A young man from Ivory Coast has drowned in Italy after saving two children. Augustin Affi, 21, died on 29th June after he drowned in Lido di Classe, at Ravenna.
When Augustin noticed that the two children aged seven and 11 were experiencing distress while swimming, he jumped into the water without hesitation to save them.
The courageous Augustin succeeded to save the children but drowned during the rescue. His love and courage have deeply touched the local residents.
EveryOne Group, an international human rights group has written to the President of the Republic of Italy Giorgio Napolitano, requesting him to award Augustin the National Civil Gold Medal for the great sacrifice he made to save the lives of the two children.
The City Council of Forli has offered to cater for Augustin’s funeral expenses and to pay for the repatriation of his body to Ivory Coast.
The City Council of Forli, in collaboration with the Council of Foreign Citizens in Forli and the local community of Ivorians, will coordinate the collection of money to support Augustin’s family.
Contributions can be sent to the City Council’s bank account using the following details: Account holder: Comune di Forlì; Account number: IBAN IT20S0200813220000001411833. Please indicate that the donation you are making is for Augustin Affi’s family.
In a society where indifference is the order of the day, since Augustin was neither related to the children nor knew them, he could have ignored their call for help and saved his own life. This is what many others present probably did. But he chose to save them and in the process lost his own life. Though a tragedy, all of us should be proud of Augustin’s heroic gesture.
This is one of the few occasions you would expect the Italian media to talk positively about an immigrant. Instead of doing so, they’ve chosen to ignore Augustin’s heroic gesture. But this doesn’t change the fact that Augustin is a hero, our hero!
By Stephen Ogongo Ongong’a
