Reggio Africa Board's Journal

1. REGGIO AFRICA - A FRIENDSHIP STORY
4

2. In April 2011, during the events organised to mark the twentieth anniversary of
the death of Giuseppe Soncini, the City Council set up the Tavolo Reggio-Africa
work group with the support of local agencies and associations who shared an
interest in international and intercultural dialogue with African countries.
It had two main intentions:
- to recover and organise documents illustrating the area’s history of coopera-
tion by setting up the AREA archives (Archivio Reggio Emilia Africa) for docu-
ments in the Archives of the City and several private archives stored at Istoreco
(Istituto per la Storia della Resistenza e Società Contemporanea di Reggio
Emilia), the Giuseppe Soncini-Bruna Ganapini Archives, and the Franco Cig-
arini Fund stored at the Panizzi Library.
The intention of AREA is to preserve this wealth of documents, images and per-
sonal accounts for the community of Reggio Emilia and make the public aware
of the story they relate of the city’s exceptional dedication to solidarity and
international collaboration at European level.
- raising awareness of the past among younger generations and so reaffirm the
fundamental values in our community and relaunch the partnership between
the local area and Africa.
The work group was set up to respond to a “new question” about Africa.
Reggio Emilia is now increasingly open to dialogue and discussion with African
countries using culture, art, cooperation and intercultural dialogue.
The Tavolo Reggio-Africa work group is an important tool at the service of this
civil and cultural heritage, helping to create a network and coordinating and
promoting initiatives and projects of cooperation aimed at countries in Southern
Africa.
The Work group also works in other dimensions, over and above its study of
history and its events for schools, such as:
Art: promoting involvement of artists from Africa in exhibitions and moments of
cultural discussion in the city. With the organisation of the William Kentridge
exhibition at Spazio Gerra in 2011; the “Reggio Africa storia di un’amicizia”
exhibition at Chiostri di San Domenico in 2012; the “Architettura Mozam-
bicana” exhibition at the former Synagogue in 2015, and “Breve storia della
fotografia sudafricana” during Fotografia Europea 2017.
Finance and Economy: projects for cooperation to promote partnerships
linking our area and African countries. Several initiatives were developed by
Fondazione E35, an agency for international projects set up by the City of
Reggio Emilia, promoting the participation of local businesses operating in
the automotive industry, in agriculture, food, renewable energies, planning,
research, educations, etc. The Particidade project was launched in 2018 in aid
of the city of Pemba and Maputo in Mozambique, funded by the Italian Agency
for Cooperation and Development.
Values and Ethics: discussion about the Ubuntu-City of People, debate about
PRESENTATION OF THE
“TAVOLO REGGIO AFRICA” WORK GROUP

3. The Reggio Africa Archive (AREA)
and the “Reggio-Africa” educational projects
the system of values of African people and the people of Reggio Emilia with the
aim of identifying universal principles and similarities.
Social Questions: discussion about the current role played by Africa in the
development process. Analysis of the complex path for the constitution of an
African Union and of the system of political and economic relations that this
will create in the dialogue with Europe and Italy on the one hand, and in the
discussions between African communities and areas with Italian communities
and territories in a context of a slow economy on the other hand. The first
“Africa Day” was held in 2017 with the support of Fondazione Mondinsieme
and the Associations of African communities. This offered an opportunity to
reflect on the role of the diaspora and on the actions of active citizens promoted
by the Associations of African communities living in Reggio Emilia.
Sport: a pact of friendship linking Rugby Reggio and Gauteng Golden Lions
of Johannesburg was signed in 2015, marking the start of a partnership in the
world of sport with the capacity to promote social, economic and educational
initiatives. The rugby project led to a wider project for the organisation of
the first “OR Tambo-Soncini Social Cohesion Games” held in the province
of Gauteng in 2017 and attended by delegations from Ac Reggiana 1919,
Polisportiva Tricolore and Reggiana Nuoto.
Over the years, the Tavolo Reggio-Africa work group has developed a
dimension that takes in all of the above fields through its focus on education
integrated with the subjects taught in local schools.
The demand to add an educational element to the work group came from its
own members, at a time (2011) when cooperation was under discussion and its
future was uncertain.
It is particularly important that younger members of society are made aware
of the events that took place in the past and learn about the meetings that
paved the way for the relationship between Reggio and countries in Southern
Africa so that the memory of these events is saved for posterity. It is a way for
young people to realise they are part of a story which belongs to them too, and
for them to realise that they also have a role to play to carry on writing and
renewing it.
When I was working with Istoreco in 2016, I was asked to reorganise the
section of the Archives of the City of Reggio Emilia dedicated to relations
developed between the city and southern Africa starting in the 1960s. AREA,
the Reggio Africa Archives, has 93 files containing vital details about the
past for researchers, that have huge educational value. In addition to these
documents, there are papers produced by Reggio nel Mondo, the agency
founded by the City of Reggio Emilia in 2000 to work on its international
profile. The documents in the two archives are useful for reconstructing the
processes in history that led to a new solidarity movement and the shift to
decentralised cooperation in favour of countries previously supported in
the fight for independence and against apartheid. The African Archives at
Istoreco are stored on behalf of the City and can be seen as a open and useful
construction site for the promotion of culture.
In some ways, an archive is a living thing. It will wilt or die if it is starved of
oxygen. And in this case, what better oxygen than the curiosity and vitality of
young people? The teaching projects I have been developing for Istoreco and
the Tavolo Reggio Africa work group since 2017, are part of the platform of
the European AMITIE CODE project and are based primarily on the idea of
using the archives as food for the new - and sometimes astounding - thought
of students. Taking a look at the exceptional story of the relations between
the city of Reggio Emilia and Southern Africa, from brand-new forms of
international solidarity to the development of international collaboration,
necessitates a “different” outlook, even if it’s just for a moment. Not just
because the kids have to travel in space and time to listen to stories that
are generally unfamiliar to them but also, perhaps above all, because it is
an opportunity for them to see a reality that they thought they knew inside
out, with new eyes: the city where they live; it streets and its monuments.
And so, after school, they might happen to go look for the statue of Oliver
Reginald Tambo in the park named after him... And so, the work on AREA,
constantly supported by a multimedia-based approach, can act like a mirror
for the students, letting them take a look at their own history as if it were
a photograph taken though a wide-angle lens. But keeping the focus on
individuals and on the community. On their choices. AREA documents are
traces left by people who operated at glocal level starting in the 1970s, well
before the term “glocal” was even invented. This means identifying resources
in the local area and exploiting them for causes that seem to be a long way
away from our daily life. A global viewpoint, you might say. People whose
efforts were spent in a concrete show of solidarity; in a word that is only
apparently banal, showing friendship with peoples fighting for their freedom.
In this way, the personal accounts of their commitment become an asset for
an entire community, like seeds for create public workshops targeting the new
generations, with the ultimate goal of being another tool for taking on the
challenges of their world. We should not forget that their commitment produced
healthy roots for the international relations that still flourish between Reggio
Emilia and Africa.
I would like to thank my travel companions who enriched the journey we
shared with the kids, even if it was only for the space of a lesson. Without them,
the teaching projects designed specifically for the prospectus of each school
would not have been possible.
I am also profoundly grateful to all the students who took part in the projects.
For teaching me to listen more closely. For obliging me to ask new questions or
reformulate them. For the things they made me discover. For being amazing.
And for being moving.
Nelson Rolihlahla would have been 100 in 2018.
I would like to finish with a quotation by him:
“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears”
by Chiara Torcianti
Contact person for AREA and for workshops

