After the tragic news of the death of Luca Attanasio, Italian Ambassador to Congo, a great friend and supporter of Inter Campus, Gabriele Salmi, the Head of the NGO Alba Onlus in the African country, an official partner of Inter Campus since 2011, shares his immediate reflections with all of us. Gabriele, who has been living in Lubumbashi for many years now, coordinates educational and sporting activities for around 200 boys and girls. His understanding of the country’s dynamics is profound, and perhaps it is precisely for this reason that his words help us to better comprehend today’s dramatic events.

“The Italian community is deeply shocked by the brutal assassination; we are devastated. Luca was well known and loved by everyone, a person who made himself available to the Italian community and who tirelessly worked as a weaver, stitching together relationships between the Italian and Congolese communities, attentive to the needs that came from the grassroots, including organizations and people who did not necessarily enjoy international fame.

He was proud of the work of Italians in Congo, at the same time struck by the Congolese potential, not only in mining, and saddened by the poor living conditions. His dream was a publication to commemorate the work of Italians in Congo, and his motto was: create networks, the Italian community in Congo must create networks. Furthermore, he contributed to the success of the Lubumbashi Art Biennale and intended to support an upcoming project of ours linked to Pasolini’s work in Congo.

Together we visited many humanitarian projects in Lubumbashi; what struck him most was the “Malaika” school project, an independent project, not linked to Italy but strongly connected to the territory and the community, which emerged from the grassroots and is today one of the most beautiful schools in Congo. Today, Malaika is an official partner of Inter Campus, and its core primarily involves girls from the village of Kalebuka, near Lubumbashi. At Malaika, it was an intense and emotional afternoon for him and his wife Zakia.

In the DRC, there have always been pockets of tension that have never died down, a kind of small war, across almost the entire territory of the country, totally fragmented and taking a thousand forms, a thousand interests, a thousand actors. This small war gives you the impression of living in a kind of total security, but in reality, it has sudden and violent explosions that, as we have seen, spare no one; two Italians and one Congolese were killed in the ambush. And like a tropical storm, we seek shelter during the downpour, only to emerge when the storm is over, watching the warm sun dry the water and repair the damage, restoring everything to its previous condition. Only, as we know, storms sometimes catch us off guard. That said, as far as we are directly concerned, we have no signs of a worsening of our security conditions, nor for our children.

The Italian Embassy has always played an important role in Inter Campus activities; Italian diplomatic support has been fundamental to the successful outcome of some important Inter Campus missions in Congo. The Embassy helps to bring the project to Congolese institutions and to the rest of the Italian community, and in this case, I cannot forget Luca’s continuous encouragement for the Inter Campus project.