The bark and the sap

In 2015, M came to us: those were the roaring years, many girls from trafficking arrived, with terrible experiences and difficult-to-manage methods.
M arrived with a firm step and impetuous tone, always on the defensive and angry, ready to scream and argue with everyone, in short a “Nigerian doc”.
She stayed in our reception for some time but she was impatient, she was not available for any project and after a while she left and we lost track of her.

A few months ago, the hospital contacted us about a woman hospitalized, always alone, who said she only knew Sermig. She had a very serious operation on her head, she had no one to come and see her. It was M! We went to her, she was very dazed but she recognized us, she had slow movements and the expression of a child, she was happy to see us.
She has a lost look, but when the next time we bring her some Nigerian food, her face lights up, she is very happy, she smiles kindly, she thanks and a little life comes back to her. She tells us that she has lost her job, that she is in debt to the ATC and that for two years she has been living without electricity and hot water. They discharge her, we go to her house and find the impossible: there is no electricity, cockroaches everywhere, the house is dirty and in a terrible state of decay. We suggest that she come to us for a while, to be able to tidy up the house, she accepts and slowly begins her transformation.

She lets herself be guided like a child to take care of herself, her things, her room again. Now she trusts, she is friendly, she always smiles, she is available to everyone and everyone loves her. When she arrived at the reception, she told us: "How wonderful, it had been two years since I had a hot shower, I only washed myself in a small bucket with a little water that I heated on the stove!". Lately, on Sunday mornings, she dresses up, perfumes herself and goes out. We ask her where she goes and she answers: to mass.
She is truly another person, the M who tells us: «I am fine here, I hear the children arguing, the mothers screaming, it is home, it is family, I am no longer alone». The disease has begun to chip away at her skin and feeling loved has opened her heart.

Renza Bogiatto
NP December 2024