Today we have had a chat with Lisa, an ANGI volunteer involved in the Anti-Covid-19 project. She explained to us what their activities are about.

ANGI is the acronym for ‘Associazione Nuova Generazione Italo-Cinese’, which means ‘New Italian-Chinese Generation Association’. It is a non-profit association aimed at helping Chinese young people (mostly but not only) living in Italy and working in different fields, by supporting them with various types of assistance and promoting their integration into society. The association is headquartered in Turin and can also boast 4 other branches in China, in the regions of Zhejiang, Shanxi, Shandong, and Guizhou.

ANGI promotes and participates in socio-cultural events, cooperates with national bodies, like the embassy or the consulate, and international ones, such as the IOM (the International Organization for Migration), UNESCO, and so on. It organises events, language classes and helps Chinese people with bureaucratic issues.

The Anti-Covid-19 project was born to provide supplementary support to Chinese people in Italy during the pandemic. The group is made of young bilingual volunteers who provide anyone in need with linguistic and cultural mediation help so that whoever has communication issues can receive appropriate healthcare. The group is currently divided into 4 groups over 4 regions: Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, and Tuscany; but it operates throughout Italy.

Their activities are dedicated to facilitating the interaction between doctor and patient, make sure that everyone has their health insurance card (which many Chinese don’t know anything about), give information about current in force anti-covid practices and rules, help the Covid-19 tracking system, and so on. But volunteers also give Chinese people that are in difficult situations someone they can talk to. These are people that are alone and far away from their home, in such a difficult historical moment, which also led to an increase in psychological problems due to loneliness and isolation.

If you have the required linguistic skills, want to join the project and do your part, you can do it very easily: you just have to apply by emailing at [email protected].

If you don’t speak Italian or Chinese but you’re willing to do your bit in some way, you can simply spread the word so that as many people in need as possible can know about this initiative.