4. THE EDUCATIONAL ROLE OF THE TAVOLO REGGIO-
AFRICA WORK GROUP:
schools as the focus of the Reggio-Africa friendship
There can be no predicting the success of attempts to involve schools in the
friendship and dialogue with Africa, but it was not difficult at Reggio. This
dialogue must grow and be passed on to new generations along with the
awareness that the present day has solid roots in a programme undertaken
by Reggio in support of numerous African peoples as they strove to build their
democracy. The personal accounts included in this volume are an example of
a mass effort undertaken by students and teaching staff; a path undertaken
alongside many other people who believe in this friendship and want it
to continue. Reggio is not any old city on the panorama of international
cooperation, especially as far as Africa is concerned.
Giuseppe Soncini founded the pioneering approach taken by the city; building
a local partnership, a sense of community that could be seen in the suffering
and choices of our friends, brothers and sisters in Africa who were fighting to
defend their rights and their dignity. This relationship extended the confines of
action at Reggio, creating the first “prototype” of a transnational community,
of global citizenship. Reggio shared reflections, chaired debates and welcomed
Africa into its home. This was done in the local spirit of a lively family debate,
driven by opinions, of time spent at the dinner table when thoughts, ideas,
culture, good food and memories are all up for discussion. Around such tables,
the people from Reggio and many African leaders shared their passions in
a spirit of true friendship (rather pompously called “equal and territorial
partnership” today), coming to some major decisions that are reflected in
today’s policies in several African countries. We have the privilege of having
safeguarded traces of this story so we can still refer to it, in the same light yet
profound spirit of that time. We have gathered together personal accounts,
photos, videos, writings, notes and documents, collected via the Reggio Africa
Archive in recent years. Now, these have become stories and documents that
Istoreco has turned into educational tools.
We are trying to convey the sense of closeness, of intimacy of thought , of the
unity of purpose for a mutual cause. This profound meaning can be captured
by reading the documents and by listening to the experiences of direct
witnesses, creating passion and summoning the strength of cooperation and
solidarity. Working with schools means sharing this awareness with the new
generations: documents from the past become an opportunity to speak up,
which schools seize. They are brought to life through the stories of the people
living at that time. As in any friendship, it is important to remember that no
experience or story is more important or dignified that any other ... so often
these are simple tales of everyday life, depicting the human side of great leaders
and helping us to remember that collectively these stories have significance for
our communications with young people. Over the years, we have seen how this
empathy between Reggio and Africa can be shared with younger generations,
and that it is an opportunity for our schools to reflect about lots of different
topics in daily life, starting from migration and the dignity of men, and also
how we welcome them. The story of friendship was - and is - an opportunity
for discussion about topics like access to water or food (fundamental aspects
for the concept of sustainable development) as well as an obvious opportunity
to study modern history (like the history of apartheid in South Africa and the
birth of the new free South Africa).
The discussions at schools took on a depth and a unique richness that is
clearly evident in the selection of works proposed in these pages. We drove
discussions that often led us to speak about basic human rights, referring
to the fundamental articles of the Constitution. Reggio- Africa in schools
and with schools, is about exploring, studying and seeing oneself alongside
other boys and girls, young men and women; a concept of open community
capable of being very humble yet powerful, an important vehicle of change.
If we acknowledge that we are a community, we can grow together properly
and respectfully. There is no right age when you should start practising this
concept. There is no age when you can say you have reached your objective: it
is a path of friendship that is intimate and official at the same time.
Our kids get a very strong understanding of the story and the scope of their
recent past, conveyed through personal anecdotes as well as documents.
The experiences described in this volume show how schools have understood
the values of respect, solidarity and the protection of human rights, and
made them their own, the same values that have always been the mark of
our community. This document was also the result of the direct efforts made
by the students and teaching staff who are an integral part of the Tavolo
Reggio Africa work group. The friendship binding Reggio with Africa is a
consolidated story but now must find new energy through daily reaffirmation
of the values that led to its birth. What does solidarity and cooperation mean
today? How is Africa present in Reggio today? How can an archive become an
instrument to help us interpret and understand our city; how we are part of
a global community? In brief, we think this document can represent a source
of inspiration for new projects or relationships, not just for the community of
Reggio Emilia but also for the teaching staff and students in other cities around
the world.
Luca Vecchi
Mayor of Reggio nell’Emilia
Serena Foracchia
Councillor for the International City

5. LETTER PRESENTING THE PEMBA PROJECT
The “IV NOVEMBRE” primary school in Gavasseto initiated a twin-town and cooperation project
in 2003, involving all the school kids from year one to year five, and those attending Natite school
in Pemba, Mozambique.
Activities are planned from year to year associated with all their school subjects and have become
a part of the normal school programme of each class, supplementing the standard prospectus.
The exchanging of letters, drawings, photos and other items is a new way of looking at issues in the
local area based on a direct comparison with events going on in Mozambique.
Over the years, the inquisitive minds of the children have led us to take a closer look at various
topics like the exploitation of natural resources, like water and land. We have discussed several
issues together, like the importance of education, about working children, the various types of
cultivation, food, playing, and toys.
However, over the last two years we have tried to focus our attention on certain aspects of their
culture, like music, and we have tried to understand the importance of rhythm with percussion
instruments, playing the drums and other original instruments from Africa.
Thanks to kids just like them in Pemba, the children here learn about
different topics and become increasingly aware of the needs and difficulties
faced by their friends day after day. At the same time, they understand
the importance of responsible behaviour and how important it is to have
an increasingly broad outlook with regard to the rest of the world.
It is second nature for them to take this input home and share the lessons they have learned with
their family; it is thanks to them that their parents take an active role in this project. For example, the
children proposed “bread week” as a token of thanks to their friends and this has been repeated
every year for the last ten years. The parents who are class representatives contact local bakers
who bring fresh bread to school for a week, which is shared out among the children for their mid-
morning snack. The money the parents usually spend on snacks for the week is collected and sent
to Natite school to fund its “OFICINA DE ARTE” projects.
This project has two main benefits: it helps the children at both schools
learn things in different ways, sharing the mutual goals of friendship,
knowledge and aperture towards others.
Anna Maria Pergetti
Head of the Project
“IV NOVEMBRE” PRIMARY SCHOOL, GAVASSETO, REGGIO EMILIA
6/10 years

6. WATER IS PRECIOUS
exhibition and
anecdotes about how
we use water
“Nomorethan2litresofwateraday...toshareabitofdailylife.
Wealsotriedtouseaslittlewateraspossibleforallourneeds.”
SOLIDARITY IN
WHAT WE EAT
experience in
alternative food and
fund-raising
“Foraweek,wedrinktapwater
andeatbreadatschool,instead
ofsnacks,broughtinbythelocal
bakers.Wesendthemoneywehave
savedbynotbuyingthesnacksto
thekidsinPemba.
Aprojectinventedbychildrento
thanktheirfriendsinPemba.”

7. SAY SOMETHING
ABOUT WHO YOU ARE
USING ITEMS
exchanging gifts and
recipes between students
“Schoolchildrenexchangeletters,objects,gamesandstorieswithchildreninPemba.”
THE GIFTS OF NATURE
growing vegetables
by the schoolchildren
“Wegrowour
ownvegetablesat
schoolsowelearn
abouthealthyand
naturalfood.”
Gavasseto, 28th October 2017
Dear Mr Samito, we are the group of children you met
this summer at the “IV Novembre” school in Gavasseto.
It was an honour and a pleasure to meet you, even for
such a short time. We are writing to remind you about
the promise you made in July that you would come back
and see us again soon. In this letter, we would like to ask
you some questions so we can get to know you a bit more
We would like this very much because we would like to
learn more about your life.
We hope you will come back and see us at school soon, so
you can talk to us about what it was like when you went
to school, because we tried to imagine your childhood
and we realised it must have been a very hard and
difficult time. It would have been too hard for us. You
were very, very brave. How did you feel the for first days
at Olga’s house? Did you feel at home with your new
family in Reggio? Did you like it at Reggio? What did you
miss most from your country? What do you remember
most about the time you spent in Italy? Did you have
any brothers or sisters or friends who stayed behind in
Africa? We would like to know something more about the
life of your father because there is very little information
about Samora Machel in Italian What kind of person was
he? Are you like him? What kind of father was he? So,
you see, there are lots of questions we would like to ask
you and these are just some of them. We look forward to
hearing from you and we hope to see you again soon.
Warmest wishes,
the schoolchildren in class 5 from Gavasseto
LETTER TO SAMITO
curiosity and the hope
we will meet again soon

8. “Ourschoolpresents
ourprojectsfor2003
toGracaMachel”
“Let’scelebratethenewparknamedafterSamoraMachel.”
FAMOUS GUESTS AND
OFFICIAL VISITS
5thDecember2014,thePresidentofMozambique
ArmandoGuebuzacamebacktoReggioEmilia.
HemetadelegationfromtheschoolattheValliTheatre.
July2017,Samitomettheteachers,schoolchildrenandtheirfamilies

9. THE BIOGRAPHIES
OF OLGA AND BRUNA
interviews with two
“grandmothers”
The 5th year children had the idea of interviewing Bruna
Ganapini Soncini and writing her biography, and I thou-
ght it was an interesting project so we took up the chal-
lenge, the first time that we had attempted something of
this nature
I listened to the questions prepared by the kids and I was
pleasantly surprised to note their enthusiasm and dedica-
tion when writing down everything that Bruna told them
in her simple but exhaustive answers.
Her life, her career, the times of joy and suffering at
home, and most of all her relationship with Africa made
all of us listening understand the privilege it had been to
be able to hear her story in her own words.
The children learned some very important lessons that
will stay with them as they grow up and become adults.
My sincere thanks to Bruna who gave some of her time
to all of us.
Anna Maria Pergetti
It was the children in my 5th year class who got me invol-
ved in the exciting idea of interviewing Olga Riccò Forna-
ciari and writing a short biography.
They had the idea because they find special people are in-
teresting, and this made me take on the challenge that was
anything but simple as it was the first time that anyone of
us had attempted something of this nature.
Together, we enjoyed listening to the many stories in Ol-
ga’s life, from her childhood in the countryside, the se-
asonal jobs, the war time, marriage and the times when
she welcomed to her home people from another continent,
Africa, even though she didn’t speak their language or
know anything about their culture.
Her gentle and positive way of relating the events in her
life was a precious lesson for us all; something to think
about when things get tough.
The story of her life taught the children some basic values,
like hospitality, openness, social commitment and solida-
rity, which will undoubtedly be useful for them as they
grow up. My sincere thanks to Olga who gave some of her
time to all of us.
Anna Maria Pergetti

