Events linked to violent young people – we also saw it again in Massa in recent days, but the cases are frequent – are increasingly at the center of the news. But for every young person who commits crimes and acts of violence, there are many more who deny this lifestyle, even though life has put them to the test. This is the case of the children of the SpazioTre Day Center for adolescents in Monza.
Yesterday they were the protagonists of a special afternoon in their city. After months of commitments and sacrifices they moved an entire square with their show “Teenagers on stage: journey – growth – non-violence”. The boys’ performance was peppered with poems, songs and group dances, all ways in which they brought out what they really feel inside. But not everything was rosy, as he tells us Gabriele Caporali, educator who supported them throughout the entire journey: «at the beginning there was indifference, almost fear. Then the boys started writing songs, putting their ideas into them, and that fear turned into great pride. This project created a ‘group’: having such an important common objective helped them to leave no one behind.”
But where did this initiative come from? Franco Taverna, national coordinator of the Exodus Foundation and head of the EX.it Consortiumexplains that everything starts from the need to give voice to the unexpressed: «The project was born from the desire of the kids to throw out what they have inside: anger, pain, the struggle to live. Adolescence today is crushed by an adult world that doesn’t listen. In this group there are young people who come from psychiatry, juvenile justice, social services. If you only give a punitive measure to a child who has committed a crime without giving him the opportunity to express himself, the anger will remain inside him. We intervene first, at the root, offering a positive way out.”
Attending the show I immediately perceived the incredible group that had been created. Boys with different origins, different lives and different problems, but who united in difficulties and supported each other. When one of them performed a song, the whole group that wasn’t performing at that moment hummed it, and the first applause always came from them.
The heart of the live show is linked to the music and poems composed by Amelijia, Claudia, Emily, Gabriel, Iago, Joshua, Martina, Sabrina, Salvatore, Sara, Simone, Sindi, Tamara, Yeva, Zoe.
These young people were able to immediately make their way into the hearts of Silvia Briozzo, the director of the showthat «when I listened to the songs written by them I was moved: they have a poetic awareness of their effort that I didn’t expect. They welcomed me with open arms, trusting me completely. We worked on texts by Alexander Langer on nonviolence and they read them as if they were their own words, with an authenticity that I have rarely seen in forty years of theater. More than proving something, they wanted to say: ‘I am here, I exist’. At a time when we only talk about exemplary punishments or metal detectors in schools, organizations like SpazioTre demonstrate that it is the educational impact that makes the difference, restoring responsibility and self-esteem to children who live in difficult contexts.”
If there is a figure capable of inspiring kids, whether in difficulty or not, it is Don Antonio Mazzipresent at the event to send a message. «I came despite the wheelchair because I wanted to give a demonstration. I’m tired of only talking about young people who kill or destroy. There is a healthy youth who knows how to do beautiful things, and it is important that Monza sees this. I live for young people who choose life, and this show is an example of that.”
The boys’ texts deserve to be read and listened to, and it is possible to do so for everyone. In fact, a dedicated playlist has been created on Spotify, with all the songs. Here is the QR Code to access it and three fragments that tell their world better than any article:
“I laughed at everyone / I turned every weakness into a threat / I thought it was cool to be cruel / now I understand that it hurts to be alone.” — Salvatore (Missas)
“It’s not love if you’re scary / it’s not love if you hurt her / with your hands or with words / the pain is always the same.” — Tamara
“My silence makes more noise than when I shout.” — Yeva
