Bari, Italy a bridge of solidarity between European and African children
Children at St Philip Neri, an elementary school in Bari, recently got together with teachers and parents to show concrete solidarity with their peers living in Conakry in Guinea. Classes III C and III D in particular produced a play, the proceeds of which were donated to support the little patients of the DREAM centre in Africa.
The initiative was born after the children were made aware about the DREAM centre in Conakry by some people who went there as helpers and who shared their experience with them. This contact with Africa through the words of people elder to them, and the information they learned about the enormous gap between their lives and those of African children, deeply touched our friends in third grade and encouraged them to realize – albeit in the modest surroundings of their reality – a great and vivid example of Euro-African solidarity.
Africa was placed right at the heart of the initiative: hanging on the Christmas tree were photos of children from the School of Peace in Conakry and the presence of African musical instruments (kora, balafon, tambourine, djembe, and so on) gave a different note to the day. The many questions asked about the African continent turned the packed meeting into a lively discussion in which the children proved themselves to be at the same level as the adults present.
Truly the friendship between Europeans and Africans, the bond between two different worlds that want to be close together, has helped and caused everyone to grow in Bari as much as in Conakry.