The letter from mothers who have lost a child to those affected by the war

A message of peace from mothers to other mothers. Those who lost their children too early ideally embrace those of countries affected by war: mothers of boys and men who, overnight, had to turn into soldiers, risk their lives and even lose it. Mothers forced to leave their homes and land to try to save the little ones. Mothers who had no choice but to entrust their children to strangers, and separate from them, so that they could take them to safety.

Gaia Simonetti, Laura Cozzi, Stefania Ciriello, Stefania Lorenzini, Paola Alberti and Giovanna Carboni, authors of the book “Letters without borders”who collects and keeps the letters to their children, have given us the message that they would like to address to all those mothers who, today, are paying a very high price.

“Dear mothers of countries affected by war,

we are a group of mothers, we are six and from three different Italian cities, and our message for peace is for all the mothers of the world, especially for you who live the tragedy of war. Ours is a message of closeness, without borders, because endless pain like the loss of a child is something that unites and that we understand and understand. We have lived it and we live it every day. We feel connected to you.

Our letter starts from Florence, reaches Mantua and also Rieti, the cities where we live. We are the moms who wrote letters to the children we have lost, who have “flown away”, as we say when we talk about them. In our lyrics we tell the beauty of life, the wonder we grasp even when a flower that smells of spring blooms and everything we have done in their memory. Still using tenses in the future and reaching out to other mothers and fathers.

We didn’t know each other. Ours was a “journey”, started by digging into the soul, among the climbs of life and completed thanks to the support of an ally found like courage.

We have decided to dedicate our book to all of you. They were life that flourishes, our Ela, Mauro, Filippo, Michela and Lorenzo. They were smiles, sun, color, caresses, courage and all that is beautiful in existence.

We have lost them, but we feel them in our hearts. We perceive them, as we say. They lost their lives in road accidents, in the Amatrice earthquake and as victims of femicides. One is a child who could not be born: for him the tenses are transformed into the past conditional: “How nice it would have been to hug you and put my hand on your little head, caressing it”. Our letters have been of support to many mothers and fathers in Italy and in other countries. They also arrived in France, Belgium and Australia.

Among us there is also Giovanna, who brings the example of the gift into her everyday life: he donated his son’s organs, and with this gesture it was possible to save several human lives.

In our hearts, we have a dream of peace. We would also like to welcome letters to your children in the future in the volume that would become the book of all mothers in the world. With so much courage, which is intertwined like a thread in life, and is fixed in the ink.

These are words that flow from the heart and know how to be a strong and powerful hug ».

Other stories of Vanity Fair that might interest you:

– War in Ukraine

– Ukraine, the horrors of war seen through the eyes of children

– Ukraine, “My father, an army volunteer, fights for women and children”

– Ukraine: night in the shelters in Kiev, Russian vehicles close to the city

– Ukraine, Danilo: “My home is here: I don’t want to leave”

– Ukraine, “We will spend the night in this bunker, in the cold”

– Attack on Ukraine, protests also in Russian cities

– Ukraine, the cry of civilians: “We are terrified”

– Ukraine, the attack started during the night

– Ukraine: “Awakened by the bombing, I threw up with fear”

– Ukraine, Natalia Onipko: «The world help us. We can’t do it alone “