A tree in memory of Manuel Mameli, the young man from Selargius who disappeared a year ago on the Ukrainian front. A foreign fighter, enlisted in the Kiev armed forces, officially missing in action, his parents—Stefano Mameli and Vincenza Perez—have also dedicated a book to him, chronicling their son's life.
The new initiative in his memory is by a young Sardinian, Francesco Nocco, who has been in Ukraine for a few weeks. "I went to Sarzhyn Yar park in Kharkiv to plant a tree, a Kalyna for Manuel Mameli, for our 'Vespa,'" he says. "Manuel was a boy from my hometown. He was from Selargius, I was from Calasetta; who knows how many times our paths crossed in the Cagliari hinterland. We were a similar age and shared an idea of justice that pushed us not to look the other way," the young man says. I chose to come here to tell and document life in this country. He physically stood between the invaders and the families, the children, who just wanted to live a normal European life." The planted tree has a meaning: "When a young warrior fell in battle in a foreign land, or far from home, his comrades planted a Kalyna for him, so that his glory would be remembered." Then a thought for the parents of the boy from Selargius: "I hope that one day, when Ukraine is finally free, at peace, and victorious, Vincenza and Stefano can take a flight to Kharkiv, and that, standing before this strong and thriving tree, they can feel that their son's courage still lives here."
