In 2018, for her commitment as a volunteer in the Red Cross, Nazifa Noor Ahmad received from the Head of State, Sergio Mattarella, the certificate of Standard Bearer of the Republic after she arrived in Bagnacavallo in Ravenna, from Afghanistan thanks to a joint intervention between the Italian military contingent in the field in Herat and the Civil Protection of Lower Romagna, at the time led by Roberto Faccani who had welcomed her into his family to offer her the opportunity to cure herself of a severe form of
thoracic Hodgkin's lymphoma - cervical
.
She died at the age of twenty
, Wednesday - as reported by the local Ravenna press -
a few days after the lung transplant
she had undergone in Padua last Saturday.
Over the years, the young woman - who arrived in Romagna at just over six years and became Bagnacavallese by adoption - had had to undergo complex treatments, due to her health conditions, and had been hospitalized several times in the onco-hematology department. pediatric hospital of the Sant'Orsola hospital in Bologna.
Recently she was hospitalized in Padua for lung surgery, after the cyclical treatments she was forced to take.
Nazifa, who
was supposed to take the post-graduation exam postponed in September
, at the scientific high school in Lugo, was accompanied by her mother and one of her adoptive sisters, always at her side like her adoptive father, Roberto Faccani, from whom she had drawn her passion for volunteering, carried out in the ranks of the Red Cross also working as an interpreter in the reception centers for migrants.
A commitment that had earned her the honor of the President of the Republic.
"It is a very difficult moment and we of the family find it hard to speak and express what we feel about this serious loss - said Faccani himself in recent days at 'il Resto del Carlino' in Ravenna -: Nazifa has been with us for 14 years and my family and I followed her in every step, both for the treatment of the disease and for the inclusion in social life.
She felt perfectly Italian
, Romagna and Bagnacavallese so much so that at the age of seven she learned our language in just four months. She was tied to everyone and loved by everyone. Friends and schoolmates are incredulous at what happened and in recent months they have always followed and supported her. She gave the community its best and will remain in the memories of lot of".
And the national president of the Italian Red Cross, Francesco Rocca, also spoke about the death of the Afghan girl.
"There are no adequate words for the disappearance of our Nazifa - he argued to the 'Carlino' - any comment seems superfluous. But it is not so, because his short life had an immense value: it was a vehicle of hope and desire to dedicate himself to others to return what has been received ".