10. AFRICAN FABLES
using our imagination
as a tool for discovering
African literature and
culture
This simple booklet is a collection of stories
were inspired by the collection of Nelson
Mandela.
The children attending “IV Novembre”
primary school at Gavasseto reinvented
these African fables with the helps of students
attending “Matilde di Canossa” high school
to mark the “Story of a friendship” festival,
using their imagination and often where the
characters have experiences linked to our
tradition. It proved to be a very interesting
partnership because the schoolchildren
and the students attending different schools
in Reggio worked together on a project
exploring African culture and literature.
The primary school children were asked to
illustrate the stories to make the collection
more attractive with their pictures and
cartoons.
“This experience is the outcome of lots
of important moments that helped our
children grow, and will continue to
do so, in a context of knowledge and
closeness to the African world.”
The students from Canossa High School read the African fables to the
schoolchildren from Gavasseto during an event attended by their families.
The Wolf Queen
An old Sultan who had governed his lands for a long time, one day was crossing the forest
on horseback. It was a beautiful summer’s day and birds were singing in all the trees, but
the Sultan didn’t hear them. All he could think about was his wife, as he was grieving for her
because she had died some months before. The people wanted another Sultanah, but none
of the ladies at court could win his heart.
The Sultan continued his journey through the forest and suddenly he came across a cave.
He wanted to find out what was hidden inside. He cautiously went in and found an injured
lady wolf and he decided to help her. He lifted her up onto his horse and took her to his pa-
lace to tend to her wounds and look after her until she was well again.
One night, when the moon was full, the wolf felt better and ran out of the palace to a lake
nearby. When she saw her reflection, she realised she had been transformed into a beautiful
woman.
The next morning, the Sultan was anxious because his wolf was nowhere to be found, so he
went looking for her. Following her tracks, he arrived at the lake shore.
Here, he met a lovely young girl with long black hair, and so he asked her if she had seen his
wolf. She said the wolf was right there in front of him, and realising the Sultan was astonished
decided to reveal her secret. The Sultan was enraptured by the girl who had won his heart
and so made her the Sultanah of his kingdom.

11. The enchanted song of the magic bird
One day, a strange bird came to a small village and built a nest in the low hills. From that
moment, nothing was safe any more. Anything the villagers planted disappeared from the
fields overnight. Every morning, there were fewer sheep, goats and hens. Even during the
daytime, when everyone was working in the fields, the enormous bird forced its way into the
larders and the barns and stole the food put away for the winter.
To keep the villagers away, the bird bewitched them with his magic song and they soon went
back to work. After a few weeks, a boy called Jimmy, the son of the village elder, was tired of
seeing the villagers had nothing left to eat so he went in search of the bird’s nest. When he
found it, he went back to the village to tell his father. Jimmy’s father rounded up the best sol-
diers in the village to defeat the evil bird. The soldiers set off in search of the nest, but when
they got there the bird bewitched them with his magic song and they returned
empty handed.
This frightened the village elder and he decided to consult the book of secrets and there it
said that the bird would only be defeated by children. All the children went to fell the tree with
the bird’s nest without being bewitched. They found all the stolen provisions in the nest and
when they arrived back in the village they shared them out. The bird tried to
flee, but he was weakened and fell into the sea and drowned.
The mother who was turned into dust
A long time ago, the sun had a daughter. Like her father, she was a bright shining star and
she lived in the even brighter glow of the sun. Her shoes were glittering fireworks, and she
had stardust from fallen stars on her fingers, around her ankles, wrists and neck. She sho-
ne brightly and illuminated the empty space on the other side of the sun that we call sky.
She reigned over it and governed wisely, lovingly and sensibly.
The moon was the wife of the sun and mother of the star. Every morning the moon said
goodbye to her husband and daughter, because they had to light up the sky. Meanwhile,
the moon was at home alone, busy doing the housework.
One day, while she was cleaning the kitchen, she left the stove on, tripped up and was
burned to dust.
Two days later the sun and the star came home and when they saw the pile of dust on the
floor, they swept it away.
But they couldn’t find the moon, and so they started looking for her and found a note where
she had written that she had been turned into dust.
To bring his wife back to life, the sun rebuilt her with his heat and they went all together on
holiday to Mars.

12. THE BIOGRAPHY
OF SAMORA MACHEL
the story of a friendship
between Reggio
and Africa
The students then reflected on the experiences of these famous people, noting their thoughts and
the dreams they pursued.
After meeting Olga Riccò, the students wanted to learn more about Samora Machel, whose life was
linked inexorably with the life of Olga, as she took care of his son Samito when he came to live with
her and her family in Reggio Emilia.
The biographical information about Samora that the students added to their notebooks, came from
Olga herself and from a book written in Portuguese that she gave to the class. Some of the photos
also came from the book, but there were also photos found in the archives illustrating the friendship
between our city and Mozambique. As the children wanted to learn more about this person who
devoted his life to the independence of his country, they wrote a letter to his son Samito, who they
later met at school during an official visit to Reggio Emilia, the city that adopted him for a short time
during his childhood while his father was away fighting for liberation.
“Together with the students, we
read some of the biographies of
famous people like Mother Teresa
of Calcutta and Martin Luther
King, whose ideals were there
life mission, and who were even
prepared to die for them.”

13. “A. EINSTEIN” JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Classes 3B and 3G dusted down an “old custom”: the reading hour at school, starting with the
book “Il bambino Nelson Mandela” by Viviana Mazza.
There were two reasons for this: Setting aside a moment every week for listening and sharing, by
reading out loud, making children more aware of issues like the fight for freedom and the defence
of human rights that President Mandela devoted his entire life to.
The reading session was a huge success and was the starting point for further study, meetings and
discussion. We also had the opportunity to interview two women from Reggio, Bruna Ganapini and
Olga Fornaciari, who made a personal contribution to the fight to liberate countries in Southern
Africa and had the privilege of meeting President Mandela in person.
This meeting made us remember that Reggio Emilia played a fundamental part in the struggle
against apartheid. Just think of the efforts made of Giuseppe Soncini and of the pact between
Reggio Emilia and the African National Congress signed by Mayor Ugo Benassi and Oliver Tambo
(President of the ANC) in June 1977.
The response of our students was enthusiastic and they documented
their study programme with a powerpoint presentation, comments, and
letters. Here is an extract of their work.
We are also organising a “restitution” and sharing festival to be held on the morning of June 4th at
the park in Reggio Emilia named after Nelson Mandela.
We are proud to invite our parents and the general public.
Prof. Stella Caporale
Head of the Project
“A. EINSTEIN” JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, REGGIO EMILIA
11/14 years

14. POEM FROM AFRICA
comments by the
students
The poem we are presenting was published
on 11/11/1982 in the third edition of “Af-
rika Mayibuye” marking the 20th anniver-
sary of Mandela’s sentencing to life impris-
onment.
The collection has different voices from South
Africa (exiles, students, men and women)
that reach us in sign of the struggle of the
South Africa People for a fair society.
They are very gentle yet rebellious voices
that demand respect for their culture. Look-
ing through the collection, you will see there
are some dominating themes: the love of
their land, the weight of oppression, and the
desire for dignity.
CRY
Can the white man speak for me?
Can he feel my pain when his laws
separate me from my wife and my son
and force me to work thousands of miles away?
Does he know my anguish when I walk on his streets at night
clutching onto my pass?
Will he see my despair when I am dead tired
for as long as my piece of paper lets me live?
Can the white man speak for me?
The poem is composed of two verses and finishes with a question: “can the white man speak for me?”
underscoring the fact that white men do not know black men enough, and do not know the pain they
feel. The repetition is almost wanting to tell us that it has always been that way and has become a habit.
White men do not want to hear the cry of pain and suffering of African men; the repetition of the initial
question at the end of the poem is almost inviting the reader to take a stance and air his response to
this cry of suffering.
Our response is that one man cannot decide for another if he does not know what he feels and if he
does not know what he would want to do.
The repetitive rhythm is based on pressing rhetorical questions that we want to ask ourselves based on
a climaxing structure: the anguish of the poet climbs up until the last word, giving the poet a tone of
protest, exposing the problems linked with discrimination.
The text conveys some very strong emotions: anguish, pain, sense of inferiority, submission and above
all anger and fear; it also wants to reveal the ignorance of some white people who had no idea of the
state of mind of black people during apartheid.
The title was chosen specifically to launch “a cry”, like when you are angry or frightened and want to
shout or cry to express this; the message is for the whole world and explains how unfair apartheid is.
In my opinion, the theme of the poem is that one person cannot decide for another: this is what the
poet wants to make white men understand, by making him aware of his suffering. I think this poem is
very significant: the more I read it, the more I understand the deep feelings of the poet, and the more
I like it.
“Anyone who does
not feel
the pain of another
man, cannot call
himself a man.”
The poems were translated by Bruna Ganapini.
The comments to the text are by the students in class 3B

15. LETTER
TO THE AUTHOR
OF THE BOOK
“IL BAMBINO
NELSON MANDELA”
The day got off to a start when the school talked about Africa in general and the meeting between
Reggio and Africa, mentioning several of the people involved at the time like Giuseppe Soncini,
who signed the pact of solidarity linking Reggio and Mozambique. Before we started, we took a
moment to reflect about how we see this country, Africa. The words that emerged were:
joy of living, freedom and brotherhood
all of which, we think, represent the strength of this continent, Africa.
Later, there was an interview with Olga Fornaciari, who opened her home to the son of Samora
Machel (the first president of Mozambique) when he needed medical care they could not guarantee
him. Finally we analysed the poems “Cry” and “We must sow” (poems published in Sechaba).
One of these was recited in memory of our companion. The rest of the time was set aside for final
comments.
We also explored the issues discussed in the book
“Il bambino Nelson Mandela” by Viviana Mazza,
during a study day involving class 4O from Matilde di
Canossa High school when we took a closer look at
the friendship linking our city, Reggio Emilia, to southern
Africa since the 1970s.
“As I mentioned, we read your book “Il bambino Nelson Mandela” and
I would like to thank you personally, as I really didn’t know much
about Nelson Mandela before I read it: I had an idea that he had been an
important President because I had seen some graffiti to that effect on a
wall in Reggio Emilia city centre, but this experience has made me realise
he was a revelation for South Africa.
All the students in class 3B would be very happy to meet you and talk to
you about your book and what you felt when you were writing it.
At times when we were reading it, we felt like we were part of the story,
as we tried to put ourselves in Rohlinhala’s shoes. Often kids tend to
judge a book by its cover and we were impressed by yours at first glance:
we knew we would like it!”

