Un abbraccio da Kiev. Lettera a una bambina rinata, the new book Mariangela Rossi
The story of a little girl's adoption from Ukraine 10 years ago tells us about acceptance, openness and worlds coming together
A long adoption wait for a couple of would-be parents and a seemingly endless journey that lasted nearly three months and began in December 2011, to a region now returned central in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Donbass: the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, officially recognized as "independent" by the Kremlin, ruled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, supported militarily and financially by Moscow, where Anastasia was born. Mariangela, with her husband Michele, left for their adoptive process in Ukraine about two years before the start of that conflict.
Mariangela RossiMariangela Rossi, a Genoese with Tuscan roots who has been based in Milan for many years, is a journalist and contributes to several RCS Group newspapers, including ioDonna and Amica, as well as How to Spend It and Marie Claire Maison. The latest book she wrote, "A Hug from Kiev. Letter to a reborn child" (Solferino), is a journey, from Ukraine to Italy, but also a journey of the soul, of hope, of resistance, even of escape, in an attempt to rebuild her life. With a challenge, that of crossing new borders. Physical and existential. And a new reunion that kicks off the narrative, that of the author with Elèna, the woman who had accompanied her in the adoption of Anastasia and who has now just managed to escape from war-torn Ukraine.
The one to go to meet their daughter was a journey of hope and love. Each day was always punctuated by the anticipation of a phone call alerting them to an imminent and unknown match. And then the picture of the little girl who would become theirs, Anastasia, the tenderness, the rush to prepare for the long journey to reach her, more than 10 hours on a partially coal-fueled train to arrive at 5 a.m. in Kremmina, with temperatures as low as -27 degrees, the meeting with her (how will we understand each other? It only takes a little, they later discover), the first doll, kukla Nadja, the first steps to discover each other and communicate, the games, the getting to know each other every day.
The book is the story of Anastasia and her new family, but it also tells of the hope for so many adoptive families to offer a new home, a new family, a new life to so many orphaned children. And also to those who are now demobilizing in order to accommodate the thousands of refugees who are arriving in Italy, understanding where they are coming from and all the load of love they need.
A good adoptive parent should have the ability to link the past with the present and with the future, without gaps between a "bad" before and a "good" after, but finding a place, giving explanations without ever transferring negativity, rather always self-esteem and security.
The one in the book "A Hug from Kiev. Letter to a reborn child" is the story of happy integration, endless love and difficulties overcome in the name of acceptance and the prospect of a life together as a threesome.
