Embracing Peace (“Abbracci di pace”), is the title of a book published to mark the 10th anniversary of the Cinzia Vitale association as well as the 40th anniversary of UWC Adriatic. This publication was presented on Saturday 26 November at an event hosted by the Government Commissioner in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, the Prefect of Trieste Annunziato Vardè.
The publication, edited by Professor Roberto Vitale – President of the Cinzia Vitale association – is a collection of 24 short essays about peace written by UWC Adriatic students over the past 10 years for an essay competition held annually to award the Nelson Mandela Peace Prize. The jury that selected the texts was composed by Ariel Haddad, rabbi of the Jewish community in Ljubljana (Slovenia), Grigorios Miliaris, the Eastern Greek archimandrite in Trieste, Raško Radović, the Serbian Orthodox proto-presbyter in Trieste, Nader Akkad, imam of the Grand Mosque of Rome, the Buddhist nun Ani Malvina Savio and Monsignor Roberto Rosa.
commented President Roberto Vitale. «Embracing Peace also aims to draw attention to the plight of those those who are fighting for the right to live a peaceful life free from walls and borders as well as to all who suffer because of poverty, injustice and, above all, ignorance – something that can only be avoided through education and giving a voice to those who do not have one».
Among others, at the event the participants heard the reflections on peace by Faith Abiodun, Executive Director of UWC International Office, Ambassador Cristina Ravaglia, President of UWC Adriatic, and Dr. Khalid El-Metaal, Rettore of UWC Adriatic. Professor Vitale was represented by Maria Chiara Billi. Other participants included the Mayor of Duino Aurisina, Igor Gabrovec, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Filippo Giorgi, Valentina Bach, Secretary General of the College and a delegation of UWC Adriatic teachers and students. The local composer Dorian Dionisi – who authored several music pieces, including part of the soundrack of the film For Another Time, by Argentine director and UWC Adriatic alum Juan Pablo di Pace – also took part in the event. Dionisi composed especially for this occasion the piece Awakening – Cry for Peace performed by the College choir.
During the ceremony several College students read out loud the touching words of peace written by former College students throughout the decade-long collaboration between the Cinzia Vitale association and the College: Hannah Imordi (Nigeria), the Italians Giovanna Cantarin, Giovanni Nicolicchia, Andrea Casagrande Caron, Federica Jin Zhou; the current students Bassma Kamoun (Italy/Morocco) and Sofiia Konovalova and Yelyzaveta Shelest (respectively from Russia and Ukraine) read works of their own. The programme was further enriched by two other musical performances of the College choir directed by Christoph Genz (Director of Performing Arts at the College), who sang “Unruly Heart “ and “Man in the Mirror”.
The College Rettore, Dr. Khalid El-Metaal, who arrived in Duino last August, shared his thoughts on peace with the audience in Italian and ended his speech with an invitation:
