Time.news – “We are all foreigners in someone else’s eyes”. The wise reflection of Nonna, a sweet elderly Albanian who, with her life, her courage has given hope to a group of Syrian children who no longer have a home or a reference point, acts as a counterpoint to the torments of Nur who regrets the apartment that has seen collapse under the bombs.
But where will Nur find his refuge? In another house, in another family where there is no longer a hearth, there is a different language, in a tent in a camp set up for refugees, in a Greek city, where there is only a sea which will be for everyone.
It will be the torment of Popi, the Albanian girl born Greek, it will be that of the Syrian boy and the Congolese girl, all united by the dog Safi who acts as a glue between different affections. But Grandmother’s thought is also expressed by many other young people, confronted with the difficulties that incomprehension and hatred present everywhere mercilessly generate. because “diversity” is not considered an opportunity for learning and growth, but a further obstacle to understanding and solidarity.
The stories collected by Nicolò Govoni, cooperative and president of the Still I Rise association, author of over 100 thousand copies, condensed this time in the volume “Every change is a big change” (Rizzoli editore), reflect true stories, filtered by the experiences of his students.
Stories that are a drop in the ocean of all those that arise between the personal stories of refugees in the world, among whom Govoni has brought about his own radical “change”. making, for example, a school for children who had lost itswallowed up, like many others, by the monster of war, or persecution, hunger, and above all the loss of childhood to which they are entitled.
A “change” this, even small, as the author says, “but which for them is a big change capable of turning the world upside down”. And it’s the little things, as the book teaches us, that open us up to the big ones. In fact, all the stories are desperate searches for the dream of a family, of a community based on love, where origin, races, habits, blend in the warm hearth of affections.
For example, Govoni tells us about Njoki’s wait on the banks of the Congo River who hopes for the return of her sister who fled for love, a difficult and almost hopeless love, poisoned by racial hatred. And he tells us about the long letter that Wasim, having escaped forced enlistment, wrote to his little sister Isra, a genius of women’s football who, in love with Messi, will receive a footballer’s shirt as a gift from his refugee brother.
Then there is the story of an albino, the only one in his village, who is held up as the son of a witch and will be forced to look for another roof., another family to be able to have a hope of a future. Incredible, then, is the story of a child, snatched from death by a family who, defying danger several times, manages to bring to shore, after having created a human chain in the tumultuous waters of the Congo River, the little body of the newborn placed in a floating basket, to resolve a race conflict.
A new Moses, which signifies the triumph of life in the squalid clash between atavistic tribal conceptions. The purpose of these stories is intended to be, as the author points out, an encouragement to increasingly spread the right to study, denied and hindered by the barbarity of war, ignorance, and the indifference of governments light years away from the duty to ensure the sacrosanct right to learn.
“It really is a book that contains the stories of our students – explained Nicolo Govoni to Time.news – who live in the countries where we operate and have operated. Stories that tell through the eyes of children what it means to be migrants, miners, displaced persons. They are stories of real life that arise from a project carried out at the beginning of the year: we have disseminated traces in schools, to get from our students pills of their reality. Typical indications: tell me what family means; when did you have courage; who is the best friend for you. And I wrote them, mixed them, revised them. And from this mix, it emerges that war and poverty cannot and must not hinder their dreams and goals for children. Despite the serious conditions in which they find themselves, these children have desires and dreams in common with those of their Italian and European peers”.
Govoni, asking for the dissemination of what he wrote to concretely support his activity, proudly tells us that in the last four years he has conducted 40,000 hours of lessons, served 300,000 meals, provided 20,000 hours of therapies and 150 tons of goods for schools, refusing public subsidies.
Because with Still I Rise, several international schools have been opened such as the one in Kenya and soon also in Colombia, or emergency schools such as in Syria and Congo which offer, in the first case, the Baccalaureate, a prestigious title reserved only for the elite, offered in this case, even to vulnerable and refugee children.
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 their country of origin. because Still I Rise educates in an emergency but also educates to rebuild.
“Yes – says Govoni – this concept is our forte. I consider it our greatest privilege. We work in emergency schools but also in international schools. And we are certified and awarded for it. Let’s give vulnerable children the chance to become the next politicians, the new leaders. There is great dissonance when one is uprooted from one’s land. No one should be put in the position of having to leave. Sure, this would be the perfect world, but it isn’t. And then we have to create opportunities to try to reverse course. We don’t give crumbs by opening a simple school. But schools of excellence. Disadvantaged people must be given the chance to become the strong minds of tomorrow.”
The first emergency school from which Still I Rise then started was “Mazi”, on the island of Samos which is now closed: “And for us this – continues Govoni – is a success. I know that many don’t like it what I support but for me, a project must not remain open indefinitely. Otherwise it slips into welfarism. After four years of school in Greece, we realized that our work was no longer necessary whereas before it was vital given that there was an educational center on the island for refugee children. Mazi was the first school. Four years later our service was obsolete. Institutional work had been done on an educational level and so that was it, our school was no longer needed . The refugee camp on Samos was no longer there, in its place there is a new centre, with better living conditions. We have pushed the European apparatus to do their job better. And then, the remaining children went finally in public school. Mission accomplished. A project not it can remain open forever. On the contrary, closing it means that the crisis is resolved. The goal of international cooperation must be to make itself obsolete. And solving is cause for celebration. Still I Rise was born from Mazi, let’s not forget that”.
How does the association “live”?
“With difficulty – explains Govoni – we refuse funds from governments and institutions that do not pass our ethical rules. We don’t always agree on how these bodies operate. In cooperation it can happen that money dictates the direction. We are independent, we have private donors, ordinary people or companies who find adherence between our work and what they believe in”.
What is the latest book “Every change is a big change” for?
“Not only to amplify the voices of the children who donated their stories but also to support their dream. Soon we will move to open a school in Colombia, always of international standing and the proceeds from the book will go to support the initiative as already other editorial initiatives. Colombia is the second country in the world for the reception of refugees. It is a country that has many social problems. And we, even there – he concludes – want to create the school that has the strength to free the children of the favelas to make so that one day the world elite will be formed not only of the old caste but also of new and enlightened minds for a more just future”.