Yvan Sagnet was born in central Africa in 1985, but dreamed of living in Italy someday, primarily because of the influence of one Italy's most famous soccer players, Robert Baggio. In 2007, his dream was realized when he was granted a visa to study at the University of Turin. After scoring poorly on some early exams, he lost his scholarship, and needed to find work. He was introduced to the tomato-picking industry in southern Italy and accepted a position working there, but soon found that the position was more like one of a slave than an employee. Over 800 workers labored for over 14 hours per day with no contract and below minimum wage, often enduring verbal and physical abuse from the caporali (gang masters). Yvan wanted more for himself, but more than anything, he saw the struggle of his co-workers and wanted more for them. He led a protest that eventually led to massive public support and new laws against the coparali. In 2017, 12 members of the corparali were convicted of enslavement and human trafficking. A Swiss filmmaker, Milo Rau, was moved by the efforts of Yvan, and has just released a film entitled "The New Gospel". Instead of choosing an actor for the film, he chose Yvan. The film is a parable of sorts, showing the parallels between Yvan's fight for his coworkers and Jesus's fight for each of us. I haven't seen it yet, but I hope to. In the meantime, I just choose to be inspired.
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