16. We began our study with a quote by archaeologist Paul Matthieau and finished talking
about a journey (a mission) going in the opposite direction (not just geographically) to the
migration whose dynamics we tried to understand.
The kids understood that men have moved and migrated since ancient times whenever they
are faced with imbalance, and so the only possible solution to face a structural problem
today, and not just a passing emergency, is undoubtedly to look for a way to restore the
balance.
In order for this to happen, there must be the real acquisition of rights, peace and political
stability in countries that Europe, or the Western World in general, no longer has time to
consider in its frenetic pursuit of well-being: the “rights of the world” that we discussed at
the beginning of our study, are an unavoidable cornerstone.
But even that is not enough. If we want to continue, we must invest in:
- a new model of economy that takes into account
the cultural wealth of a people and their heritage.
Economy and culture; not economy versus culture.
- long term international cooperation, which is
not necessarily managed according to major
international treaties, at the risk of remaining pure
abstraction, but which start out in the individual
communities, with individual people and the
resources they have and need.
Head of the Project, Prof. Stella Caporale
BELLACOOPIA PROJECT
international culture
and cooperation to
stimulate new economic
models
ENCOUNTER WITH
BRUNA GANAPINI
AND OLGA RICCÒ
The Einstein school students involved the Tavolo Reggio-Africa workshop project, had the chance
of meeting Bruna Soncini and Olga Fornaciari, two symbols of the friendship linking Reggio Emilia
with the story of independence of Mozambique and South Africa. Olga and Bruna were very
happy to tell us about their memories and experiences of Southern Africa and about their meetings
with very important people like Samora Machel and Nelson Mandela, who changed their destiny
along with the destinies of thousands of people across Africa. The students even asked Bruna and
Olga some more personal questions, about decisions involving their families like Olga’s decision to
take the son of Samora into her home, or Bruna’s decision to take on the immense job of translating
Sechaba into Italian.
The meeting was full of significance for the students, as hearing about the experiences of Bruna and
Olga offered them a different angle for interpreting more recent episodes in history, and helped
form a strong human bond with two women who played a part in enriching the memory of our city.
Dearest Bruna and Olga,
I am writing to thank you for being so kind and coming to meet us at school to
talk about your experiences in the past. We were very pleased to meet two people
like you: the emotions you conveyed gave us so much food for thought; your
love for Africa, the friendship formed with Reggio Emilia during the fight for
national independence, and your courage to stand up with the people of South
Africa. This experience has shown us that there are people in Africa who fight
for their rights to the very end, like Nelson Mandela, but it also made us realise
that it is a country full of emotions, love of life, happiness, colours and culture.
We were astonished that Bruna had never been inside a library until she went
to middle school and that she translated the poems at night, on Saturdays and
Sundays, or in the evening after work. As to Olga’s story, we were amazed that
she protected Samito Machel, inviting him to stay at her own home, and the
thoughts of the children when they saw him for the first time made us laugh.
You are two very nice people, sociable and very kind. We hope we will see you
again soon so we can hear more about this magnificent story.
Thanks for everything!

17. “MATILDE DI CANOSSA” HIGH SCHOOL
It was November 2011 when hundreds of students attending “Matilde di Canossa” high school and
kids from all around Reggio Emilia started a study and learning programme. This is long time ago if
the time frame is short, for example if six years represents more than a third of your life up to then.
But it is not long at all for anyone who can remember the private and public emotions stirred by the
words and person of Thenjiwe Mtintsoù.
His words explained the vibrant everyday of Ubuntu to our presumptuous cultures, starting out from
the life-shattering experience of the wounds on his body and his soul, of his country through its
suffering, hardship, and reconciliation.
It was almost as if he took us by hand and led us to meet Kgalema Motlanthe, in the Sala del
Tricolore, so we would understand there with them that “Memories should always be relived. For us
young people, it is exciting to think of the commitment and efforts of true giants of humanity like Mandela,
Tambo, and Tutu, and the steps that led to the birth of the Rainbow Nation. But this enthusiasm has to become
the happiness of profound awareness and the intimate sense of humanity that binds us together... in short: the
happiness of Ubuntu”.
The lessons given by Mirco Carrattieri on behalf of Istoreco in 2012, offered us a complex reading
of history and geo-politics, indicating some essential tools.
We still remember the words of encouragement of Professor Nasila Rembe on March 13th 2013,
in response to our questions:
“1. What does the experience of South Africa suggest in the field of Human Rights?
2. Which practical consequences, on the economic and social field, had the coming into force of
the Constitution of South Africa?
3. In which way does the Ubuntu culture enter the religious dimension and the relations between
human beings?
4. How far is Ubuntu, in its popular definition, considered the belief in a universally shared
bond, that connects all humanity?”
Even the splendid summer school “HUMAN RIGHTS: the figure of Oliver Tambo in the South Africa
of apartheid ‘Our part of the world into a corner of the globe’” was not enough to quench our thirst
for more details.
We did not all have the privilege of meeting Olga Fornaciari and Bruna Ganapini and of hearing
them speak about the time spent near Mandela, Tambo and Tutu, but the fables in the following
pages are branches that grew from their roots and flourished also thanks to our care. Our study
goes on and on and on in these directions. On a human level, it was enriched when we met
Gugulethu football team in October 2014. Others had the honour and magnificent opportunity
of attending the Symposium at the Palazzo della Consulta on November 14th; the lecture given
by Graca Machel at Centro Malaguzzi on April 27th, 2015; the “Reconciliation as a force for
change” conference held by Kgalema Motlanthe at Pontificia Università Laterana on December
13th, 2016.
This continued with “Amitié” and the meetings for this project that have helped three classes to grow
and gain a deeper understanding of the political history of South Africa in the second half of the
20th century. At our school, more than a hundred students aged between fourteen and fifteen, got
their first glimpse of the history of South Africa and are reflecting about their “everyday Ubuntu”.
We all know that Mnemosyne (memory) is loved by Zeus and mother of the Muse. Soon with our
peers from South Africa, we will be trying to understand “isivivane” and will together “cast our
stones” on the heap for a monument that already exists, that perhaps has always existed and
certainly wants to grow with us and for us all.
Stefano Aicardi
Head of the Project
“MATILDE DI CANOSSA” HIGH SCHOOL, REGGIO EMILIA
15/19 years

18. CHANGE IN
PERSPECTIVE
maps and music to
shatter stereotypes
“The lion sleeps tonight” is a song written in 1939 at Johannesburg, South Africa. It was written to
a traditional African tune by Solomon Linda, who recorded it under the name of Mbube, “lion” in
Zulu language: it was a traditional song for hunting lions.
Mr Linda had the song written on a pentagram and registered it at the society of authors. The song
was a huge success in South Africa for two years but was then forgotten and Mr Linda sold the
copyright to Gallo Record Company for 10 shillings in 1952.
He died in poverty in 1963 without ever knowing that the record crossed the African border and
became a global success thanks to Alan Lomax, a great musicologist and expert in folk music who
had discovered it and immediately realised its potential in the field of ethnic music.
Today, people remember “The lion
sleeps tonight” as the song from “The
Lion King”, without knowing anything
about its real origins. This is just one
example of the many episodes of how
African art and culture was transformed
or concealed by Western culture.
The initial meaning of the song, for example, had a significance and depth that was stripped away:
it referred to a legend about the last Zulu king, known as “Chaka the Lion”. The legend says that
Chaka did not perish when the Europeans imposed their dominion over the country, but simply went
to sleep and will awaken one day.The example of the song was used by Istoreco to show us how
the perspective can be overturned for you to see the true identity of things.
During our meetings, we reflected about how the African continent used to be portrayed when we
didn’t have the technology of today. We were shown a map of Africa from a different perspective
to what we have nowadays. In this picture, Africa is seen from an different angle, and this made
us think about how all of us have our own views about life, about people and the things around us.
Our perception of the world is still strongly influenced by Mercatore’s projection, the 16th-century
German-Flemish cartographer who drew maps and charts for sailing and also helped spread a
distorted representation of the actual size of the continents. In his charts, the areas of land are
dilated as the latitude increases, especially in the northern hemisphere. Mercatore put Europe in the
centre, penalising countries in the southern hemisphere which appeared smaller than they actually
are.
For example, if we compare Greenland
with Africa on Mercatore’s maps, the
country looks the same size as the
African continent whereas, in actual
fact, Greenland is about 14 and a half
times smaller.
“The distortion of the Mercatore
Projection represents the world
dominated by Europeans and still
presents a realistic view today even
if such domination no longer exists,
at least officially.”
above Portuguese map, 1502_Mappamundi by
Alberto Cantino
opposite Alkebu Lan by Nikolaj Cyon - Map if Africa
had never been colonised by the Europeans
opposite page: the first man on the left is Solomon Linda
- official author of the song “Mbube”, or the lion, the first
version of the song that inspired the success of “The lion
sleeps tonight” by The Tokens

