Tina, first Nigerian to drive the anti-caporalato van

She is the first woman to drive a van that challenges the corporals in a land, the province of Caserta, where the caporalato manages the trafficking of many workers, especially agricultural laborers. Tina Agbonyinma, a 34-year-old Nigerian, was hired two months ago by Montella Bio, a company active in the production and sale, especially abroad, of strawberries and other agricultural products. The company is located in Frignano, in an area of Caserta known for the phenomenon of illegal work and located a few kilometers from Villa Literno, in whose countryside, after the murder of Jerry Essan Masslo in 1989, the struggles of foreign laborers, especially Africans, for the recognition of their rights began.
Arrived in Naples in 2008, at the age of 19, with a plane from Nigeria, exploited for years in the textile and agricultural sector, victim of false contracts or hats with impossible working hours and starvation wages, Tina, a single mother of two children aged 6 and 4 - Victoria and Joshua - fought a lot but made it in a land where Nigerians are often associated with criminal businesses that are consumed above all in Castel Volturno, between drugs and prostitution. "I never wanted that easy and dirty money, nor did I ever want to throw my life on the street, because life must be lived with dignity. I have always worked honestly, and I hope that many compatriots will follow my example", says Tina, who in addition to the pride of resisting the mirage of simple gain, has always kept in mind another key word, independence.
This is why she has always moved by car, even when in past years she went to Angri (Salerno) to work in a canning industry for 15 hours and a few hundred euros.
Then, a short time ago, the turning point. Tina was hired in April with five compatriots - four women and one man - thanks to the project of the Nocap association of Yvan Sagnet, originally from Cameroon, soul of the fight against hiring and former laborer who in 2011 gave life to Nardò to a strike that led to making the phenomenon of caporalato known at European level.
Also decisive is the work of Caritas of Aversa, which has identified Tina among many foreigners with a past of exploitation.
"The caporalato - says Sagnet - is fought thanks to a network of companies, like ours, which operate legally and associations active in assisting the most needy. The project aims to involve citizens in ethical consumption, in which products made in land and companies where there are no corporals are acquired. These products, with the Nocap stamp, are then acquired by Coop, which therefore supports virtuous companies". "There are many foreigners in need - says Roger of Caritas of Aversa - but Tina was easy to choose her, given her enthusiasm and great desire to get to work".
Every morning Tina, who lives in San Marcellino (Caserta), gets up at 5, prepares breakfast for the children, takes them to the baby-sitter and then goes by car to the company, where she takes the van and goes to the Aversa station. Here come from municipalities also in the Neapolitan hinterland the five compatriots and work colleagues - four women, Philomina, Edwin, Tina, Happy, and the only man Joy Ogala - who get on the van and then, all together, go to Frignano.
"In the company there is so much humanity - says Tina almost with tears in her eyes - the owner, Michele (Montella, ndr), often offers me coffee when I arrive, something that had never happened to me. The work starts at 7, in recent weeks we have been picking strawberries and now we bag the potatoes; I do my hours and in the early afternoon I am at my children's, and it almost does not seem true. I finally feel integrated; Many of my Nigerian friends almost do not believe my story, they are pessimistic and yet they also see many young people who try to make a different life, perhaps seizing the opportunities of social media".