IN SEARCH FOR HOPE WHILE THE EARTH QUAKES AND INNOCENT GIRLS ARE SLAUGHTERED OUTSIDE THEIR SCHOOL

Melissa Bassi, 16, died in a bomb blast last Saturday

The news from Italy have been terrible this weekend. I guess they got to you all somehow. It has been a tragic, terribly sad end of the week for all of us, though not directly involved in those tragedies.

7:40 a.m. Saturday 19 May  - One student has been killed and seven others injured in a suspected mafia bomb blast at a school in southern Italy. Her name was Melissa Bassi. She was only 16. 

I shared my thoughts on facebook as soon as I heard about it: "As a mother and a teacher I'm stunned, speechless, horrified. It's been a long time since I last felt proud to live in my beautiful difficult country. When   was it? Why was that? Today I must feel sorrowful and ashamed again. Please don't tell me there are crazy people everywhere. I know that."

I'm still confused and shocked by those news, especially if I think of my own students, of my own sons. Tears come to my eyes for those kids fighting for their lives among undescribable suffering, for the beautiful girl killed,  for her violated parents, for those terrified teachers and pupils.

4.04 Sunday 20 May - An earthquake in northern Italy has killed at least seven people and caused serious damage to buildings in several towns.The magnitude-6.0 quake struck in the middle of the night, about 35km (22 miles) north of the city of Bologna. This quake was the worst to hit our country since the L'Aquila tremor which killed nearly 300 people in April 2009. And that is one I will never forget (read here). 

So you see? It has been impossible to enjoy the weekend and relax this time. I tried to avoid listening to the news all the time  - too depressing - but how can one ignore all that suffering? So I did what I usually do every weekend but with a deep sadness in my heart that I needed and need to share. I'm in search for hope, for me and the people around me. Where can we find some? In the people and in the things we love. 

A collage of my pictures taken at Ostia Antica and on the boat sailing the Tiber

I love my family and I've been with many of them today. Then  I love my job and my students. Only last Friday we had a very good time together at Ostia Antica archaeological site and sailing the river Tiber from there to Rome. Our children, my students, are our future. School is the place I can meet them and help them to become better people. Not an easy task, but one I feel I have to fulfil beyond the simple duty of my profession. One I really feel my own main goal in life. 

My students dancing and having fun on the boat

I wish these happy kids will not be deprived of hope nor of their chances to happiness and satisfaction. They are going to inherit such a complicated world, who'll help them to cope with it? We must hope they can change things and make this world better. So first of all, we must trust them, made them aware, love them.