Fourteen stories about Africa. Each different in content and style, but with one common denominator- they each express intense emotions typical of adolescence. In fact, the authors are all sixteen and seventeen year old Italian, Congolese and Kenyan girls and boys.
The Italians were asked to write a story “keeping Africa in mind” while the Africans were asked to tell about a “fragment of their daily lives”. The spontaneous dual image of these young people gives us a profound portrait of Africa and themselves that is not at all commonplace. Students have put themselves to the test, some telling simple stories, others simply telling their story, yet nonetheless, each demonstrate seriousness, effort and, most of all, a desire to side with one another to promote the idea of a closer world with more solidarity.
Joyful stories, even sometimes surreal, alternate with stories of daily events which are often troublesome and demonstrate the sometimes even overwhelming gap between an Italian high school student and one from the Congo (Italian students would never choose the topic of death when telling about a typical day). Yet the stories also convey the idea that their adolescence is united by the same passions and the same dreams, each deserves the same attention, the same rights- in both Rome and Kinshasa.
This small collection includes only a small number of stories chosen from the numerous stories submitted by high school students for the “A Story About Africa” competition promoted by Harambee Africa International and the RUI Foundation in order to reinforce solidarity in the new generations.
“Africa is a paradigm of a universal message of solidarity, but each and every one of us has our own personal Africa”, ” said Giovanni Mottini, president of the Harambee Cultural Committee, at the writing competition award ceremony. “We don’t need to set foot inside the continent, but the message of volunteer work is both concrete and practical. We need “to get our hands dirty”. We don’t always need to wait until we “grow up”, because these are experiences that make us mature!”. Mottini continues, “solidarity is the only road that leads to peace, the only road against indignation –we are enraged by current international news, yet we do nothing. Solidarity teaches us that campaigning for peace is not enough, we must be peacemakers. We must be the ones to create peace! Let the experience of volunteering complicate your lives today, because being transgressive today means dedicating time to others”.
The winners (Fabio Russo from Acireale, Andrea Boutros from Genoa, Alessandro Bonanno from Mazara del Vallo and Marcellina Sobczak from Todi) of the competition received their awards on May 12, 2011 at the Senate of the Republic by the President, Renato Schifani.
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 Vi racconto l'Africa - pdf | [Quattordici racconti scritti da studenti italiani, kenyoti e congolesi] | 515 Kb |
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