WALKING in the SUN

In Khartoum, capital of Sudan, on 15 May 1988, a terrorist attack at the Akropole Hotel leave shreds of life piled up under the amazed starry African sky, relentlessly dark blue, while the Fate … stops me to deal with Life … still Life, even when reduced to shards.

The dreams and ideals resist the impact of the explosion, safely protected into inner core of the very me, born in the middle of the last century, in AD 1950, in the town of Castellanza, in the northern region of Lombardia; they resist because solidly rooted in my commitment to studies, culture, solidarity, sense of duty and alimented by my passion for adventure and endless horizons.

They resist … because already tested through the disciplined path of classical humanistic and medical studies, under the inspiring example of the Great Doctor Albert Schweitzer, awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize 1953, who grabbed the challenge at the edge of the African insecurities of the early 1900 in Lambaréné (Gabon), where he committed himself till the end of his long life and where he rests in the small cemetery up on the hill overlooking the river, near his hospital.

A strong chance of learning came to me from the climbing practice on the Alps and during an experience in the Peruvian Andes, with an extra-European expedition planned to conquer the Cerro Pucaranra of 6147 meters, because the climbing on the mountains provided me with the right philosophy and courage to get into the first stages of my humanitarian adventure in the savannah of  northern Kenya, among the nomadic Samburu ethic groups and later on in the permanent emergency medical and surgical setting of the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer in Haiti, founded in 1954 and dedicated to the Great Doctor of Lambaréné by Larry and Gwen Mellon, who were his coherent disciples, faithful for life to their commitment with Haitian people in the Artibonite Valley, where they both were buried and peacefully rest.

From far a call came to me for the next steps … to serve in the field of medical care to children and young people with disabilities, in the project of Usratuna Centre in Juba, Southern Sudan, which has actually become the newest nation on the planet, after a long and very tough period of civil war that affected badly and definitely all the population, also assisted by the team of Usratuna with the required medical care.

At the end of the tunnel and the forced stop after the bombing, the horizons of South America opened up in Bolivia, as a realm of silent highlands, at the village of Aiquile, where I got involved in a medical, human and cultural adventure, intense and often contradictory, among people so dissonant compared with the colorful and joyful style of dancing Life in the African continent.

From the Horn of Africa a new unexpected call .. to serve in Mogadishu, shortly after the fall of the dictatorship of Siad Barre in Somalia, torn by seemingly incurable and recurring wounds, for a timely and short term medical emergency action, lately combining it with the first steps of reconstruction in the setting of Berbera, on the coast of northern Somalia, a newborn nation independent under the name of Somaliland.

A thousand sparks of hope dot the Somaliland dream of a possible future, a true kingdom of Peter Pan, where the desire to belong and implement actions of solidarity and justice remains pure utopia, but still a precious seed that will travel silently with me in search of the promised land, after saying goodbye to the charming sea of Somalia, among dancing and joking clouds, as gigantic candid plumes in a surprisingly blue sky,

As a magic echo of an ancient ethnic music the jungle of Bolivian Chapare opens up its scenery, as  one of the wettest regions of the globe, where I discovered an Andean-Amazonian reality truly unexpected, where the seed of my Somaliland dream, flown away with me, will find a fertile cradle to grow up  in the operation of solidarity Rayos de sol, discovering the sacred plant of Coca, the ancestral emblem of an ancient culture, trapped in drugs trafficking network, caught into a confusing, prejudicial, indiscriminate and senseless war, in  sharing  a tough experience  with the rural communities in their claims for dignity, justice and self-determination, promoting social, medical, educational and cultural  initiatives, in collaboration with the Federation of Peasant Workers of the Tropic of Cochabamba (FETCTC), led by its executive secretary – by then in office since 1988 – the aymara trade unionist Evo Morales Ayma.

The paths on the jungle were opened up with a machete to reach the communities and work together on the agree projects, in which the sacred green Coca and its rituals slowly become enriched under the new aspects and knowledges of ecology and science, so to catch up the challenge that the green Coca, under new and beneficial forms, will assume its privileged role in the solution of the problems of drugs trafficking … from no point of view being the sacred Coca part of the problem.

However … too good to be true …

The utopia was  just only one step to become real and true … when suddenly the dream dropped into an overwhelming nightmare: on 8 August 1994 I got caught in Bolivian Chapare, together with Angelo, a short term  Italian volunteer, by the military forces operating in the region with the support of DEA of USA, in one of the hottest red zones of drug trafficking …

The facts are detailed in another chapter.

The following years, deeply marked by the injustice I suffered in my own, confirmed my determination to undertake new roads itinerancy opened up through the Andean Peru, thanks to the support of the fans of my adventures, on the paths of the sacred green Coca again, deepening the studies and the traditional practice within the activities of the Association K’uychiwasi in Cusco (Peru), with the same objectives of Rayos de sol, with emphasis in the global promotion of Coca, based on its sacred and  ancestral rituals towards the new modern forms, as aggregate in foods and natural products.

However it seems to me out of doubt that the honor and the responsibility to develop and maintain the solid cultural milestones of the native ethnical groups remains a commitment of the Peoples themselves, as an essential main key to build development and future.

In fact the belonging to a culture is not negotiable and no foreigner will ever belong to a culture, if not native in it, despite being heartful and identified with the culture itself and ready to pay any price for …

Therefore it is up to Peoples take firm an brave charge of their own Destiny.

I got a gift of a precious heritage of shared experiences, first in my native North and later in the South by adoption.

I contributed to the best of my abilities at every stage, the seeds were accurately taken care, so … the harvest will certainly be good, despite all the variables of cosmic uncertainty: the most important thing is to sow fine and then … better that others reap the fruits, as a wise man told me … a true prophetic soul I met on the path of Life …

The circles will close at its due time, in the harmony North-South-South-North, around the sacred green Coca, as a cultural symbol and axis of dialogues and possible solutions, along the Andean r ainbow as a bridge between the differences.