On Friday 22th March, 1e, Terminale, PAL & Tal pupils took part in the conference Seeds of Lampedusa in the Lycée.
For the past 5 years, the Lycée has participated, as UK representative, to a project called "La Porta d'Europa" organized by The Comitato tre ottobre where students of European schools, twinned with Italian schools, gather in Lampedusa from the 30th September to the 4th october, to attend workshops, debates and discussion on immigration in the presence of experts, journalists, NGOs and EU members of the Parliament. It is also an occasion to commemorate those that died in the shipwreck on 3rd ottobre 2013, outside Lampedusa. In that tragic event, 368 men, women and children lost their lives.
Every school that was involved in the project organized as a follow up "Seeds of Lampedusa'' with the idea to spread the awareness (seeds) among all the other students and generate improved understanding of the critical phenomenon of immigration. This school year, four of our students from Terminal went to Lampedusa (Anatole D., Pauline C-L., Eva F., Charles V.).
The guest speakers are:
Article written by Mrs Meloni, italien teacher
Conference report written by Maya N. (1e5):
Friday March 22nd, the Lycée welcomed a number of guests to speak about the issue of migration and the human rights of refugees. The conference centred around the island of Lampedusa, and the strenuous voyage many migrants have to conquer to arrive at the Island.
Thanks to Prof.ssa Meloni, and her team of students: Pauline C-L. (T4), Eva F. (T3), Charles V. (T3), Anatole D. (T5), Caterina C. (T3) and Marcello R. (Lycée alumni), who year after year has permitted students from Lycèe Francais Charles de Gaulle to participate, and learn through interventions from NGOs, activists, volunteers and even migrants themselves.
The conference started with a warm welcome to all speakers from our headmistress, Mme Bellus-Ferreira who pointed out the importance of events like this and appreciated the involvement of our Lycée in Lampedusa.
The first speaker, Vito Fiorino has spent the past decade helping, and rescuing refugees in Lampedusa, by being present the night of the 2nd of October 2013 when he saved 47 refugees from a flaming shipwreck, only one being a woman. Unfortunately, the boat originally contained around 520 refugees with a number of deaths scaling up to 368. Today, the migrants consider him as family, and Vito continues to activate for this important cause, spreading awareness through his story and participating in Semi de Lampedusa, to reach more voices.
Furthermore, Naomi Frerotte informed us on SOS Méditerranée, a civil international humanitarian association for the rescue of life at sea. It operates in the Mediterranean, which is one of the deadliest migration routes. Founded in 2015, the operation has three goals: to save and protect refugees, as well as to spread their stories, to build a larger involved community. Using a large ambulance ship, SOS Méditéraneée has saved more than 40 000 refugees from 2016 to 2024, crossing from Libya and attempting to reach Europe.
Succeeding this, two activists aiming to spread the message of Eritrean refugees. Vanessa Tsehaye, an Eritrean humans-rights activist, explains the large number of refugees departing from Eritrea, a dictatorial state. She emphasises the importance of sympathy towards refugees who are not solely coming from a war state, but one with no freedom and the breachment of human rights.
Following Vanessa, Petros Tesfagherghis, the founder of Eritrean Refugees Support Association reminds the Lycee pupils, the importance of our voice and our future that permits us to make a difference, to make an impact. During this difficult period of war swarming the world, he reminds us of the need for peace, that by gathering around, listening to activists and NGOs we are reminded that we can also make an impact.
Finally, Tareke Brhane took to the stage, as the president of Comitato tre Ottobre. He aims to inform upon subjects that matter, therefore, Tareke has been working with various schools across Europe to build a different concept on immigration, to create a memory and build a victim’s DNA database. Growing up, he never aimed to be an activist, however due to his personal experiences as a migrant, he felt it was his duty to create awareness about the journey of refugees, and hardships they must face throughout not only their travels but their entire lives. As a refugee himself, he has witnessed horrific hardships, such as murder, rape, trafficking and more. When he arrived in Europe, to the so-called “free land”, he was assigned a number, completely dehumanising him. This has happened to so many before him and so many after him. There have been thousands of unidentified refugees, whose families have not been able to reunite. There is also a lack of data for the ones who have died, who have disappeared unidentified. Tareke’s aim is to share, create awareness around the subject, to get people to socialise about it and bring importance to all of these suffering refugees. This is why by being the president of Comitato tre Ottobre, he gathers a large network of European schools, reuniting the generation of tomorrow, pupils, us, to gather, be informed and raise awareness.
In conclusion, Tareke Brhane, once known simply as number 1883, gives a final statement to the pupils. He encourages us to be perseverent, to never lose hope and to dream. He also reminds us the importance of being grateful, and to be well informed, to further spread the message and help refugees.
