Cecile Kyenge :"'Don’t come back until you have found what you’re looking for,' said my mother when I left."

I am please to share the story of this brave woman, a role model. The whole story on I am a migrant

“I still remember my mother’s words when I left: 'Don’t come back until you have found what you’re looking for. You must be strong, because one day your job will save many lives.'

And so I came to Italy to fulfill my dream of becoming a doctor. I managed to find a place to stay with the help of a Hungarian priest, who was a refugee. And a few years later, I became an ophthalmologist.

In 1994, I married an Italian man and since then, little by little, I started to look beyond my personal dream, diverting my attention towards other people’s struggles, in particular the rights of migrants and the promotion of multiculturalism.

I’m doing a lot of things today that were not part of my life plans; but living and integrating in this country have inspired me to take on a commitment that was ...meant to be.

My experience in politics is part of this commitment. At the beginning, it was hard for me to understand that I was representing a strong symbol for Italy: I was the first black minister in the history of the Italian Republic! The President, Giorgio Napolitano, could have declined my Ministry designation but he wanted to create a “cultural rupture”. Not everyone agreed with his choice...

Now I realize how important it is, not only for Italy, but for the rest of the world, that designations like mine can open a political debate. Sure, there is still a lot of work to do about discrimination. I had to face many personal attacks, but my victory in the European elections shows that things are already changing.

As an EU diplomat, I now split my time between Modena, Italy and Brussels in Belgium. Always being on the move, on a plane or a train also feels a little bit like home to me now. I try to find short moments to relax, read a magazine.

Sometimes I wonder where “home” really is. When I went to Congo a couple of years ago, I felt like a foreigner and I caught myself saying ‘It’s time to go back home now, back to Italy.’ I genuinely feel at home in Modena: it’s my city, with its smells, its colors, and its people.”

Cécile Kyenge Kashetu was the Minister of Integration of the Letta Governmentand the first black Minister of Italy. Since 2014 she is a Member of the European Parliament.

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