Mariam and Marwa. Reggio Emilia, Italy 

“In Italy, schools have been closed since February 24th and Mariam has been at home ever since. I managed to make do a bit with my grandparents, but since March 16 I was also forced at home in smart working modality. Actually I work more then ever. There are so many needs and demands of citizens to guide and respond to during this emergency. For weeks, we have been experiencing an emergency that has changed our lives in such a short time, twisting our habits. The previous borders are leaping, the geography of our world is changing.  The Coronavirus is pushing everyone to take note of the equality of human dignity and its vulnerability: there is no social condition or frontier that holds and we are all experiencing the same condition. It is teaching us how stupid it is to discriminate someone because my problem is your problem. And that we all live connected. What is happening has revealed how fragile we are, yet at the same time this situation unites us and inspires our best energies”. Marwa is a municipal councilor in Reggio Emilia.