19. WHITE OR NOT WHITE
role play to help us
understand people’s
rights during apartheid
To help us students understand the discrimination that was the norm during Apartheid, we were
given the same experience as the visitors to Johannesburg museum. At the entrance to the museum,
some visitors are given a “white” card and others are given a “not white” card. Those with the
“white” card gain access to a simpler path than the others. The purpose is to help visitors realise
the different conditions that existed for South Africans during Apartheid and the discrimination
that “not white” people experienced day after day. Similarly, during our visit to the Reggio Africa
archives, we were given a bracelet indicating whether we were “white” or “not white” so we would
immediately realise what it must have felt like for South Africans.
During the programme of events with Istoreco, a visit was also organised to an exhibition at Fotografia
Europea called Breve storia della fotografia sudafricana (short history of South African photography) held
at Chiostri di San Pietro: an opportunity for us to observe powerful photographic reports of 20th
century South Africa.
The visit to the exhibition helped us understand that before racial discrimination was opposed by
political leaders and the general public, it was like a plague in the life of South Africans, altering
the balance of society and creating tensions. Afterwards, we discussed what had made the greatest
impression on us.
“We decided to take the first photo we encountered in the ‘exploration of
the history of Africa’: the image of three albino African kids.
This photo made a lasting impression on us because it conveys a very
important message about prejudice.”
In many African countries, albinos are thought to bring bad luck and are called zeru zeru, meaning
“ghost” or “invisible” in Swahili. African albinos are ridiculed, verbally abused, subjected to
discrimination and are considered a punishment from God by their own family. This is entirely
misled, as it is based not on specific knowledge of facts or the people themselves, but merely on
gossip or preformed opinions that persuade us to accept unjust behaviour.
Prejudice leads to STIGMA: social branding on account of disapproval in society of personal
traits, like the colour of your skin. It was rife between the 1940s and 1950s in Africa where the
population had to register as white or black, and people from different ethnic groups were not
allowed to enter certain areas of the city and had to carry a pass with their fingerprints, photo and
other information proving the areas they were allowed to enter. In Afrikaans, “apartheid” means
“separation”, pointing to the division between the whites in government and the native non whites
across the country.
The role play during our
visit to Istoreco gave is a
taste of this prejudice for
ourselves and gave us a
better understanding of
the lifestyle of the blacks
and whites in South Africa
during Apartheid. Those
who faced the experience
as “whites” completed a
short path without much
impediment, whereas
the “not white” path was
much longer and more
troublesome. The “not
whites” were asked lots of
questions to identify who
they were.
Chiara Torcianti accompanies students to the Archives and to the exhibition curated by Rory Bester

20. MEMORY
THROUGH PLACES
parks
It is a story that wasn’t written in books, but is related in the words of the people who created it
and who continue to take it forward. We wanted to write its story down but it can’t be explained in
words alone, as it is a story that is also told through dance and music. This made us think, because
there are many aspects of the African continent that we only know superficially, and we only
realised their deeper meaning after an exhaustive analysis of history.
We had to “reverse” our angle of vision to see the past from an African point of view. We put
ourselves in the shoes of many people in South Africa, who suffered injustice and the loss of their
basic rights, but thanks to the dedication of several enlightened people like Nelson Mandela, the
destiny of South African people changed course, heading towards peace and greater equity.
What we learned leads us to believe that the inauguration of a public park in Reggio Emilia is an
important way of paying tribute to the history of South Africa and of making the local people more
aware. There are two entrances to Nelson Mandela park named after two winners of the Nobel
Peace Price for civil rights: Albert Luthuli and Martin Luther King jr.
A park is a place to have fun and relax, to think quietly and take a break from the hectic pace of daily life.
The park belongs to us all, and anyone soiling or damaging the facilities in the park is harming the whole
community.
Another two parks commemorate the relationship between Reggio and Africa, named after the
leaders of independent Africa, of the fight against apartheid and for human rights: Samora Machel,
the first president of the Republic of Mozambique and Oliver Tambo, anti-apartheid leader and
President of the African National Congress of South Africa.
We should be proud to have these parks named after such important people in African history,
as the trees in these parks will grow roots as deep as the friendship linking us and our city to the
African continent. One day, new trees will be planted in these parks and will help pass down and
grow our friendship with Africa, giving new vigour to the memory of these great men and women
who made their mark on history.
These are places to enjoy and to reflect about life, and are named after great people from Africa
who taught the world what it means to fight for freedom and equality. And it is our responsibility
to take care of these places and make them the starting points for sharing the values of these great
men. It is not just a question of their name, but of hope, struggle, and thousands of other people
who fought for their ideals and to make their homeland a better place. This is why we all have to
take care of these places and show respect for the people they are named after.
There are several symbols in Reggio Emilia showing its friendship with
Southern Africa. Two new roads were named via Albert Luthuli and
via Martiri di Soweto in 1985. A road named via Città di Pemba was
opened in 2012. The city inaugurated “Oliver Tambo” peace park in
2013 and “Nelson Mandela” park in 2015. There are two monuments
in Oliver Tambo park: one dedicated to Giuseppe Soncini and the other
to OR Tambo. Pemba inaugurated the Reggio Emilia-Pemba friendship
bridge in 2013 and Gauteng Province and the City of Ekurhuleni named
Watville Library after Bruna and Giuseppe Soncini in 2014.
“We didn’t know anything about
the events in past linking Reggio
Emilia and Africa; it is like a
hidden treasure that we discovered
in the classroom.”

21. Recollecting the warm words of Bruna Ganapini Soncini, it was not possible to resist the call of
the Tavolo Reggio-Africa work group and the International City Project, and so we seized the
opportunity to attend the conference given by the former President of the Republic of South Africa,
Kgalema Motlanthe. Our invitation came directly from the South African Embassy for the conference
promoted at the Pontificia Università Lateranense, where we discovered the mpatapo, i.e. the symbol
of reconciliation, a peace knot. We had the honour of attending the conference coordinated by
journalist Ugo Tramballi, held by the President and other leading figures such as the Professor
of Contemporary History, Marco Impagliazzo, and member of the Constitutional Court of Italy,
Giuliano Amato. The deepest consideration in us that obliges us to understand the roots of the
tale of executioners and victims, of the renewal of love into forgiveness and reconciliation. The
considerations that touched us most, that we could define as being essential for understanding the
events of today, can be expressed with a single concept: Ubuntu, the strength that drives
you to be part of others, finding something of yourself in them.
RECONCILIATION
AS A WAY TO DRIVE
CHANGE
a personal account from
Rome to South Africa
Kgalema Motlanthe and Giuliano Amato

22. It is a word that Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu gave us as a lesson on how to go beyond
the separation of Apartheid, because it does not consider a man alone but puts him at the centre
of humanity, amidst other people, who can help and improve the community all around him; “I am
what I am because of who we all are” - “I am because we are”. If a person does a good deed, its
spreads across humanity, reciprocal help, altruism, compassion has an impact on the whole world.
This concept becomes a philosophy, a way of life, a basic principle of ethics and also of the rebirth
of Africa.
In the various areas of society Ubuntu is given the meaning of union, pride, dignity, respect,
brotherhood, solidarity.
“What does “Ubuntu” mean?”
Nelson Mandela answered this question with a memory:
“a long time ago when I was a child, a traveller visited our country and
stayed at our village for a while. He did not need to ask for food and
water, When he stopped, the people gave him food and shelter”.
This is just one aspect of “Ubuntu”, as “Ubuntu” has a series of important meanings: respect, utility,
sharing, community, preoccupation, faith, altruism. Ubuntu is the synthesis of Umuntu ngumuntu
ngabantu, “I am what I am because of what we all are”. It is, therefore, an expression indicating
“goodwill towards others”. It is a rule of life based on compassion and respect for others. Ubuntu is
an ethic or an ideology of South Africa, focused on loyalty and reciprocal relations among people.
It is one of the basic principles of the new Republic. Ubuntu exhorts us to support and help one
another, to be aware not only of your rights but also of your obligations since it is an ideal driver
involving all of humanity, a desire for peace. Mandela used Ubuntu as a tool for the reconciliation
of his country, setting up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, where the persecutors and the
persecuted revealed and related the injustices and abuse given and received. It is not just those
receiving abuse who are victims: people who become tools serving injustice or violence also lose a
part of themselves, and of their humanity.
South African Nobel Prize winner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu presided over the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission and described this aspect very clearly: “A person with Ubuntu is open,
available for others, supportive with others; he does not doubt that others are good and valid
because he has the confidence that comes from knowing he belongs to something much bigger and
that we are hurt when others are humiliated or injured or tortured or oppressed”.
Ubuntu is the link that binds us all, and whoever does not feel it runs the risk of being not entirely
in harmony with himself. Ubuntu can be translated with a simple word like “Humanity” or “Being
human”; a simple word capable of encapsulating lots of meanings. As well as being part of our
general view of a community like Africa and of the respect of reciprocal relations belonging to this
community, the concept of “Ubuntu” is also evident in less complex situations like the home and so
is part of the respect between the individual members of a family. I believe the word “respect” best
UBUNTU
enriching our daily life
through ourselves and
others
expresses the situation of a family’s well-being, explained by “Ubuntu” as being helpful towards
the people around you. Faith, altruism, sharing, dignity, are all values that form the same chain
underpinning the foundations of a family.
Because, what kind of welcome would you like to receive from your parents when you return home
after a hard day a school? You want tranquillity, affection, serenity; a sort of warm attitude from
others. And this leads me to a question asked by the parent of a child in his first year at high school
during a meeting at school. I, as a student, would have known how to answer without hesitation:
“how should I greet my child when he comes home after school? what should I say to him so that
he does not get annoyed and refuse to tell me anything?”. A student older than me answered the
question: “Perhaps the problem is with the question. For him, his problems are not over: just think
he has spent 5 hours in the classroom and very probably he will spend another 5 hours studying,
so it might be better to ask him: “how are you feeling?”.” This is a good example of a warm and
calming greeting; anyone following this example will be rewarded with the answers they desire.
We can also consider an entire community, as if it were a family. This can help us think about
how we welcome people who we call “foreigners” and that very seldom do we ask “how are you
feeling?”
“Ubuntu” means if you help a person, you are not only doing a good deed
for the other person, but you are doing one for yourself too.
I felt ubunto for the first time a year ago, when a friend of mine told me about something that had
happened to her, and then asked me: “What do you think?”. She made me feel important and feel
that I could offer something back. I think she and I both gave something and received something;
that we were Ubuntu together.
by Francesca Fantini
“In the Zulu and
Xhosa languages,
this word stands for
respect, goodwill,
sharing, altruism, faith,
compassion towards
others.”
left: Desmond Tutu,right: Nelson Mandela

