Genoa – Athos is 8 years old and attends the Colombo institute, like dozens of Genoese children. In these days, however, he is in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan scourged by 48 hours of guerrilla warfare. Armed clashes between the army loyal to the military junta of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Sovereign Council of Sudan, and the Rapid Support Forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, number two of the Sovereign Council, who want to oust al-Burhan. It is with his parents, Stefano Rebora and Valentina Gallo, souls of the Genoese non-profit organization Music for Peace, which for almost thirty years has been involved in projects of support and aid to the populations of many countries. Yesterday, from the headquarters of the association in Khartoum, Athos recorded a video appeal (visible at this link). To tell with the magnifying glass of an 8 year old what he is perceiving. And to ask whoever can help Sudanese children, to mobilize to give them some chance of happiness.
“It’s not that the situation is good here because there is a lot of poverty – says Athos – One day ago (Saturday, ed), I woke up like every morning and my mum told me not to look out the windows because they were bombing. It’s already a poor country, without happiness it gets even worse.” Words that with the simplicity of childhood they photograph a drama that adults have created and fuel. “We can help those children who are out there, who have no money, no food. We can help them by collecting stuff to eat, play and write – he continues – Let’s help them as much as possible, because it’s not right that they are in the war and we can play, we all have to play”.
Athos arrived in Khartoum a week ago with his mother. “The situation suddenly degenerated, in a way that no one expected. Before the tensions were only and exclusively verbal. If it hadn’t been like this, we certainly wouldn’t have brought our son here”, says Stefano, who continues the project in the capital launched in January from Music for Peace. It was he and Valentina, in Sudan with two other Genoese operators of the non-profit organization, who shared Athos’ video on the association’s Facebook page and also gave their consent to sharing it on the Secolo XIX website. “The purpose of the video, as well as the other messages we are sending, is to raise awareness as much as possible about what is happening”, Stefano explains: “The clashes have worsened and we have no idea when we will be able to think about returning. Now the headquarters of the NGO SOS Village, our project partner, which houses orphaned children and children under protection, has been occupied by the paramilitaries. The purpose of these militias is to be protected from those children, because government forces certainly cannot attack a facility that houses orphans. It seems that they have also entered our warehouses, at the SOS Village, and there have been looting, but the news has not yet been confirmed. If this were the case, we could have lost aid and health care for a few hundred thousand euros”.
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