Sunday 3 January 2016

Lampedusa

Nowadays, when Europer faces migratios crisis, I couldn't expected better Christmas gift than a book "Wielki przypływ" by Jarosław Mikołajewski. The book I strongly reccomend as clever and thought-provoking text.

Mikołajewski is a poet and translator who visited few times italian island Lampedusa- the first stop of immigrants who come to Europe from Northern Africa. His reportage is an important voice in the discussion about migration and offers rather unusual point of view.

Mikołajewski writes not about immigrants but about lifes and attitudes of citizens of Lampedusa. Thanks to him we can observe how people who faces hundreds of newcomers and their tragedies (ship wrecks, rapes, loss of family) every day react to it and live in new reality. Their stories are sometimes bitter, sometimes moving, but always full of respect for the humanity of immigrants and willingness to help them.

The author's artistic sensibility allows him to go deeper and see more than majority of journalists do. Mikołajewski makes his reader think and feel the situation of the residents of Lampedusa as well as of immigrants. No one will  be indifferent after "Wielki przypływ".

I reccomend you this book because of its unique value and wisdom. It doesn't talk about politics nor economy, it doesn't scream nor threaten, it simply tells the stories of people who knows more about newcomers than us.