23. It’s been almost two months since you were last here with me, Salif. I couldn’t sleep last
night, just like all the other nights since you’ve been gone. I wonder if you are asleep, if
you are thinking of me while you sleep. I don’t know anything at all; all that remains for
me now is doubt. It’s really cold outside, winter is coming. I’d like to know where you
are, if you are cold, who is there with you, keeping you warm.
I haven’t had any news about you since you left. I don’t even know if I want to know. I
couldn’t bear it if I got bad news about your life. I would end up killing myself too.
I wanted to come with you, Salif. I wanted to watch you grow up and grow up with you
too. I was ready to die, all I wanted was to be with you: it would have been better, I would
have wanted the best for you, for us.
Fight if you are still alive, Salif. Always fight for love. I loved your father more than my
own life, since I took that job at the age of 19 to now ... we could have stayed together,
but not all dreams come true. He chose hate, he chose violence, as soon as he found out I
was pregnant: he used to beat me a lot, Salif. My back was covered with bruises for days,
but I didn’t care, the only thing that I was worried about was you. You making space in
my body that was too young to hold you. I hoped you were okay, that nothing bad had
happened or would happen to you: you will always be my first concern, Salif. The day you
disappeared is engraved on my memory like a tattoo and I constantly need to relive the
memory. It’s never enough, perhaps it’s what happens to addicts with drugs: I can’t live
without you. I was coming home from work, it was late, as usual. I remember it well, and
it was cold; I had just been to the shop next door to our house to buy you a blanket, you
A MOTHER’S VOICE
personal stories
linking Africa and Italy
needed one. As soon as I opened the door, I knew that there was something strange in
the air; you weren’t there, Salif, you were no longer there. I looked for you everywhere,
even in places where I knew I wouldn’t find you. I started to think of the most remote
places where you might be, and then three days later, I was walking along the shore and I
went as far as the gathering place for the boats leaving for Italy: that’s where I found you.
It was early in the morning, and you were with the people who work with your father. You
were screaming, crying, I almost didn’t recognise you had it not been for your clothes.
You were just a three year old baby who was trying to bite the arm of the men holding you
with your little mouth, to escape. I was petrified, I didn’t know what to do, what to say
and who to ask for help: I am only 19, Salif. At the end, I ran up to you, I was so close to
getting hold of you, but they grabbed me by my hair, and threw me down to the ground,
they called me a whore: you saw it all, Salif. I will never forgive myself for that. I tried
to kick myself free, praying, crying. I was so weak, but I was determined not to give up.
I remember you had stopped crying by now, and you were looking at me, as they put you
on the boat, so tiny among so many people on aboard. They held me back by my arms,
as I watched you go and leave for a place that I didn’t know if you would reach. I was
incapable of doing anything, even shouting. I could hear you shouting from the boat,
“mummy” the sweetest word of all. You smiled and I smiled back, without being able to
do anything better. You know how much I love you, but I would have liked to tell you. I
would have liked to kiss your little nose like you used to love and hold you close to my
heart once again, for the last time. Remember, Salif, that I am your mother and I always
will be, and I will do anything to come and get you.
In the meantime, try to live your life as best you can and be happy and be brave, like in
your favourite bedtime story.
by Giulia Berselli
The personal story of a woman who went on
various missions in Africa and then decided to
foster a child from the continent, which had given
her so many emotions. We all found the story was
very moving and it inspired us to write two reports
portraying the feelings that submersed us. We
wrote two letters. The first is from a mother who
loses her child in the hope that a better future is
waiting in a place far away from his homeland. In
the second letter, a woman welcomes a foster child
to her home. We wrote these two letters because
we wanted to become part of the story; we were attracted by the role of the mothers from two
different cultural environments and places. For the foreign mother, we imagined a girl from Africa,
also on account of the stories we had heard from people who lived there.
We became so engrossed in that world, we described what it felt like to
experience something that is not part of our world but which felt very
close to us. These two reports come are the outcome of the work carried
out with Tavolo Reggio-Africa, thanks to the input received from Istoreco
enabling us to heighten our awareness with regard to Africa, its history
and its people.

24. It’s been almost a month since you came to stay with me, Salif. I can still picture the
first time I set eyes on you. You were dressed entirely in pale yellow when you arrived
at my house with the social workers. Anyone could see how weak you were, that you
had been made to suffer and I couldn’t wait to make you feel part of a family, give you
the love that you had been denied for the first three years of your life. When your new
daddy and I decided to foster a child, I had no idea of how draining that would be,
both physically and mentally. You demand so much of my time, but you give me just as
much back. If truth be told, Salif, you have never had a father: your mother was raped
by her boss at work, and you were born as the result. One of the toughest questions I
keep asking myself at the moment is how could so much evil lead to the birth of such a
wonderful child. There is not a day when I don’t think about your real mother, about the
pain she must have suffered when she let you go. I am 32 and I have two children who
I love deeply, and I can’t imagine what I would do if someone tried to take them away
from me. When you came into my life, it changed me completely. You opened my eyes
onto aspects of the world that were unfamiliar to me before, even though I am an adult.
Maybe it’s because they are so far away from my little world, the reality I thought was
the only world that affected me for too many years. You came from one of the places with
the worst reputation on Earth, with your flawless dark skin and your huge eyes whose
colour I only discovered a few days ago: you have only looked at the world a few times
since you have been with me. They told me you had been through a great trauma, that
you were undernourished and needed a lot of care and attention, but the world shattered
under my feet when I saw with my own eyes that you were too afraid to open your own.
I remember last week, it was the first time you woke up and you opened your mouth and
gave me the most beautiful smile I had ever seen, your eyes wide open, eyes I now know
are a deep black, and you gasped “mamma” and I couldn’t stop myself from crying: it was
a moment of pure bliss.
I watch you growing up, just like I watch my own children, and I feel you became part of
me straight away, that it could not have been any other way.
You are so shy with the world around you but I will teach you that it is not the world that
hurts you, it is the people that live in the world. Happiness deserves endless possibilities,
especially after you have been hurt. You make me happy day after day, Salif. You make
me understand that making mistakes is not important in life if you remedy them with
love. I have made lots of mistakes, and too often I have felt inadequate and wrong. I don’t
know what happened then, but I decided to take my life into my own hands and now, at
the age of 32, I can say I am proud to be the person I have become, of having brought 2
marvellous people into the world, and to have a person at my side who is vital for me.
Salif, I took your life in my hands and I am learning, looking as you breathe evenly in my
arms, when it’s late and you can’t drop off to sleep unless I tell you a story, that anything
that is not love deserves to be experienced only if it leads to real love. Often, at night, I
wake up and feel the need to watch you as you sleep, to make sure your bottom lip is a
bit raised, it’s a sign you haven’t been hurt. I would like you to be able to go back to your
mother one day so you can tell her about all the lovely things you have discovered in
the world, in yourself, or in others, so you can show her that there is beauty in life and
teach her that it is possible to heal wounds, that it is never wrong to do right. I feel a bit
susceptible and fragile recently: I know I am not your real mother but I would like one
day for you to think of me as your mum, because what I feel as I watch you living is not
comparable with anything else in the world. Salif, forgive my egoism, if you can, it is just
that I never received such a great gift like you before in my life.
by Letizia Vingione

