2023-07-08 17:05:56
by Ruggiero Corcella
The story of Nicholas Green, the child symbol of organ donation, continues to be a source of inspiration. The initiative of a primary school in Seregno (MB)
A seven-year-old boy like many others. The round face dotted with freckles. The absorbed and impenetrable gaze: is he smiling or serious? In the photos that portray him we continue to see him like this, Nicholas Green, at the foot of a mountain, in his blue turtleneck, the green windbreaker open. Or with the green and blue striped sweater. Delivered to the eternity of heroes or saints he, who had one life and gave seven. A flower cut off by a gunshot, while he went on vacation to Calabria with his family. Innocent victim of a robbery. When? September 29, 1994. Twenty-nine years later, what remains of that child and of the decision to donate his organs, taken by his father Reginald and mother Maggie despite the excruciating pain? That decision marked a real “revolution” in the culture of donation, in an Italy hitherto distrustful and indifferent.
Pupils and support teacher
The answer lies in the drawings that 18 students from class 1A of the Aldo Moro Comprehensive Institute in Seregno (Monza and Brianza) made a few weeks ago. Nicholas has become one of them, a classmate, a friend. They depicted him together with Eleanor, his sister. Surrounded by rainbows and hearts, with the sun shining. They met him thanks to Simone Morano, 36, a support teacher. “I remember Nicholas. I was born in 1987, like him. I was seven too when he was killed. And today he would be the same age as me », he says.
The park named after Giussano
Strange coincidences of life. Simone is passionate about his land, Brianza. And he decided to shoot it – and tell it – far and wide on his website (viaggiareinbrianza.it). This is how it happened in Giussano in the “Nicholas Green park” which houses the monument to Freedom by the sculptor Harry Rosenthal, a tribute to the Resistance in Italy. «Wanting to write about it on the site, I also delved into the story of Nicholas. But that was all. A few days later, however, it happened quite by chance that I had a substitute in one of the classes where I support. I had also started an initiative on managing emotions in this class since January and I thought about including Nicholas’ story in this activity». Thanks to the full support of the head teacher (Francesco Digitalino), of the primary school plexus contact person (Rosella Consonni) and of the IA coordinator teacher (Valentina Fumagalli), Simone can start the new project.
Adapt language to children’s understanding
«Clearly that of Nicholas is a particular story, because it is a question of a dead child and moreover in dramatic circumstances. So the language, and also all the media used to tell his story, have been adapted to the level of understanding of 6-7 year olds ». Simone also showed them the video «The Nicholas effect», made by Nicholas Green Foundation. How did they react? “They asked a thousand questions. They wanted to know about Eleanor, Nicholas’ little sister.’
Simone also spoke of organ donation, always using words within the reach of children. «Even if this topic is usually addressed starting from middle school, the pupils have accepted it as a very normal thing. Not everyone knew the word “organ”, so I used the expression “pieces of body”. It’s not nice to hear, but it gives the idea and many of them have internalized it. For example, they understood that Nicholas’ liver saved the life of a certain person, his eyes allowed another to start seeing again, and so on,” she adds. “The fact that Nicholas now lives in other people has affected them. If even just two or three of them will remember his story in a few years, he will mean that we did a good job ».
Contact with papa Reginald
Simone then proposed to the pupils to draw a drawing “to express their emotions, also to try to understand what they had drawn from this terrible story” and added that she would try to contact Nicholas’ father to ask him if he was interested in receiving drawings. She wasn’t hoping for much. Instead Reginald Green responded with his usual enthusiasm. After obtaining the permission of the children’s parents, Simone photographed both the drawings and their authors and will send them to Reginald who will publish them on the Foundation’s website.
«What always surprises me is that the power of Nicholas’ story to inspire the idealism of Italians, young and old, is still so strong after nearly 29 years. In this case, when he was killed, most of their parents were around the age these children are now », Reginald Green points out for him. On his drawing, one of the pupils wrote: «Nicholas I hope you are well». Maybe he really got it all figured out.
July 8, 2023 (change July 8, 2023 | 5:05 pm)
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