Across the Big Blue Sea: Good Intentions and Hard Lessons in an Italian Refugee Home

by Katja Meier

Thousands of people risk crossing the treacherous waters of the Mediterranean Sea each year. But what happens if they make it to the other side?
On a hot July day, the Italian coast guard rescues five young Nigerian women in a battered boat. At the same time, Katja Meier is put in charge of a small refugee home in the Tuscan countryside. But a quaint hilltop town with an aged population wasn’t exactly where the five young women had hoped to land.
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Good intentions quickly get lost in cultural misunderstandings and the shadows of Italy’s criminal underworld as an ingenuous improvised social worker confronts hard truths about disorganized charities, insurmountable bureaucracy and prostitution on cypress-lined roads. How can she make a difference when Nigerian girls keep disappearing?
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In this searingly honest and thought-provoking memoir, leavened with just enough wry humor, the author shares the hard lessons she discovered on the steepest of learning curves among Tuscany’s seemingly idyllic golden hills.

Genres: Italy, Nonfiction, Memoir, Book Club

290 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 21, 2017

About the author

Katja Meier is a writer and screenwriter. Born in Switzerland, she emigrated to Italy in 1999.
Trained as an actor, she worked as a travel writer, wedding planner, and life coach before taking on an Italian refugee home.

Katja founded zenkafilms.com to make sure that female-driven TV series and films are the norm and no longer the exception.

She divides her time between a Tuscan olive grove and a winter campsite in the Swiss Alps.

Reviews

[Katja Meier · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Perfectly done, with so much humor and outrage both, Across the Big Blue Sea says more than most anything I've read about the 'refugee crisis' and how the system is set up to fail, even the best-intentioned and most well-meaning (without shying away from the fact that plenty of people involved are neither)."
- Lauren Collins, The New Yorker staff writer /editor and author of When in French
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[Nathalie Boisard-Beudin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing and touching memoir of a seemingly impossible task. A must read.

[Jennifer B · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very readable, honest and authentic account of the author‘s experience of helping in a refugee home in Tuscany. She doesn’t profess to have solutions to the situation but relates the events in a very non-judgmental fashion. A fascinating read and I’m glad it was a book club choice for our group as it led to a really good discussion.

[amelie · Rating 4 out of 5]

so ein krasses Buch und total gut geschrieben, hat mir eine ganz neue Einsicht in das Leben nach der Flucht für Geflüchtete gegeben und ist, auch wenn’s aus der Sicht einer weißen Frau geschrieben ist so informativ und realistisch. Und wtf geht bitte bei Sozialarbeitenden

[Corinne Dabbagh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book after having met you, Sergio and the children helped even more to understand this real story, the experience you made with the refugees. I read this book in one day as it was very interesting and well written. Knowing the region I could imagine these Nigerians girls ... thank you Katja for what you did for them even so it was very difficult. Thank you for the help you generously gave to the refugees. My in laws are Palestians refugees and I know, a little bit , what it means.

[Lella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Across the Big Blue Sea is an honest, simple and easy to read book that shows some of the realities of refugees fleeing violence, war and persecution face when settling into a foreign country. I really admire Katja’s commitment and dedication to do everything she could for them, even when her work contracts were so precarious. She did it because she truly cared, and that is rare. We need more people like her!

The only bits of the book I didn’t care for were the sometimes inner-monologue style of writing and the daily mundanity of it (i.e. copy/pasting emails to the charity, play-by-plays of what Maria/Pio said about work contracts, wire transfer errors, etc). I understand it is written as an honest, first person account of her experiences, although the level of detail was unnecessary at times.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Courageous, thought-provoking, and at times deeply frustrating, Across the Big Blue Sea tells the relatively untold story of the daily difficulties and occasional hilarities that ensue when one attempts to run a mismanaged and cash-strapped refugee shelter in rural Tuscany.

Katja details her story in an honest and unflinching manner, showing true strength of character when confronted with harsh truths, intense cultural clashes, and the excessive bureaucracy and malpractice that allow for and perpetuate present-day human trafficking in Europe.

Unable to leave this small world but for long, I read this book in about a day. It opened my mind, yet saddened my heart. Thank you for writing it.

[Hani · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story of generosity, a need to help fellow human beings. It is a story of enduring and overcoming adversity, clashes of culture and mind boggling bureaucratic hurdles. Katja's writing is redolent with compassion, patience and empathy. Katja may criticise the refugee's behaviour but is always empathetic and is never judgemental. A wry sense of humour carries the whole text (I love the references of Sergio - as well as admire his patience) and makes for easy reading. But above all, hats off to Katja for her patience, persistence and putting into practice what so many of us just talk about.

[Nicole Costello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book! It’s rare that we get to hear from the side of kind people helping refugees, getting them settled in their new countries, assisting with the beaurocratic nightmare of gaining residence papers, trying to understand their traumas.
As someone who has seen firsthand the animosity Italians have towards white residents in their country, I think Katja has managed to capture this in a humorous and honest way. It’s time we all educated ourselves on refugees and helped them. There always has and always will be people displaced by war, famine, people traficking and genocide, let us show them kindness and love.

[Debbie Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heart Rending and Thought Provoking

As the situation in third world countries grows more horrendous, people seeking refuge in Europe are willing to do just about anything to escape. Sometimes that means selling their bodies. Human trafficking and sex working has become big business. This book gives an uncomfortable glimpse into the realities of life in a refugee home in the Tuscan countryside of Italy.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Meier's honest voice. This is a raw, uncompromising book with a self-deprecating, warm human voice. A fascinating story, rich characters, very touching, endearing, real and unsentimental. She deals with Big Issues, without lecturing..she just tells the story and leaves you to ponder. I recommend it highly.

[Fatou · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book for its humor and honesty of how good intentions can do very little in the face of cultural misunderstanding and bureaucratic obstacles. Katja Meier's book is a testimony to her courage and to the courage of the women she encountered during this challenging times. I highly recommend this.

[ReadingwhileWalking · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truthful about migrants but falls into the usual clichés regarding Italy and Italians. Ultimately delivers a negative message though doubtless reflects Katia's honest account of her experience of working with Nigerian female migrants/sex workers caught up in human trafficking. Highly readable

[Sierra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful story! I highly recommend giving this a read. I read this while abroad in Florence and it was very relevant.

[PL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love it. Enjoyed the humour n colour that Katja brings. Offers insights on the refugee situation in Europe n else where.

[Kell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! What an insiders take and extremely thought provoking. Thank you for writing this book and sharing it with the world!

[Emma Prunty · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a terrific read! I would not have jumped up to grab a book on the topic of a women's refugee home in Italy - alas it is true. But I heard Katja speak about the book and she came across as so honest and kind, I had to try it. And it's a great story, told in a personal and funny way - lots of harsh real-life situations but it's all tackled from her perspective, as a white European woman, albeit one who is braver and more resourceful than the rest of us! It's very well-written, jumps off the page and I rarely enjoy the pleasure of being sucked into a well-told story. The wonderful cover captures the spirit of the book and characters, the Tuscan countryside, her car, olive trees, African patterns.

Oh and the website includes a music soundtrack to accompany the book.

[Gillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I got to know Katja though her very pretty and very peaceful Instagram @anythingtuscan without any idea of the turmoil in her one part of her life.

The refugee/migrant issue in Italy is complicated and heartbreaking and feels very hopeless. This book shows how that is not an excuse for not trying to do something.