25. Law and economy have taught us that the term “company” denotes a business operation that can
be formed by a single person, a single-member company, or by several persons and/or legally
formed groups. “Reward and punishment systems” indicate the profound motivations that drive us
to act and that govern our behaviour, even when we think we are making decisions on our own
account and completely independently. In ancient times, there was no such thing as an actual
society; instead there were groups of people who followed rules set by the head of the family
or faction. These heads were not chosen for their wisdom or intelligence, but on account of their
physical strength. During our course on Law and Economy, we read the book entitled “Politica per
un figlio”, which discusses the role that each one of us play in our personal life and in society. As
a result, we wondered whether roles can really be defined in society and what functions are linked
to these. We think these definitions cannot be applied to all of the world’s population in the same
way, and most of all that not all roles are comparable. For example, think of all those times when
history has shown us that the attitude of an individual prevails over the community, at times because
of his role of superiority.
This takes us back to a meeting held by Istoreco to discuss “the strong and the weak”, referring to
the political and social context of apartheid in South Africa.
The history of Southern Africa has shown us that European colonialism has always been
based on European supremacy over the local population. An attitude of incomprehension
and refusal to listen that resulted in the creation of laws going against basic human
rights, and racial attitudes.
After learning about events in history, we always asked ourselves what was the cause of this
attitude. Perhaps greater military power? Or a more highly-developed culture?
We couldn’t find a simple answer to this question from a political or rational point of view. History
has demonstrated than men have always been afraid of the unknown or of anything originating
outside their geographical and cultural confines, but this suppresses the human sentiment that we
all share.
The only idea that we can think of is that material assets make western men in general feel more
powerful, and this justifies his taking on a role of supremacy.
But are we sure that strength and power come from something that is
concrete and tangible?
During a meeting with Istoreco, we were told about the episode of the women’s march in Pretoria on
August 9th, 1956. During the pass campaign, 20,000 women of all races, some carrying babies
on their shoulders, came from towns and cities, reserves and villages, to lodge a petition addressed
to the Prime Minister of South Africa at the Union Building of Pretoria. But Prime Minister Strijdom
wasn’t there. The petition asked for the abolition of the pass laws.
The march was organised by the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW), famous for
opposing the commonly held notion that a woman’s place was in the kitchen, and instead supporting
the idea that a woman’s place was everywhere. After presenting the petition to the Prime Minister’s
Secretary, the women sang a song calling for freedom: wathint’ abafazi, wathint imbokodo - if you
hit a woman, you hit a rock. From that moment on, it became the symbol of women’s struggles in
South Africa, where National Women’s Day is still celebrated to commemorate the march. Thinking
about that episode in history, we could only imagine the strength and respect that those women, in
silence for so long, must have conveyed to those watching. How much strength is contained in a
shared idea? The Pretoria march also taught us that white women and black women share the same
feelings and the same civil rights. These women fought for a shared vision that went beyond racial
separation. The Reggio-Africa project and lessons on Law and Economy helped us understand that
all citizens of the world should enjoy the same rights and that any critical issues associated with
citizenship should be eliminated. Nowadays, labels are too often attached to people, along with a
positive or negative interpretation, depending on where they come from and on the lack of respect
of their history. But we believe that we can use these lessons to do something, starting on a local
level and in everyday life, perhaps making the world a better place one day compared to how we
found it.
RIGHTS AND
IDENTITY
roles and actions that
change society
left 1948, APARTHEID:
racial segregation approved by law
right: Women’s march, Pretoria
left: photo of the South African Native National Congress of 1912
right: “westernised” picture by Duggan Cronin (Black Africa seen as reality not based on history)

26. 15/19 years
“Blaise Pascal” High School
Blaise Pascal High School is unusual because of the variety of programmes it offers its student,
from applied science to graphic design. It also uses a method based on hands-on learning projects
running alongside the standard school prospectus.
So the Tavolo Reggio Africa work group not only met the students
attending Blaise Pascal school in order to pass onto the new generations
of students and citizens an important part of the history of cooperation
linking our city with some of the countries in Southern Africa, it also
wanted to learn more about their understanding of the issues discussed.
The Tavolo Reggio Africa work group acts on behalf of the City of Reggio Emilia, like a customer
asking the individuals and class groups involved to develop specific products based on the work
done at school and the skills that the students have to offer. Istoreco and the Tavolo Reggio Africa
work group joined forces to conduct a series of meetings with the students, discussing history and
illustrating the key points of the issues linked to colonialism and the fight for independence in
Southern African countries, and above all to the people and the actions that were vital for building
a long-lasting friendship that still bears some significance today in the global panorama. The Tavolo
Reggio Africa work group joined the teaching staff to decide how the historical-social themes should
be presented and to create a programme that would showcase the skills of the students and direct
them towards the creation of communications products that the public can use and understand,
especially younger age groups. 2018 will be a particularly dense year of events and will also
be an opportunity to celebrate the friendship between our city and Southern Africa. It is the year
marking the centenary of the birth of Mandela, and so the Tavolo Reggio Africa work group is
promoting specific events to present the results of the study projects created by the students from
Pascal School in addition to celebrating the annual international day. During a preparatory meeting
for the project with students from Pascal School, Serena Foracchia, Councillor for the International
City, underlined the importance of their role as citizens and creators, over and above their role as
students, for relating and sharing with their peers the inheritance bestowed by diplomatic relations
and friendship, enabling Reggio Emilia to reach a position of excellence in the panorama of
international cooperation. Ms Foracchia asked the design students to create a series of posters
illustrating the fruitful relationship between Reggio and Southern Africa. The computer studies group
was asked to design a website in Italian to mark the hundredth birthday of Nelson Mandela. The
request to design a web page is linked to the need to bring materials and information together,
which is currently located in various places or is hard to source, and publish it on a single webpage
online. A user-friendly web platform that communicates its contents in an intuitive way, making it
easy to access by people unfamiliar with the Tavolo Reggio Africa work group.
Both projects played an important role for the city of Reggio Emilia during the celebrations to
commemorate the centenary of Mandela. The outcome of both projects can be used by public
institutions, agencies and associations that are members of Tavolo Reggio Africa but - given their
value - can also play an important role for the diplomatic representations and the partners of Reggio
Emilia in South Africa.
Professor Elena Benati
Head of the Project
“BLAISE PASCAL” HIGH SCHOOL REGGIO EMILIA

27. DESIGNING THE
POSTERS
explaining our local
history to younger
generations
Pascal school offers a diploma in graphic design that includes a large amount of project work in
addition to the standard five-year prospectus. As soon as student join the school, they learn about
the tools and processes used for communications and visual design work.
The majority of the projects developed during the programme are based on team work, encouraging
the students to discuss and share their ideas with others and gain an understanding of their
skills. The projects are handled using exactly the same methods used at leading businesses and
by communications experts. As a result, the students soon become familiar with terms such as
customers, brief, concept and dead-line on a daily basis. Another unusual feature of the graphic
design course is the variety of customers from outside the school, enabling the students to gain
practical experience in their various study fields and become more familiar with the working world.
The City of Reggio Emilia is a real customer for the final year students, who are getting ready
for their school-leaving exams. The study course includes the design of visual communications
and the layout of a poster and a brochure: a perfect match for the need of the public agency to
publish information with the need for hands-on learning of Pascal school students, and resulting in
a project developed together that is beneficial for both parties. As Councillor for the International
City, Serena Foracchia represented the “client” during a meeting with the final year students when
she outlined the brief for the project.
The ultimate goal of the programme is to relate experiences linked to
the friendship between Reggio Emilia and Southern Africa, by designing
posters that will be presented and used to inform the public about the
events planned to mark the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela.
After listening to the explanation of the story behind it by Chiara Torcianti during her meetings, the
students started their research by collecting pictures, photographs and charts that they could use
to build a visual panorama as the main inspiration for the creation of a concept. The concept is
the innovative idea that forms the basis for the entire project. Obviously it has to bear in mind the
project brief and any requests made by the customer, trying to develop it using a visual language
that is different and stands out for its unique appeal. The biggest challenge for the students is to
translate the friendship linking Reggio Emilia with Southern Africa into images. Some decisions
were based on the integration of the natural surroundings in Africa with the modern architecture
found in our local area. Other students opted to use photography, creating compositions using
African subjects and their peers.
In this case, the friendship was expressed by the poses and body language of the people
photographed. The visual concepts were presented to Istoreco as a sort of progress report before
they went ahead with the final design project. During this initial stage, most of the students worked
alone and the first work groups were only formed at the next stage. At this stage, the students
formed groups with similar ideas and visual solutions. The next stage was the execution of their
proposal: they organised themselves as they thought fit and held photographic shoots or processed
their images using specialist software applications.
Several girls decided they wanted to meet and take photos together with
some of the kids originally from Africa who have come to live at Reggio
and often work with the Via Roma Residents Committee.
It was also useful because it was a change for them to find out what the kids thought of their ideas,
who emphasised how rich and varied the visual panorama in African can be, and how often the
West tends to limit its vision to a stereotype. The students and the African kids kept in touch to so
they could carry on sharing ideas and visual input about Africa for their project. The committee that
examines and decides which posters are the best match for the project brief, is composed of the
Councillor, several people working for public agencies, and teachers and/or professional graphic
designers.

