The wind moved us in every direction, gusts at 50 kilometers per hour. We got out of the cars and couldn’t see further than 10 metres, surrounded by fog.
Bundled up in our jackets, wrapped in scarves and worried about hats flying away, we tried to be as united as possible.
Arm in arm, hand in hand, running, we arrived under the globe of North Cape without even realizing it, with our voices and our bodies carried by the wind.
We looked for each other and found each other, as in the whole journey. Together.
We haven’t seen darkness for 6 days, since our journey moved towards the far north: Denmark, Sweden, Finland and up to Norway… More and more light.
It is with this state of mind that we arrived at the North Cape, with the desire to see the precipice of 300-meter-high rocks overlooking the Arctic Ocean.
And yet we couldn’t see anything. The North Cape did not show itself externally… The North Cape showed itself… But inside, within each of us.
This journey has made the masks collapse, sometimes making fear grow, sometimes helping us to melt in a hug, in a word, in a look.
It seems impossible to have come this far and done it together. We are us and we are equal and wonderfully different, men and women, boys and young people, who have decided to set out and bet everything on a few very important words: gratuitousness, fragility and peace. Above all peace, the one we seek within ourselves before bringing it outside, the one we would like to see return to Europe.
This is why we left, 5000 kilometers ago, to which we add the almost 100 thousand steps taken on foot in the cities and in the boundless nature of Scandinavia.
We have adapted to the temperatures, we have seen the vegetation, flora and fauna, language and traditions change. The hours of darkness gave way to the hours of light and we could hide less and less, until we reached the North Cape which for each of us is an objective, a restart, a journey that was first inside and then outside of us.
No one will forget these days; Barbara won’t, with her voice always a little over the top and her tantrums when she’s tired; Antonio with his desire to always be the protagonist; Valentina with her red cheeks when she gets embarrassed talking about love; Maklen and his unlikely advice, Franco and his tears of emotion.
Brith left because he didn’t want to leave, then he started taking photos that were portraits of his traveling companions. It was his way of being there.
Martina let go of her sulks and eyes to the sky and showed us smiles and glances towards others, even those most different from her.
Keyla had many curious questions and infected us with her laughter, because “we bring sunshine to every place we go” is her motto.
Matilde was worried about the changes, but she was able to adapt, putting the group first.
Pietro, the youngest, was scared precisely because of this, but he was able to find his space of expression and returns home “bigger”.
The educators, the communicators, the ANAI drivers, the State Police officers, the President of Jupiter Salvatore Regoli, have provided the framework and support and have taken care of this group of young people, all special.
We became a single group and it was the caravan that accomplished this feat, of putting us in crisis, of bringing about change, of making us discover ourselves as strong, courageous and at the same time fragile.
Do we have the answers to all the questions? Of course not, but we have a new way of listening to ourselves and following the path within ourselves. And this is what “Destination North Cape” has taught us.
