RAVENNA – She arrived in Bagnacavallo, in the province of Ravenna, from Afghanistan in 2008 thanks to the Italian military contingent and the Civil Protection. Ten years later the president Sergio Mattarella had conferred it the certificate of honor of Alfiere della Repubblica. She was sick, she died Nazifa Noor Ahmad. At 20 years old. The country that has adopted and loved her mourns.
Suffering from a severe form of lymphoma, Nazifa was first admitted to the pediatric onco-hematology department of the Sant’Orsola hospital in Bologna and then cyclically underwent therapy. The journey from Herat had been her journey of hope for her to be cured.
Roberto Faccani, then head of the Civil Protection of Lower Romagna, had hosted and welcomed her into his family. “It was Nazifa’s father, with great dignity, who turned to me in Italian asking for help to be able to save her and Nazifa, to reciprocate, always tried to lend a hand to those who needed her”, he recalled.
“We knew that the situation was delicate, but the news surprised and saddened us all – the condolences of the mayor of Bagnacavallo Eleonora Proni – Nazifa was a very intelligent and sensitive girl, a very good citizen and student, for some time perfectly integrated into the community, she was one of us “.
The disease, the pain in his life. But also extraordinary moments such as the certificate of honor of Alfiere della Repubblica conferred on her in 2018 by President Mattarella for her commitment in volunteering. The motivation explains that Nazifa “had a very serious illness, the treatments in Italian hospitals were long and sometimes heavy. During the numerous hospitalizations she always showed her smile and tried to help those around her. she became a Red Cross volunteer, is fully integrated as a student in our schools, and plays the role of interpreter in the reception centers for migrants ”. At just 20 years old, Nazifa Noor Ahmad passed away at the hospital in Padua on Wednesday afternoon after a lung transplant.
The Italian Red Cross remembers her with sorrow: “There are no adequate words. Each comment seems superfluous. But it is not so, because her short life had an immense value: it was a vehicle of hope and desire to dedicate herself to others to give back what received “.