L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS ready to go at it alone. With his wife, Teresa Sarti (1946- 2 0 0 9 ) , h e f o u n d e d E m e r g e n c y , a n e u t r a l , independent association to b r i n g f r e e h i g h - q u a l i t y , medical and trauma care to t h e v i c t i m s o f w a r , l a n d - mines and poverty. H e s t a r t e d f r o m t h e genocide in Rwanda, then it was Cambodia and, later, A f g h a n i s t a n , w h e r e h e opened a surgical center in A n a b a h , i n t h e P a n s h i r Valley. There, in the same country that, today, has vio- lently returned in the spot- l i g h t , E m e r g e n c y h a s , i n s p i t e o f c o u n t l e s s c h a l - lenges, three hospitals, a maternity center and a net- w o r k o f 4 4 t r a u m a a n d emergency hubs. On the day he, unexpect- e d l y , d i e d i n N o r m a n d y , T u r i n d a i l y L a S t a m p a published his last article, Così ho visto morire Kabul ("This is how I saw Kabul d i e " ) , a m a n i f e s t o a n d m o r a l a n a l y s i s , o f w h i c h we'd like to share a short, but intense citation: "I lived in Afghanistan seven years in total. I've seen violence and the number of people g e t t i n g h u r t e s c a l a t i n g , while the country was pro- gressively devoured by inse- c u r i t y a n d c o r r u p t i o n . T w e n t y y e a r s a g o , w e already said this war was to be a disaster for everyone. Today, the results of it are for everyone to see: a fail- ure, under every point of view. Beside the 241,000 casualties and the 5 million displaced, both internal to the country and refugees, Afghanistan, today, is about to fall once more into civil war. More than anything, it's a country on its knees, where those who can do try to escape, even if they know they'll have to go through hell to reach Europe…". Emergency's humanitari- a n j o u r n e y g o e s o n . U g a n d a , I r a q , E r i t r e a , S i e r r a L e o n e – h i t b y a n Ebola epidemic – Yemen. And then, Algeria, Angola, Palestine, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka and Sudan, where it creates the first, entirely f r e e m e d i c a l c e n t e r i n Africa. The NGO -- which is today a UN partner -- does- n ' t l i m i t i t s a c t i v i t i e s a t building hospitals or bring- i n g h i g h q u a l i t y m e d i c a l specializations in 19 coun- tries, it has also taken the f i e l d t o b a t t l e a g a i n s t Covid-19 at the height of t h e e m e r g e n c y , e v e n i n I t a l y , w h e r e i t o f f e r e d mobile medical centers and assistance from Brescia to Naples, from Marghera to C a s t e l V o l t u r n o , f r o m Sassari to Palermo. Emergency's most recent international project is in U g a n d a , w h e r e u n d e r - 5 child mortality is ten times h i g h e r t h a n i n I t a l y ( 4 9 deaths every 1,000 births) a n d w h e r e i t h a s j u s t opened a surgical center set to become a reference for t h e e n t i r e c o n t i n e n t . R e n z o P i a n o i s a l s o involved: "I like to think about Africa like a laborato- ry for the future, not only as a backdrop for pain and for- gotten wars. Gino Strada – the famous starchitect said t h i s p a s t A p r i l – a l w a y s asked me to design a 'scan- dalously beautiful' hospital. He mentioned the idea of 'scandal' because, for some people, offering beauty and e x c e l l e n c e t o e v e r y o n e , especially to the unfortu- nate and the marginalized, is, indeed, scandalous,." A charismatic and coher- ent leader. A man moved by a u t h e n t i c h u m a n i t a r i a n commitment. Thanks to his m o d u s o p e r a n d i a n d h i s c h a r a c t e r , h e b r o u g h t Emergency to many a tor- tured realities and created, a l o n g w i t h a n u m b e r o f A f r i c a n c o u n t r i e s , t h e Manifesto for a Human Rights-Based Medicine, to reclaim a equity, quality a n d s o c i a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y b a s e d h e a