“We have identified Rahman’s body.” Thus begins the message received this morning on WhatsApp from Terres des Homme Italia who decided to share his cry of pain on social channels. The very young Rahman had arrived dead in Pozzallo; rescued at sea by Sea Watch 5, he died on board the ship despite attempts to stabilize his condition and resuscitate him. No other words are needed, just the comment from Terres des Hommes Italia, from the team that operates in Ragusa. It was Rahman’s, “that body that on the night of March 7 this year we saw coming off the Sea Watch 5 ship last and in silence, on a stretcher wrapped in a white plastic bag. From the size of the bag we had guessed that the body was not robust, on the contrary.
We wondered how much responsibility he had on his shoulders, how many dreams he had brought with him. The dreams of the parents, the dreams of the younger brothers and sisters who would like to continue attending school. Then in the end, as we know by now, come the dreams of those who have decided to undertake the journey of death, bringing with them the hopes of the whole family. Some of those we welcomed explained to us that in other places in the world childhood ends early. Rahman Farazi, born in Bangladesh on 8 April 2005, had almost made it, he had overcome the Libyan hell that had transformed him into second-class meat for sale, because Bangladeshis cannot pay as much as others. Maybe Rahman couldn’t pay for the first-class seat on deck, and he had to stay in the hold with the engine deafening and the smell straining every alveolus of his lungs.
Maybe a breath of fresh air would have been enough, maybe it would have been enough to let him disembark earlier. We only have one certainty, and that is that Rahman will never learn our Italian language, because on March 7, before disembarking in the port of Pozzallo, he stopped breathing. But now we know what his face was, thanks to this typical photo of those who try to reassure their family with messages like “you saw, I’m fine!”. We will try to take care of your brothers who made it, reminding them that they are safe now.” The message from the Ragusa team ends like this: “We would have liked to hug you, Rahman”.