On Friday 22th March, 1e, Terminale, PAL & Tal pupils took part in the conference Seeds of Lampedusa in the Lycée.
For the past 5 years, the Lycée has participated, as UK representative, to a project called "La Porta d'Europa" organized by The Comitato tre ottobre where students of European schools, twinned with Italian schools, gather in Lampedusa from the 30th September to the 4th october, to attend workshops, debates and discussion on immigration in the presence of experts, journalists, NGOs and EU members of the Parliament. It is also an occasion to commemorate those that died in the shipwreck on 3rd ottobre 2013, outside Lampedusa. In that tragic event, 368 men, women and children lost their lives.
Every school that was involved in the project organized as a follow up "Seeds of Lampedusa'' with the idea to spread the awareness (seeds) among all the other students and generate improved understanding of the critical phenomenon of immigration. This school year, four of our students from Terminal went to Lampedusa (Anatole D., Pauline C-L., Eva F., Charles V.).
The guest speakers are:
Article written by Mrs Meloni, italien teacher
Conference report written by Maya N. (1e5):
Friday March 22nd, the Lycée welcomed a number of guests to speak about the issue of migration and the human rights of refugees. The conference centred around the island of Lampedusa, and the strenuous voyage many migrants have to conquer to arrive at the Island.
Thanks to Prof.ssa Meloni, and her team of students: Pauline C-L. (T4), Eva F. (T3), Charles V. (T3), Anatole D. (T5), Caterina C. (T3) and Marcello R. (Lycée alumni), who year after year has permitted students from Lycèe Francais Charles de Gaulle to participate, and learn through interventions from NGOs, activists, volunteers and even migrants themselves.
The conference started with a warm welcome to all speakers from our headmistress, Mme Bellus-Ferreira who pointed out the importance of events like this and appreciated the involvement of our Lycée in Lampedusa.
The first speaker, Vito Fiorino has spent the past decade helping, and rescuing refugees in Lampedusa, by being present the night of the 2nd of October 2013 when he saved 47 refugees from a flaming shipwreck, only one being a woman. Unfortunately, the boat originally contained around 520 refugees with a number of deaths scaling up to 368. Today, the migrants consider him as family, and Vito continues to activate for this important cause, spreading awareness through his story and participating in Semi de Lampedusa, to reach more voices.
Furthermore, Naomi Frerotte informed us on SOS Méditerranée, a civil international humanitarian association for the rescue of life at sea. It operates in the Mediterranean, which is one of the deadliest migration routes. Founded in 2015, the operation has three goals: to save and protect refugees, as well as to spread their stories, to build a larger involved community. Using a large ambulance ship, SOS Méditéraneée has saved more than 40 000 refugees from 2016 to 2024, crossing from Libya and attempting to reach Europe.
Succeeding this, two activists aiming to spread the message of Eritrean refugees. Vanessa Tsehaye, an Eritrean humans-rights activist, explains the large number of refugees departing from Eritrea, a dictatorial state. She emphasises the importance of sympathy towards refugees who are not solely coming from a war state, but one with no freedom and the breachment of human rights.
Following Vanessa, Petros Tesfagherghis, the founder of Eritrean Refugees Support Association reminds the Lycee pupils, the importance of our voice and our future that permits us to make a difference, to make an impact. During this difficult period of war swarming the world, he reminds us of the need for peace, that by gathering around, listening to activists and NGOs we are reminded that we can also make an impact.
Finally, Tareke Brhane took to the stage, as the president of Comitato tre Ottobre. He aims to inform upon subjects that matter, therefore, Tareke has been working with various schools across Europe to build a different concept on immigration, to create a memory and build a victim’s DNA database. Growing up, he never aimed to be an activist, however due to his personal experiences as a migrant, he felt it was his duty to create awareness about the journey of refugees, and hardships they must face throughout not only their travels but their entire lives. As a refugee himself, he has witnessed horrific hardships, such as murder, rape, trafficking and more. When he arrived in Europe, to the so-called “free land”, he was assigned a number, completely dehumanising him. This has happened to so many before him and so many after him. There have been thousands of unidentified refugees, whose families have not been able to reunite. There is also a lack of data for the ones who have died, who have disappeared unidentified. Tareke’s aim is to share, create awareness around the subject, to get people to socialise about it and bring importance to all of these suffering refugees. This is why by being the president of Comitato tre Ottobre, he gathers a large network of European schools, reuniting the generation of tomorrow, pupils, us, to gather, be informed and raise awareness.
In conclusion, Tareke Brhane, once known simply as number 1883, gives a final statement to the pupils. He encourages us to be perseverent, to never lose hope and to dream. He also reminds us the importance of being grateful, and to be well informed, to further spread the message and help refugees.