My trip to the Open Arms Ong

The journalist Valerio Nicolosi is aboard the ship of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms who has recovered in recent days the corpses of a woman and of A child off the coast The Libyan coast, and saved Josefa, the only survivor of the sinking. The ship has just sailed from Mallorca (Sunday 22 July). Here is his logbook for TPI.it NCO with open arms

Second day – Monday, July 23, 2018, at 17:40

We took the long wave and we took it We removed. The boat oscillates from left to right and vice versa with a constant to send to an expert marathoner

For the night this constant swing is pleasant because it is as if we were in a mega cradle and that Neptune rocked us d & # 39; A giant hand. But when you wake up everything is a bit more difficult and especially as we start to be serious, we prepare ourselves for the mission for which we have come up. ngo with open arms

Wake up a few minutes before 6. Me, my roommate Juan, an Argentinian photographer from Reuters who lives in Madrid, and Nicola Fratoianni, MP from LeU, we stand guard on the bridge with Riccardo, the first Argentine officer who works at sea for over 10 years

The situation is very calm, we are off Mallorca and in 20 hours we will be off Sardinia and from there we will aim to the south pbading near Tunisia and towards Libya

With the sunrise, we take advantage to take some pictures and discuss to avoid boredom. We talk about politics, about the climate of the cities in which we live, about the distant and distant stories that we have seen and experienced. We are also talking about the Libyan Coast Guard's statement accusing Open Arms of being an illegal organization, but especially of the situation we may encounter once arrived in the SAR zone, which is hard to imagine.

that open weapons have arrived in the SAR area, the situations have been different from each other and you can not have an idea of ​​what, who and how we are going to meet him.

This also emerged in the medical briefing we did yesterday. Dr. Giovanna Scaccabarozzi. Depending on the source, the duration of the trip and the conditions under which it was treated, there are a number of potential diseases that people might have.

We understand that you are starting to become serious when Giovanna directs a series of photos taken during previous missions where the effects of scabies are visible, the most common burns of a chemical nature usually caused by diesel, up to a point where the effects of scabies are visible. to the rarest and most dangerous that you have never met but that we must know by precaution. [19659006Wemakeintegralpartoftheteamandilyauradesmomentswhichtheirfeatureoftheremeterandphotoproductsystemtoprovidemovement

At the briefing for newcomers there are 4: in addition to the doctor, me, Nicola Fratoianni and Riccardo Gatti. At a certain point, Perico, the second official, approaches and jokes: "It is the Spanish ship with the highest percentage of Italians on board!"

Indeed, we are 5 Italians. Me, the chef de mission Riccardo Gatti, Giovanna Scaccabarozzi Scaccabarozzi, the nurse Marina Buzzetti and Nicola Fratoianni, MP for LeU.

Giovanna and Marina are incredible. To talk to us, you feel that you have done little in life. The second graduate in political science, speaks Chinese, has spent six months in Beijing to improve the language and is an expert in Bangladesh and India. Then he decided to be a nurse and worked in the Lecco emergency room. "First aid is the best place to train," he says as we eat something. Marina embarked for 6 months on another humanitarian boat where she met Giovanna and since then they have become friends and companions in adventures.

Giovanna has been working in Angola for more than a year, in South Sudan, Pakistan, Nepal and in many other situations where a hand was needed as a doctor. During the information session, he tells us about the many landings in which he participated, the various diagnoses diagnosed and the importance of welcoming people before the professionals. ngo with open arms

Together with Marina, they took care of Josefa who was sleeping in Giovanna's bed in the infirmary. "What made her relax was foot mbadages," they tell me. Unfortunately, they had the thankless task of implementing the procedure for the lifeless bodies of the woman and the child. A white bag and ice to slow the decomposition

"The problem is to arrive in Spain and not in Italy, one is forced to surf a lot more hours and in these cases it 's the same. is really problematic. " open arms

Nicola is instead the secretary of the Italian left and MP for LeU. He is on board because with the other deputies of his party they decided to organize a relay aboard Open Arms to always guarantee an institutional "cover". He, like the others, is part of the crew and has the kitchen, the cleaning and the guard quarters.

Riccardo does not need to introduce it. One of the support nuclei of Open Arms, commander of the Astral and in this case as in others is the chef de mission. He coordinates everything there is to do. From training briefings to changes in media contacts.

All together, they are the Italian soul of this mission. Despite the closure of Italian ports, there are some who carry the flag of rescue on the roof

First day – Sunday, July 22, 2018, 17:30