28. CREATION OF THE WEB PAGE
digital interaction and
languages for relating the
friendship between Reggio
Emilia and Africa
There wasn’t a website dedicated to Nelson Mandela in Italian. There wasn’t even any detailed
information available online about the centenary events. Even the information about the role
played by our country in the fight against apartheid was scant and the content was often aimed
at researchers and historians. This is why the design students at Blaise Pascal High School were
given the job to create a web page supporting communications for the events and celebrations of
the centenary of Nelson Mandela.
During the meeting with the students, Serena Foracchia, Councillor for International City, underlined
the importance that the young people realise they are part of the link binding Reggio and Africa
and that this must be shared with modern communications tools that are the best way for creating
contact with the younger members of the public.
The computer studies diploma is not only about programming: it also looks closely at communications
tools and digital languages. Students today are increasingly connected up to a world of digital
relations and data and where the laws of the market are increasingly directed at retention strategies
and individual experiences. The teaching staff at Pascal school have designed a programme to
perfect the skills demanded by the job market of today and the future, also taking how students use
IT into consideration.
Young people use Apps more and more, created to offer a visual experience where the written
content is increasingly limited to interaction instead of explanation, but the structure of a web site
enables the development of more complex data.
An important element that can be distinctive for a web page is undoubtedly its interface which
has to guarantee rapid comprehension and easy interaction. A website that is extremely complex
to read with disorderly presentation of data immediately loses appeal, even if the contents are
extremely interesting and valuable. As we mentioned above, we live in a society that attributes
great importance to image, and so it is important to grab the attention of users by means of an
attractive visual product.
The Reggio-Africa project wants to be a valuable learning experience at school, including
the sharing of notions and skills among students taking different subjects: this leads
to the idea of involving both the students doing computer studies or graphic design in
the creation of a web page. The practical experience will increase the computer studies
group’s knowledge of graphic design and vice versa.
This type of collaboration prepares the students for a future working environment, demanding
professionals capable of multitasking and working with colleagues with different training.
As existing references used by the students as starting points for their own study, they were shown
pages from the Embassy of South Africa and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Compared to the
former, the latter had a cleaner visual language based on written language, offering the user an
immersive experience. This enabled the students to find the historical information they needed
directly in the archives and from other official sources, but giving it new visibility and making it
easier to read.
The web page for the centenary of Mandela was not only intended to be visited by people living
in Reggio Emilia, but by a much wider and international public. The posters created by the graphic
design students, like the learning project proposed by the Tavolo Reggio Africa work group, and
the website were presented to public and private institutions as well as foreign delegations visiting
Reggio Emilia, as an example of good practice in education that can be exported and replicated.
Istoreco explained how the design of the web page is linked to the history of South Africa, which
has always been a pioneering country in the field of communications and which today ranks among
the world leaders for the number of high-tech start-ups based there.
“The web page is also a tool for
consultation and storing memories
and good practice relating to the
Tavolo Reggio-Africa work group
and the story of the friendship
between Reggio Emilia and the
African continent.”

29. IDEAS TO MOVE: A WEB-APP TO HELP YOUNG PEOPLE
THINK ABOUT INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
Talking about cooperation is an opportunity. We worked on the Ideas to Move project
alongside the Councillor’s Office for the International City, based on this opportunity and targeting
young adults for maximum impact. The approach by the Councillor’s Office in this sense was
clear: differentiate from official communications, convey dialogue and diversity instead of a single
position, get results among the most critical users - young adults.
Too studio has a human-centered approach to work, meaning it builds solutions for the intersection between the
desirability for target users, feasibility(technical and in terms of the resources needed), long term sustainability
of the solutions defined, compared to previous parameters. The keyword in this design process is empathy: it
is the essential ingredient for understanding the target users of the initiative, the world and the conditions under
which it will be proposed, how the users will be able to adopt it.
For this job to build effect tools for the project’s aims (dialogue with diversity, learning, empathy as
an asset) we again based our work on listening skills and human-centered design.
How can we talk about international cooperation in a way that is
stimulating for young adults and exploit the diversity of points of view
as an asset and basis for a discussion about cooperation?
The solutions we identified for reaching the project’s goals try to put dialogue about cooperation
in the hands of young men and women that it will be possible to intercept with this initiative: the
Ideas to move webapp will involve users in an initial debate and stimulate them to submit
their personal view of cooperation, [and so put their ideas in motion]. We will use other websites,
offering various degrees of information, to illustrate the vision of professionals and agencies that
implement the cooperation, as actual examples of cooperation (the latter accessible at url: www.
bestpractices.ideastomove.com). Lastly, a classroom workshop format aimed at schools will be used
so that classes are once again the focus of the dialogue: processing content that will be available
with the Ideas to move webapp. This system of multiple access points enables us to intercept
the target users at various levels of potential interest, and to supply possible experiences of dialogue
and information about the topic going from very fast and to in-depth depending on these interest.
To define the contents for further study we held numerous interviews about the subject as agreed with
the City Council, with various operators in the field, such as: regional and national legislators on
cooperation, journalists specialising in this field, activists and collaborators. They made it possible
to build a complex picture and propose many different points of view on the issue under discussion
and so ideally to help people frame their own.
To test the proposed solutions and make them more efficient, we conducted test and comparison
sessions with target users at Unimore and at several high schools in Reggio Emilia. We verified
weaknesses and identified areas for improvement as well as testing out the excellent opportunities
for involving kids using solutions based on aperture and dialogue, which is not as stuffy as one way
communication.
All the project materials will soon be available at url www.ideastomove.eu

30. MONDINSIEME
FOR SCHOOLS: PROJECTS
FOR CITIZENS AND
DIALOGUE BETWEEN
DIFFERENT CULTURES
Centro Interculturale Mondinsieme has been pro-
moting programmes for several years aimed at
learning and dialogue between different cultures, involving schools, youth associations and educa-
tional programmes in the local area. Its programmes are interfaced with the Tavolo Reggio-Africa
work group, promoting actions to increase awareness of the relations established between Reggio
Emilia and Southern Africa by putting the focus on the community with African roots living in Reg-
gio, who are a bridge today – not just symbolically – enabling trade and the exchange of culture,
education and sports.
Fondazione Mondinsieme offers local schools various learning pro-
grammes, updating its proposal for schools every year to promote par-
ticipation among the new generations in the processes of citizenship and
dialogue between different cultures.
MESSENGERS OF CITIZENSHIP
Messaggeri di cittadinanza (Messengers of Citizenship) is a programme that incorporates several
themes and involves different cultures, designed with the City of Reggio Emilia. It starts with the
intention of making the citizenship ceremony for new Italians, celebrated in the Sala del Tricolore,
a moment that also involves the people of Reggio, where young high school students act as repre-
sentatives of the community to share a welcome message and good wishes.
It is a flexible programme and can be implemented with different time frames as agreed with the
teaching staff at school and based on the type of learning experience required and the depth of in-
formation you want to give the class. At the end of the programme, the students involved are asked
to attend the citizenship ceremony celebrated in Sala Tricolore once a month.
CLOTHES AND FREEDOM
This workshop started out as a study programme conducted by Centro Interculturale Mondinsieme
between December 2016 and March 2017, on the use of head wear in different religions. The
idea was to give students the opportunity to think about the different forms of expression of personal
freedom, analysing forms relating to the body and clothing in particular. Mondinsieme workshops
are often based on personal experience and participation, and here they are used to stimulate a
process of open dialogue and exchange, and to promote the acquisition of information and new
points of view through knowledge and comparison of the experiences of peers from different cul-
tural and religious backgrounds.
MIGRATION AND YOUTH
This programme aims to give students the opportunity to think about the journeys taken by hundreds
of thousands of young people in recent years, looking at the personal stories of several young mi-
grants. Subject to the availability of young asylum seekers who work with us, we will use written,
video or direct reports. This programme aims to stimulate a process of identification among the
students along with emotive comprehension of the experiences of migrants who are their same age,
and to promote the acquisition of clear data and information compared to the current movement of
migrants towards Italy and Europe.
For further information, please
contact:
chiara.greco@mondinsieme.org and
marwa.mahmoud@mondinsieme.org
photo ©Council of Europe/Sandro Weltin

31. Produced by the Tavolo Reggio Africa work group
The City of Reggio nell’Emilia, Anpi, Arci Solidarietà, Boorea, Centro Missionario Diocesano, CGIL, CISL,
Fondazione E-35, Fondazione Mondinsieme, Fondazione Reggio Children Centro Loris Malaguzzi, Istituto
Alcide Cervi, Istoreco, Rugby Reggio, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia.
Schools taking part
Scuola Primaria “IV Novembre” at Gavasseto, Istituto Comprensivo Statale “A. Einstein”, Istituto Superiore
Liceale “Matilde di Canossa”, Istituto d’Istruzione Superiore “Blaise Pascal”.
Layout and Graphic Design
lemaus.it (Maus & Muttley snc)
Coordination
Alessandro Mafrica, Martina Caffagni
Editing/copy by - Class 2L, Canossa High School
Giulia Berselli, Erika Brunoni, Giulia Burgarella, Francesca Castagna, Chiara Cavallari, Klementin Cerri,
Luca Donelli, Francesca Fantini, Cecilia Gherardini, Alessia Guidetti, Chiara Manfredini, Martina Milello,
Matilde Nironi, Mimma Omordia, Cristina Palmieri, Sofia Piscopo, Elena Righi, Emmanuele Rossi, Giada
Salati, Aurora Tondelli, Sara Turtoro, Letizia Vingione, Martina Zamboni
www.municipio.re.it/reggioafrica
This volume was published with the support of Progetto Amitié Code (www.amitiecode.eu)
The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of AMITIE CODE partners and can under no
circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union

32. This project is funded
by European Union