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‘Refugees Welcome’ project help repopulate Italian village

Tuesday, 03 May 2016 12:18 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 03 May 2016 1:57 AM ]

Multicultural inhabitants of the Riace village in Calabria, Italy (Al Jazeera photos)

In a contradictive move to most European countries who are implementing stricter border control to stem the influx of refugees on to their soil, the mayor of a small Italian village has introduced a "refugees welcome" project which has started to spread to its neighbors.

"We have been welcoming refugees with open arms for the past 15 years. [They have] saved our village," Mayor of Riace, Lucano Domenico (seen below), was quoted by Al Jazeera as saying on Monday.

The population of the village, located in Italy’s southern Calabria region, dwindled from around 2,500 people to some 400 in the 1990s after financial pressures forced inhabitants to move north in search of better economic conditions.

*There are many sculptures, graffiti, and murals in the village that represent the multicultural community of the village of Riace.*

*Bahram Acar is Kurdish refugee and was one of the first to take up residence in the village.*

“The basic idea of Riace program is to give refugees a home and a job and to improve the local economy. This plan helps save the village,” added the mayor.

It all started in 1998 when a ship carrying 218 Kurdish refugees washed up on the village’s beach. The resourceful mayor who saw the incident as a blessing proposed that the asylum seekers take up residence in the homes vacated by the former villagers.

Currently around 2,500 of people from 20 different nationalities are living in the village which has re-opened many of its shops and has even set up its own school.