Digital Facilitation Month: the story of Rahim and those who helped him feel less alone
Every day, life-changing encounters take place in the Digital Facilitation Centres.
Lorenzo Cacchione, facilitator at Municipio XI, accompanied Rahim, a young father originally from Bangladesh, on a journey of trust, rights and new opportunities. Behind every online form or procedure, there is a person with a story to tell. This is how digital facilitation also becomes human facilitation, capable of building more inclusive and supportive communities.
Rahim, a young father originally from Bangladesh, is trying to build a different future for his family in Italy. He has been in our country for three years and lives in a very small flat with his 16-year-old son Kamal.
Kamal has a very severe motor and cognitive disability. He speaks very few words but understands almost everything that goes on around him. Rahim looks after him on his own and, at the same time, works in a car wash, which he has managed to open in his own name.
His wife lives in Bangladesh with their second son, who also has a very severe disability. ‘My dream is to bring my whole family to Rome, to finally be together, but to do that I am saving money and I need to get a bigger house,’ he confessed to Lorenzo.
Lorenzo has worked hard for Rahim, first of all by helping him enrol Kamal in the third year of secondary school. The young man has been at home for three years without education and is now on track to finish secondary school and then be admitted to Ciof, a vocational training centre that can take him in and help him integrate. Lorenzo also submitted a request for educational assistance through Oepac, which assists pupils with disabilities at school to promote their autonomy and inclusion.
Rahim does not speak Italian and communicates in basic English, so he found Lorenzo to be a valuable ally in his full integration. Our facilitator also submitted a request for disabled transport for Kamal and for a larger flat to Ater. This is one more step towards realising Rahim's dream of reuniting his distant family.
In the second week of Digital Facilitation Month, from 10 to 14 November, the following centres will be active in the municipalities:
- Municipality XII in Via Fabiola 14
- Municipality XV in Via Enrico Bassano, 10
- Municipality XI in Via Portuense, 579
- Municipality XIII in Via Aurelia, 470
- Municipality XIV in Piazza S. Maria della Pietà, 5
Hours: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Citizens can freely visit their local municipality to receive personalised support from the digital facilitators of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, who are ready to accompany them step by step in the use of online public services.
The story is by Onelia Onorati, press office of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale.
