15-Year-old Gabriele wins the essay competition promoted by  the Astalli Centre with “There is always a door that opens and you can choose to enter or not.” The competition saw a thousand participants.

This intense and emotional story is inspired by the story of Yusra Mardini, a Syrian girl who started practicing swimming at the age of 3. Then she escapes civil war with some family members. First, they arrive in Lebanon, then in Turkey where they paid the smugglers and set off for Greece on an August night. The vessel begins to take in water. Yusra, her sister and another girl who can swim start to pull the boat towards the shore while the others throw their luggage into the sea. "There were 3 of us in the water and 17 on the boat. I started moving my feet like crazy. The more I pushed, the more the fear disappeared ". Arriving on land, they journeyed to the Balkans on foot and then took a train to Berlin where, welcomed as refugees, they took up swimming again. In 2016 she was chosen to form part of the newly set up team of the Refugee Olympic Athletes of the XXXI Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. From the starting position of the race Gabriele began interpreting the past. "Winning? It is just one detail ".  This is how 15-year-old Gabriele concludes his story entitled " All the dreams of the world "with which he won the XIII edition of the essay competition entitled "Writing never goes into exile" promoted by Centro Astalli. "It is an extraordinary story that I discovered some years ago, and I have made it the banner of all the dreams that those who leave on a journey, carry with them," he explains. "I had the opportunity to meet on a personal level and also with my school colleagues, refugees and migrants. In particular, passing by the Termini station on several occasions, I recognized stories and glances that revealed a world of crushed dreams that I tried in a really small way to support with a look, a word, a little time or some bread ".

"Writing never goes into exile" and 'Let's write in colour"

This competition entitled "Writing never goes into exile" for high school students and another one entitled "Let's write in colour” for middle school students for which a thousand students from various Italian cities participated is an instrument, adopted by Centro Astalli to encourage and give value to the attitude of sensitivity.

This was a celebration for the students and institutes involved in the educational projects "Windows" and "Encounters" which address the right to asylum and the interreligious dialogue and through which the Center comes into contact with over 27,000 students in 15 Italian cities each year.  This is an opportunity to emphasize the importance of encouraging encounters with those different from us and to acquire mutual knowledge in order to create a more inclusive and welcoming society, free from racism and xenophobia.

There were representatives from the world of culture, journalism and entertainment who took turns on the stage of the Auditorium of il Massimo in Rome, to reward the young winners of the literary competition.  Present among them were, Fr. Camillo Ripamonti (President of Centro Astalli), Flavia Cristiano (Director of the Book and Reading Centre - MiBAC), Andrea Monda (Director of L'Osservatore Romano), Fr. Giovanni La Manna (Rector of the Istituto Massimo ), Melania Mazzucco (writer), Aboubakar Soumahoro (trade unionist and writer), Sabika Shah Povia (journalist, member of the Associazione Carta di Roma), Takoua Ben Mohamed (graphic journalist), Phaim Bhuiyan (actor and director), Sara Jane Ceccarelli (singer and author), Paola Michelini (actress), and many others.

The event was also an opportunity to deliver the award “A School that is a friend of refugees ", to educational institutions that are committed to promoting the creation of programs of active citizenship among students for the establishment of a more just, more open and more welcoming society. This is an initiative of Centro Astalli in collaboration with ASCS - Scalabriniana Agency for Development.