There was a lot of Emergency, and not only that, there were also many other people interested and perhaps even pushed by the tragedy of the war - too current these days - to listen to the words of Gino Strada. The ones he had entrusted to his last book, testament and testimony of a life spent in wars. To heal, to save from death, to help the peoples in war without distinction of who and from where.
One person at a time (Milan, Feltrinelli 2022), edited by Simonetta Gola director of the communication office of Emergency and wife of Gino Strada, it is the story of the experiences and commitment to others in the war scenarios of the last decades. From Pakistan to Ethiopia, Thailand, Afghanistan, Peru, Djibouti, Somalia, Bosnia, dedicating all its experience to the care of the wounded. Faced with the drama of the war in Ukraine, his voice today would have made itself heard again, strong and determined: "No more killing, maiming, inflicting excruciating suffering on other human beings".
The book is the story of "the most important things I understood looking at the world after all these years around"
We find the voice of Gino Strada in this volume, presented at the Ateneo Veneto in Venice. That it is not an autobiography because the founder of Emergency he didn't want it to be that. She rather wanted that One person at a time was the story "of the most important things that I understood looking at the world after all these years around" as he wrote in the preface to the book. Which is truly the story of a lifetime, from childhood in Sesto San Giovanni to experiences as a war surgeon around the world.
With a conviction that has always remained the same, these are Strada's words: "The construction and practice of human rights is the best antidote, the best prevention of war". This was confirmed by the curator Simonetta Gola. This was reiterated by the actor and playwright Andrea Pennacchi, the war correspondent of Rai Nico Piro, the journalist Chiara Valerio on the occasion of the presentation of the book. Recalling that Strada's work in war scenarios, open to all and available to all, was a guarantee to continue to operate even in those very difficult territories.
The pain of a person elevated to a symbol of the pain of a multitude
One person at a time, emblematic title of this volume, why behind each person Gino Strada saw the multitude, and that person became the emblem and symbol of the drama and pain that was spreading and interested the multitude. "He saw that woundo and at the same time the situation of many like him " Simonetta Gola explains in the afterword. For this the founder of Emergency he treated the victims but also claimed their rights, which concern everyone, to have excellent health care. Because, these are still the words of Gino Strada, "If life is at stake, then there must be room for one medicine. Qthe one that really allows you to give substance to that right ".
Those war scenarios that we see today in Ukraine and which are repeated, always the same, in all parts of the world
The presentation of One person at a timea could not ignore the current drama of recent days in Ukraine, on war scenarios that are always repeated the same in all parts of the world. Where those who care for the wounded must make every moment, every minute, every hour, dramatic choices about who can be saved and who has no hope. “When faced with a problem, what can be saved must be saved”, So thought Gino Strada of surgery and of himself. Love reflections on the logics that trigger conflicts. And that they are always very far from the needs, the needs, the needs of the populations that these wars suffer. Once again the words of Gino Strada are back: "If war is not thrown out of history by men, it will be war that throws men out of history". They echo today, daily, in the umpteenth scenario of war, in Ukraine.
The proceeds of the book due to the author will be donated to EMERGENCY