l t h c a r e . B u t h e would also ask Italians to concretely commit to make l a n d m i n e s i l l e g a l a n d t o support all anti-war cam- paigns. Green Parrots: A War Surgeon's Diary (1999) and Buskashì: Viaggio dentro la Guerra (a jour- ney inside war) (2002) are a m o n g t h e m o s t i n t e n s e b o o k s I h a v e e v e r r e a d . Strada, a surgeon who oper- ated on thousands of people w o u n d e d b y b u l l e t s a n d s h r a p n e l , w r i t e s w i t h courage, tells about war and about the horror of land- mines masked as toys, so t h a t c h i l d r e n w o u l d p i c k them up, only to be maimed by them forever. "(These are) weapons not designed to kill, but rather to inflict unspeakable sufferance to innocent children, placing their families and society u n d e r a t e r r i b l e b u r d e n . Still today, those children are to me – he said in 2015, upon receiving the Right L i v e l i h o o d A w a r d s , a n ' a l t e r n a t i v e N o b e l p r i z e ' that, since 1980, has been honoring and supporting who 'offers practical and e x e m p l a r y a n s w e r s t o today's most urgent chal- lenges'—the very symbol of contemporary wars, a con- s t a n t f o r m o f t e r r o r i s m towards civilians." My story with Emergency began by chance, but soon b e c a m e a w e l l p o n d e r e d choice. I met Gino Strada for the first time in Orvieto, when Emergency's national convention was presented. W h e n I a p p r o a c h e d h i m and his wife to ask a couple o f q u e s t i o n s , I w a s w e l - comed immediately by two people who didn't want any distance to exist between m e a n d t h e m . T h i s w a s Gino Strada. A doctor at the very front of the frontline, a c r i t i c a l c o n s c i e n c e w h o remained in the spotlight to bring attention to the most wounded, but was, at the same time, a "next door" man. From mere volunteering, b e c o m i n g p a r t o f Emergency turned into a necessity, a constant com- mitment that never tired me, nourished by the desire to work for change, and by the certainty to be part of a group of women and men w h o , e v e r y W e d n e s d a y night, would meet to build a better future. After a hand- f u l o f m o n t h s , I f o u n d myself speaking about the tragedy of war in schools, telling how I didn't manage to stop tears from pouring , the time I heard a child vic- tim of a landmine cry for the first time. My duty was to inform, t o t e l l t h e s t o r y , b u t Emergency and Gino Strada were there with those chil- dren to help them. And his doctors still are, to build a new future. To give people t h e h o p e t h a t H u m a n i t y isn't only a death machine, busy dropping bombs from the skies, but also a pair of g e n t l e e y e s a b l e t o b r i n g them out of darkness. In only a few months, the Venetian group of which I was part, led by his histori- cal founder, Carlo, became quite large, with volunteers of all ages. The activities we carried out for Emergency w e r e n ' t s i m p l e s t a n d s t o collect funds: we spoke to people about our projects, we brought our stories to them. We shared our prin- ciples and values. We con- tinued for years, achieving important goals also with G i n o S t r a d a w h o , i n t h e meanwhile, had moved to Venice with his wife. On the Lagoon, two years ago, in occasion of the 76 th F e s t i v a l d e l C i n e m a , t h e documentary Beyond the Beach, the Hell and the H o p e w a s p r e s e n t e d . A work entirely focused on the work of Emergency and the brutality of war. Back t h e n , d i r e c t o r G r a e m e Scott: "We've directly wit- nessed pain and suffering in tragic circumstances, but a l s o t h e h u m b l e n e s s a n d k i n d n e s s o f t h e p e o p l e working with Emergency, w h o d e v o t e t h e m s e l v e s entirely to those in need." Continued from page 4 Strada at work with his equipe (Photo courtesy of Emergency)

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