Feb. 2005. Palermo, Italy. In the hospice center run by Brother Biagio Conte, Osman Mano, 29 year old Sudanese, has found temporary refuge. Osman escaped from his hometown of Tiné, on the border of Chad. In the bloody conflict raging in the Sudanese region of Darfur, his family was slaughtered during a raid by the local militia, known as the Janjaweed. Having escaped death, he attempted to save himself. He crossed the Libyan desert with a caravan of immigrant traffickers, and after two months, traversed the Mediterranean on board a "sea tramp"- a boat not suitable for this kind of crossing - together with another hundred desparate refugees. Miracolously surviving the shipwreck, he was saved together with a handful of others by a unit of the Italian Coast Guard of the coast of Lampedusa. He is still waiting, more than 7 months after applying for recognition of his refugee status by the Italian authorities.