Alessia is 18, Stefania is 20, they are close friends as well as classmates in the last year of high school of Human Sciences in Nuoro. But when they were 12 and 14 and in middle school, they were bullied and bulla, respectively.
"Bring bad luck" was the epithet that the teenagers of the city addressed on social networks to Alessia, who went through years of darkness and isolation.
Stefania in a group with other comrades was the author of the insulting phone calls to Alessia, then together with 13 other boys she underwent a trial that ended with a rehabilitation sentence. Their case had ended up in the headlines of the national news, but fortunately had a happy ending: the meeting, the tears, the apologies, the clarifications, the forgiveness and a great friendship cemented by the path of pain and courage that led them to become testimonial of the phenomenon of bullying in schools.
Today at the Istituto Superiore Francesco Ciusa in Nuoro, on the occasion of the day of bullying and cyberbullying promoted by the Nuorese Institute and the Lariso Cooperative, the two girls spoke to hundreds of students. Then the screening of Luca Pagliari's docufilm "The words in the heart", inspired by their story and the path of Alessia who, together with her sister and parents, tells of the ordeal and the desperation experienced by the whole family.
"I was just 12 years old and I asked my hairdresser mother to dye the tips of my hair red. From there - Alessia recalls - part of the envy towards me and the ferocious behavior of my peers that brought me to the brink of the abyss. Suddenly the isolation, nobody greeted me, I didn't go out anymore, I didn't sleep at night. My sister and my parents encouraged me to report it, but it is only when I met Stefania at a skating course that things start to change " . In tears, the girl recounts her experience as a bulla. "I really believed in the things that were said about Alessia and I feel guilty for having made her suffer - confesses Stefania - I too took my share of pain on my shoulders, but today everything has changed: thanks to her I discovered loyalty and friendship. I tell everyone: you can change and improve you just need to listen to others and look within ".
Today Alessia is the national testimonial of Luca Pagliari's Connected Hearts project. "I am proud - she says - of the path made and happy to be able to help other young people through my experience. I say this in the film but also to the students I meet: beware of words, I would have preferred to be beaten because physical wounds heal, psychological ones last years and maybe they never heal ".
"In 25 years of experience in the provincial observatory for bullying it is the first time that such a virtuous and exciting experience has happened - comments Gianfranco Oppo, president and researcher of the Lariso coop - And it is a story that traces the way: we must work on victims but also on bullies if we want to heal the wounds caused by bullying ".
(Unioneonline / vl)