Have you ever finished a story - a book, comic, podcast, film or other content - and felt like sharing it?
It happened to me with “Etenesh”, a comic by Paolo Castaldi published by Becco Giallo.
I've been reading comics for almost 30 years and I have no hesitation in calling Etenesh a masterpiece.
Gastaldi immerses us in the story of Etenesh, a 20-year-old Ethiopian girl who decides to leave her country to reach Europe in search of a better life.
Etenesh leaves Addis Ababa and travels on a long and dangerous journey through Sudan, Niger, Mali, Libya and the Mediterranean.
Violence, exploitation, discrimination, desperation, but also hope, humanity, dignity.
“My cell measures fifty square meters. Besides me there are over thirty girls, all Ethiopian or Eritrean. We sleep on the floor. The few mattresses available are full of disease-carrying fleas and lice. And falling ill in Sabha is equivalent to dying. A small adjacent room serves as a bathroom. The stench almost makes you faint.
“Now I don't care about anything anymore, about my home, about Italy. I just want to end it, but I don't have the courage."
“On some north wind days you can smell it. The smell of Italy, of freedom.”
It is a comic that makes us reflect on the condition of migrants and the need to build a fairer and more humane world.
