2023-11-28 18:56:48
Time.news – “Elsewhere” is the latest novel by Nicolò Govoni, activist and president of Still I Rise, an organization that works with minors and vulnerable people around the world through two educational approaches aimed at providing high-quality education and ensuring student protection. An educational and scholastic project for their inclusion in society, removing them from situations of poverty and hardship.
“Elsewhere”, published by Still I Rise – Edizioni, it is a novel set in Cremona, a quiet town where nothing particularly exciting ever happens, where everything flows according to regular and customary rhythms. Until something happens: the bodies of three little girls are found in a river. The novel is tinged with yellow, because the search for the culprit begins immediately.
Nicolò Govoni
And we focus straight on the immigrants who are in the city and have invaded the squares, the train station, they are in the city. But one of the murdered girls, or rather someone who looks like her, knocks on the door of the house. The truth is another. And here the theme of the “other” and the “Elsewhere” resurfaces, that of the right place to be born, live, die, of the difference between “us” and “others”. Us and them. A valid reason to ask ourselves whether we shouldn’t think for a second longer before jumping to conclusions that can really do harm.
“The city is shaken by these deaths – the writer tells Time.news – its inhabitants are called to look at each other in the face. We jump to hasty conclusions, the fault lies immediately with the migrants who have invaded the city, the witch hunt begins. The mystery is actually the expedient to force us to enter the psyche of the characters, in the discovery of a very different and fragmented reality. It’s a story of people who have to look inside themselves and find themselves.”
Nicolò Govoni, writer, is a collaborator and president of the Still I Rise association through which emergency schools and international schools have been opened. The former are found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Yemen, North West Syria. The second ones are in Kenya and soon in Colombia, where work has begun on a specific facility.
The approach of international schools includes the prestigious educational path of the International Baccalaureate, normally reserved only for the elite and offered in this case also to vulnerable and refugee children, completely free of charge. And the aim is to allow them a type of education that allows them to integrate into the social fabric and become the ruling class of tomorrow, even in the same country of origin.
Because Still I Rise educates in emergencies and also educates to rebuild. “We open emergency and rehabilitation schools, but also international schools. And we are certified and rewarded for this. We give vulnerable children the opportunity to become the next politicians, the new leaders.”
The first school in emergency and rehabilitation, from which Still I Rise then started, was “Mazi”, on the island of Samos which is now closed: “It’s a finished project – he explained – because we managed to get the remaining students enrolled in the Greek public school. The refugees went to school, some went to other countries and the inhumane hotspot they were in was closed. There is no ‘was reason to stay. Ours would have been an obsolete service.”
“The refugee camp on Samos was no longer there. Mission accomplished: a project cannot remain open forever. On the contrary, closing it means that the crisis is resolved. The objective of international cooperation must be to make itself obsolete And solving it is a cause for celebration. Still I Rise was born from Mazi, let’s not forget that.”
What is the Still I Rise – Edizioni editorial brand for? “It’s a real gamble, many have advised me against doing it. I, however, believe in it and with me the whole of Still I Rise. Not only my novels or books, but also those of others can go under this brand. The aim , excluding the costs, it is always the same: raising funds for our association. We refuse government, institutional and multinational funds that do not respect the ethical principles in which we believe.”
In cooperation, in fact, it can happen that money dictates the direction. “We – he adds – are independent, we have private donors, normal people or companies who find adherence between our work and what they believe in. And now there are also our editions. The proceeds from this book go to Still I Rise”
Why didn’t you go to Ukraine or are you not now in Gaza? “Simply – he explains – there are no conditions relevant to our principles. And in the case of Gaza in particular, which for now is not part of our planning, we would not like the same experience of Turkey to be repeated, from which we left due to corruption rampant. The level of corruption, at certain levels of the party, is very high. Even Gino Strada said that there are territories where it was impossible to work. And for example these are Somalia and Palestine.”
The “typical” teacher of the Still I Rise schools: “He is a passionate, flexible, tender person”, replies Govoni who underlines how in recent years he has witnessed “great changes in his students. They arrive vulnerable, scared, then they take trust and can be amazing. Above all, Doris and Mohamed certainly literally exploded: they won a competition, gave a performance in front of 5000 people, wrote a poem recited by them, danced: they became little stars who also came with us to Italy They come from Kenya and are the result of a long process of self-esteem.”
A school was recently opened in Yemen: “We had been working on it for a year – adds Govoni – we cared a lot about it. Yemen is a complex country, where there is a forgotten war and a very serious humanitarian crisis. Indeed, many people don’t even know where Yemen is. Having opened a school in such a difficult context is a dream. It is an emergency school, but still a school, always an educational reintegration project like those of the DR Congo and North West Syria. Perhaps, one day, the Congo school could also become a school international. For now it is important to rescue minors from difficult conditions and reintegrate them into a school project.”
“Altrove” was released under the Still I Rise brand: “but the promotion of the book – explains the author – serves to share our educational project. It serves to support it. We have an ambitious project for the future: the opening of the school in Colombia, we would like to open one in India and at the end of 2025 open the doors of a school for migrants and vulnerable Italians in Italy. But to do this we must broaden our donor base. It’s a real need. I always say: a monthly donation that allows you to plan is better than a one-off donation”. It is therefore better to support and understand the Elsewhere.
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