02 November 2024

Refugee-friendly schools

More than 800 high school students in Rome were the stars of “La scrittura non va in esilio” (“Writing Doesn’t Go into Exile”), the big school celebration held at the Auditorium del Massimo in Rome on Wednesday, October 30.

It was an occasion to award prizes to the winners of the literary contests “Writing Doesn’t Go into Exile”, for high schools, “Let’s Write in Colour”, for middle schools, and the poetry contest “Different Verses – The Poetry of Plurality”. All the winning short stories and poems are collected in an online publication edited by Centro Astalli.

In the last few months, about 300 applications have been received to take part in the contests promoted by Centro Astalli within the framework of the educational projects “Windows – Refugee Stories” and “Encounters – Ways to Interreligious Dialogue“, through which refugees and believers of other religions meet every year more than 30,000 students from over 200 Italian institutions.

The speakers included women writers, actresses, journalists, radio broadcasters, graphic novelists, and personalities from the entertainment and sports worlds.

Speakers at the event, presented by Giovanni Anversa, included writers Saba Anglana, Emanuela Anechoum, Tezeta Abraham, Anna Maria Gehnyei, essayist and radio author Marino Sinibaldi, Amadou Diouf and Yong Di Wang with author and theatre director Alessandro Ienzi, founder of Raizes Teatro, singer-songwriter Emanuele Conte the activist and choreographer Sonny Olumati, Amelio Castro Grueso, Colombian fencer from the UNHCR Paralympic Refugee Team, Mahdia Sharifi, Afghan taekwondo athlete, part of the UNHCR Italy Olympic Refugee Programme, Zaynab Dosso, centimetre runner from the Fiamme Azzurre Sports Group.

The event was also an opportunity to present the “Refugee Friendly School” award to the 35 institutions that, during the past school year, promoted the implementation of awareness-raising and active citizenship initiatives among students with the aim of creating a more just, open and welcoming society.

Fr. Camillo Ripamonti, President of Centro Astalli, highlights how “the only viable way for a future of peace is to invest in culture, knowledge and meeting others. Educating young people to respect human rights, solidarity and acceptance is what Centro Astalli has been doing for years with the collaboration of many teachers in different schools in Italy. It is not by building walls that we build the future, but by building community, by working together for a dignified future for all, especially for young people, making differences of religious belief, origin, and culture an asset for all”.

The event was streamed live on the Rai Scuola website. A thank you goes to Rai Cultura, media partner of the event for this opportunity.

The winners were awarded with book backpacks donated by the Centre for Books and Reading of the Ministry of Culture, Sinnos editrice, the program Fahrenheit – Rai Radio 3 and Sellerio Editore.

Here are the winners of the 18th edition of Writing doesn’t go into exile, the 10th edition of Let’s Write in Colour and the 3rd edition of the poetry contest Different Verses – The Poetry of Plurality.

Let’s Write in Colour 2023-2024