Our Story - Fatoma School

It all starts with a documentary

Established as a collective of filmmakers in 2022, we made One Day One Day a documentary that chronicles a year in the lives of some of the boys from Borgo Mezzanone.

During the distribution of the film we met Irma, Antonella, Omar and many other people who pointed out, if it was not already obvious, the widespread lack of education in the reception centers.

One Day One Day, film on migrants touring high schools

Ansa March 2022

Why can't the story of Tomas, a Ghanaian in a slum, shake us?

by Roberto Saviano April 2022

"One day One day," the film about life inside the Borgo Mezzanone ghetto.

by Stefano Nanni September 2022

Tomas was learning
reading and writing.

During filming, Fatoma (whom we friendly called Tomas) was learning to read and write in Italian until, in one of the final scenes, he was able to write his own name.

When we learned of his death, we sought out Irma, Antonella, and Omar to propose our idea:

Opening a school in the ghetto
That would bear his name.

School officially opens.

We get back the good a space, a blackboard, chairs and enough money to be able to pay all the people who will work at the school for a few months at least. We post a video on social media telling about all this and over 1,000 people decide to donate something to help us keep the school open.

Let's open an English class for kids in the township

We realized almost immediately that integration had to be a two-way challenge and that a lot of the kids were running around the school curious, and we decided to make the school their place as well.
On Saturday morning, English classes with Mr. Francis began.

Our first "graduates"

In the first year we help nearly 100 young people improve their knowledge of Italian and attend the township more often. Some will even be able to move on to more advanced courses and earn the A2 certificate in Italian.