Being Italian in Kenya also means breaking down ideological differences, distances, social and economic disparities and simply feeling like children of the same homeland and history.
The history of Italians in Kenya cannot forget our compatriots who fell during the imprisonment imposed by the United Kingdom during World War II, when both nations were lined up to defend their colonies, ours in present-day Ethiopia and Eritrea and the British in Kenya and Uganda.
It ended as we know (or should know, let us draw a veil over those who today consider history and culture little more than a wikipedia appendix...). Every year we are reminded of what happened in East Africa, where there were 15 prison camps and more than 700 compatriots died of hardship, fatigue and disease, who found a fitting burial at the Nyeri shrine. Yesterday, the Italian Ambassador to Kenya Roberto Natali wanted to point out that our Constitution repudiates war and that in dramatic days like these with a conflict that affects us closely and not only as spectators, we should follow as a verb the indication of our constituent fathers and at the same time honor those who paid for this human aberration on their skin. In Nyeri, on Sunday, November 6, Natali was not alone: with him almost the entire executive of Comites Kenya, many Italian residents as well as Italian and Kenyan clergy and military authorities.
The suffrage mass was celebrated by Monsignor Virgilio Pante, historical creator of the Diocese of Maralal, peacemaker and singular character who also recalls how Italians have been great missionaries in Kenya.