Walking in the Footsteps of a Refugee

July 17, 2016 | Pulitzer Center

Amanda Ulrich

Armed guards stand watch outside of the Basilica of Santa Maria, one of the oldest churches in Rome. After the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, soldiers have been stationed all over the city in tourist-centric areas: in front of government buildings, piazzas and even university campuses. Image by Amanda Ulrich. Italy, 2016.

Armed guards stand watch outside the Basilica of Santa Maria, one of the oldest churches in Rome. After the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, soldiers have been stationed all over the city in tourist-centric areas: in front of government buildings, piazzas and even university campuses. Image by Amanda Ulrich. Italy, 2016.

Two refugees sit in the shadow of the historic Colosseum in Colle Oppio Park, a location where many refugees hang out during the day for lack of anywhere else to go. Image by Amanda Ulrich. Italy, 2016.

Two refugees sit in the shadow of the historic Colosseum in Colle Oppio Park, a place where many refugees hang out during the day for lack of anywhere else to go. Image by Amanda Ulrich. Italy, 2016.

Maiga, a 25-year-old refugee from Mali, describes not only the hardship he faced fleeing violence in Libya, but also the challenges he’s met since getting to Rome. For months he slept outside of Termini Train Station while waiting for his asylum case to be heard. Image by Amanda Ulrich. Italy, 2016.

Maiga, a 25-year-old refugee from Mali, describes not only the hardship he faced fleeing violence in Libya, but also the challenges he’s met since arriving in Rome. For months he slept outside the Termini train station while waiting for his asylum case to be heard. Image by Amanda Ulrich. Italy, 2016.

Refugees used to wash their clothes in this fountain in Colle Oppio Park that now has been shut off. In every other part of the city, water fountains run all hours of the day without a valve to turn them off. Image by Amanda Ulrich. Italy, 2016.

A sign on the door of a refugee center near Termini Train Station outlines the steps for being granted a bed and place to sleep. In May, the center was full. Image by Amanda Ulrich. Italy, 2016.

A sign on the door of a refugee center near the Termini train station outlines the steps for obtaining a bed and place to sleep. In May 2016, the center was full. Image by Amanda Ulrich. Italy, 2016.

Anti-immigrant graffiti is splashed along the walls of the Tiber River, which runs through the center of Rome. Image by Amanda Ulrich. Italy, 2016.

The Jesuit Refugee Service, an international Catholic nonprofit with a branch in Rome, advocates on behalf of refugees; some of its services include education and livelihood training. These pictures were drawn by some of the refugee children the organization has worked with. Image by Amanda Ulrich. Italy, 2016.

A support poster for Simone Di Stefano, a recent candidate for mayor of Rome and vice president of the Italian political movement Casapound, is plastered to a wall by the Termini train station. The movement held a demonstration in May 2016 against the “invasion” of their country by refugees, highlighting Italy’s ongoing shift to the political right. “To our enemies I say ‘pull out, you have already lost,’ Casapound will be front and center in the future of national politics,” Di Stefano said at the end of the rally, according to Breitbart News. Image by Amanda Ulrich. Italy, 2016.

This wooden statue admonishing xenophobia is a central art piece in Cardinal Peter Turkson’s Vatican office in Trastevere. Cardinal Turkson is from Ghana and has been rumored to be on the short list to become the next pope. Image by Amanda Ulrich. Italy, 2016.

A “Migrants Lives Matter” poster hangs on the front gate to the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center: a day center in the heart of Rome that offers services like English classes, daily breakfasts and therapy sessions. Image by Amanda Ulrich. Italy, 2016.

A “Migrants Lives Matter” poster hangs on the front gate of the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center: a day center in the heart of Rome that offers services like English classes, daily breakfasts and therapy sessions. Image by Amanda Ulrich. Italy, 2016.

After the closing of the Balkan Route, Italy has become the number one entry point for refugees fleeing to Europe. Death tolls on the Mediterranean continue to rise as the route to safety becomes more of a bottleneck, and therefore much more dangerous. In a period of just three days in May 2016, 700 migrants drowned off the coast of Italy. For migrants who make it to Italy and up the coast to Rome, more challenges lie ahead. Far right political parties, like the movement Casapound, host protests against refugees settling in their country. And after headline-making terror attacks in Europe, refugees are taking the blame in the form of open discrimination and suspicion.