the vacationers. They are the heads of people. Some were rescued but 339 people drowned that day. Most of those who died were young Eritreans. Some were known and loved by the small Eritrean community of 25,000 here in Canada. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.