Eric Adams cancels visit to migrant school in Italy, but group offers advice for Big Apple

Metro

By Craig McCarthy And Alex Oliveira

Mayor Eric Adams called in sick on third day of weekend visit to Rome – cancel a visit to an Italian school that teaches migrants the local language to help them assimilate into society.

Adams, who left for the Eternal City on Thursday and is scheduled to return to the Big Apple on Monday, appeared in good health earlier in his trip, but became ill and coughing before his school visit on Sunday and decided to cancel.

Hizzoner was scheduled to visit the community of Sant’Egidio, which is located in an 18th-century building in Rome’s Piazza di Santa Maria and teaches Italian to more than 3,500 people each week as part of a multi-year course aimed at teach this language to migrants. – vital work because the master’s degree is a necessary condition for legal residence in Italy.

“He did not see that it was possible to build a multicultural society,” said a spokesperson for the group. “We would be happy to help him as well by connecting him with our collaborators in New York.”

Claudio Betti, a volunteer with the Sant’Egidi group, told the Post that he and his colleagues were disappointed to miss the mayor. They hoped to show him how well a cultural assimilation program can work as New York struggles to deal with its own migrant crisis. – but that they were happy to put him in touch with one of their centers in New York, he said.

“The picture you saw today in these classes is the picture of the new world we want and I’m sure he would love that,” said Betti, director of the Australian Catholic University’s Rome campus. .

Sant’Egidio has taught Italian to more than 8,000 migrants and refugees, most from Syria but also from 120 other countries, including Peru, Georgia, Colombia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Libya , Sri Lanka, Ecuador and Paraguay.

Many live at the facility and are encouraged to interact with the local community as part of their education.

“They are housed here in this neighborhood house and in the house next to us. They accommodate you for a certain period. They studied Italian, they studied culinary culture. In the meantime, we were looking for the final destination,” Betti said.

“We must integrate languages – (it’s) a crucial, crucial question in Italy. You have to learn to be recognized as a citizen or even to ask for a restaurant. You’re not allowed to reside here legally unless you speak (Italian),” Betti said.

Most of these 8,000 people have obtained sponsorships to settle throughout Italy. – which Betti says is an essential part of keeping Italy alive as its population declines.

“It’s not just about putting them in a place, but also making them a healthy part of society,” Betti said.