Description of the integration initiative implemented
Once in Italy, our interviewee applied for a residence permit for work reasons: she got it after 6 years, and is now waiting to get Italian citizenship. She was basically helped by a Peruvian friend and his family.

Personal story
This story is about a 40-year-old woman native to Bolivia who reached Italy with a Peruvian friend in 2002 at the age of 21. Upon completing her schooling in Bolivia, she had done a number of jobs. Initially, the decision to leave Bolivia was difficult because she had almost all the family to look after, and a child of her own that she had at the age of twenty (her parents were always around the world): all in all, she was fine with this situation. Besides, there were various employment opportunities in Bolivia. Yet, the general economic situation in the country does not allow people to build their future. For this reason, combined with the pressure from her mother who had gone to Spain at the time, our interviewee followed her, and stayed over there for some time before coming to Italy. She decided to move to Italy after hearing that the government had started a regularisation process allowing immigrants to get documents and regularise their position in the country. It was not difficult to enter Italy, a tourist visa was enough to arrive and enter without any problems. Some risks could have occurred if border agents had decided to check her Peruvian friend: namely, Italy had closed the borders with Peru at the time, and Karen could have been accused thus of complicity with her friend who was a clandestine entrant to Italy. Fortunately, nothing of that happened. As for the regularisation process, our interviewee arrived late, hence she had to stay without documents for 6 years, that is wait up to 2008 when a new legislative decree made it possible to apply for a residence permit: on that occasion, she had no problem in getting her documents. Meanwhile, in the 6-year span of time, she experienced no hardships in finding a job. Her early times in Italy were tough for her because she had left her son with her sister and the rest of the family in Bolivia. Here, our interlocutress had only friends whom she met through the friend they had come together to Italy: she arrived with 200 euros, but she received support from his family and friends. Meanwhile, she also managed to bring her son to Italy. She always did jobs that allowed her to maintain herself and her son. At the beginning, linguistic and cultural difficulties caused her some disorientation: nonetheless, she immediately felt at home in Florence. It is very different from Spain where she stayed for 28 days upon her mother’s invitation: jobs are paid less there than in Italy, and the general economic situation was not good enough for her. According to our protagonist’s account, there are also some aspects that have added further difficulties to her integration experience in Italy. First of all, language barrier played a decisive role in her socialisation process. Besides, there is a tendency to be asked questions that associate you with the stereotype of immigrant, and these are commonly aimed at knowing difficulties experienced in Italy by yourself as a such. What’s more, she has not managed to establish deep relationships with Florentines over the years, except with some colleagues, but these have also remained just working relationships. For all these reasons, she has preferred to relate to other immigrants, especially Peruvians since she met few Bolivians in Florence. Our interlocutress maintains that South-American culture is based on the ability to adapt to any situation, especially at work, and such an approach to life allows you to fit into any work environment: by saying that, she affirms that no greater nor lesser restrictions exist between immigrant women and men in finding a job. She has never experienced discrimination nor abuse in the workplace that could be related to her being a woman or immigrant. Her stay in Italy has allowed her to grow as a woman, and to change some cultural constructs that she had grown up with, namely those based on the notion of “machismo” dominating male-female relationships. She says that the today’s situation is different in South America than it was twenty years ago: in the last decades, a greater awareness has been acquired with regard to women’s rights, and this idea of a woman not being subject to a man has allowed her to establish an equal relationship with her current partner. On a professional level, she is gradually reaching her goal, which is introducing the local market to typical gastronomic products of her country. She opened a bakery where, in addition to selling bread and other Italian products, she’d like to make Bolivian cuisine known as well. The choice to combine two gastronomic cultures is due to the fact that she feared difficulties in keeping her customers, especially the elder ones who are not too keen on tasting non-Italian food. Our interviewee's goal is to open, together with her husband, a chain of such places, for example in Bergamo which hosts a larger Bolivian community than the one in Florence: according to her statement, this fact would allow our interlocutress to increase her earnings.

Analysis of the initiative and individual story
The aspects emerging from this interview allow us to catch elements useful for reconstructing the pathways that have brought the protagonist from a difficult beginning of her migration project in Italy up to the present definable as “successful” in terms of a personal fulfilment. Although she felt well in Bolivia, her native country was offering meagre opportunities for a professional development, hence she decided to emigrate. In the light of the information referred during the interview, it is possible to grasp a behaviour defined by the interviewee as a “typical trait of South American culture”, according to which both women and men have difficulty expressing their feelings and manifesting their vulnerability: actually, they would be accustomed to always being strong in front of any challenges, hardships or adversities that might show up in their lives. Accordingly, the fear of being alone and isolated has led the protagonist to seek contacts and relationships amongst other South Americans, which was due to both linguistic reasons, and to the commonality of experiences and cultural features: on the whole, this choice has spared her from being exposed to a number of misinterpretations and misunderstandings, at the same time as offering a more understanding environment for her migrant experience and related needs. As for success aspects in this story, they emerge from the interviewee’s personal fulfilment which has gone through several steps: she spent the first 6 years in Italy without documents, which prevented her from making plans for her future on a large scale; as soon as she got the documents allowing her to stay in Italy in a more regular way, she had started thinking about her future, first of all about starting a business; finally, she opened a bakery, but she would like her business not to be limited to Florence only, meaning that she dreams about expanding it to other Italian cities.: thereby, the aforesaid step, as a final goal of her migration project, would represent the culmination of her dreams that actually pushed her to leave her country, and are currently coming true. What strongly emerges from this story is the outlined resilience strategy which makes the interviewee feel as being able to reach any of her goals: such a behaviour of hers is built upon the idea that everyone has the same opportunities, both at home and abroad, i.e. in emigration; notwithstanding, the interviewee seems to be continuously suspended between opposing, even contradictory situations, like hanging in the balance between her dreams, life challenges, and self-persuasion that everything around is ok, even when it does not coincide with the real conditions in which she finds herself. This way of being, namely strong and determined to overcome any challenge without showing her weaknesses, would have helped our interviewee – according to her account – to reach her goals.

Results and Impact
The main result achieved by this immigrant woman native to Bolivia is that she has opened a bakery. The shop is envisaged by her as a place where two gastronomic cultures meet, namely: in addition to selling bread and other Italian products, she would like to combine Bolivian and Italian cuisines by means of her business.