ATTANASIO, A STREET AMBASSADOR

– President, I am Ambassador Attanasio from Kinshasa … – sometimes he called me to tell that he had met an Italian nun, somewhere in the immense country that needed something …. A passionate representative of the “best” Italy, hand in hand with Zakia, the beautiful and young wife, a volunteer in one of GSI Italia’s projects in Kinshasa. Other times it was Congolese religious or Italian missionaries who phoned me saying – Ambassador Attanasio gave me your number, I call you because … –

This has been the relationship maintained in recent years with Luca Attanasio, a boy with kind ways and an open face. The best possible ambassadors in an “impossible” country of Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo.

We met in Kinshasa about a year ago in one of my missions in Congo, invited to dinner with his wife and with representatives of the Italian embassy in Congo. A very pleasant evening as was the kindness of Luca and his wife, friends of GSI Italia, and which will be difficult to forget.

Yesterday morning, less than two hours after the event, I received the images of Luca injured, perhaps already dead, on an open cabin cruiser, his shoes loose and his face lifeless. Fortunately, these images did not pass on the screens of Italian television but which have aroused a lot of emotion in the world of cooperation and among those who have been friends with him and who have loved him, indeed … who love him.