M.line up words, during adolescence, represented a shield behind which to hide his insecurities, but today, for Sabrina Efionay, 22-year-old Neapolitan Afro-descendantwriting has become a tool to gain awareness and reveal oneself in the autobiographical book “Goodbye, see you tomorrow”.
Sabrina Efionay Credits @Roberto Salomone
The roots of the book
Approaching the world of Italian fiction with the pseudonym Sabrynex to indulge in moments of leisure from the chaos she was carrying on her skin, in the last period, she decided to transform the indelible marks of her existence into an opportunity for revenge.
“In recent years I have developed the idea of writing this book: when I came of age, I felt less compelled to maintain that fluctuating relationship with my biological mother. I started a journey as long as it was painful that led me to dig into the drawers of my memory to find my truth “says Sabrina, daughter of Gladys, a Nigerian woman who arrived in Italy with a load of dreams broken by the obligation to put her body up for sale.
Childhood between two mothers and two cultures
She remembers very little, Sabrina, of the childhood lived in the house with red shutters, in Castel Volturno, where what she thought was a bad friend of her mother, in reality, was Madame Joy, the one who forced her to satisfy eager men.
“We were all in awe of him, when he entered a room it was freezing” recalls Sabrina who, just 11 days old, across the street from that prison house he found a warm nest in which to build his future.
Gladys, in fact, as soon as she was born, handed her over to Antonietta, a loving neighbor who became her foster mother, with whom she still lives today. “We understand each other with a single glance,” says Sabrina, who grew up between two mothers and two cultures.
The ideal of a daughter never met
Who loves mom both women who, even if they represent two opposing worlds, never overlapped. “I recognize that my mother Gladys to bring me into the world was deprived of her dignity when her clients understood that she was pregnant, of love and hope in others, however I believe that I never corresponded to her ideal as a daughter, in fact she never knew meHe says, without ever wanting to blame his mother.
«When I was 8 – she remembers – I started spending 3 months a year with her and I had to learn to decide for myself: she didn’t know my tastes or my habits. To please her, I started eating the same dishes as her. Even, albeit an agnostic, I pretended to believe in her own God, but in any case I was not the daughter she wanted: even in the photos, with an application, she made me leaner and clearer of skin “.
Goodbye, see you tomorrow by Sabrina Efionayi, Einaudi€ 8.99
Discrimination for black skin
That skin too black to be Italian, as it felt, but steeped in too much “Italianness” for the African relatives, with whom it did not share culture and traditions, in elementary school it was a distinctive trait that made it special, but in sixth grade the ‘he forced to deal with the cruelty of the eyes of others.
“What I thought was a compliment has turned into an occasion for discrimination. Some teachers asked me if I preferred to be called “black”, “colored” or even “black”. Right now, I’d say I am who I am and I don’t have to be ashamed of anything. I’m Italian and, finally, I no longer have to deny my African origins which are part of my history “she sighs.
Defense of rights
The exact moment he realized that being black is no shame it was June 2, 2020, during the event “Black Lives Matter” in support of George Floyd.
«I was surrounded by thousands of people, indiscriminately, black and white who were fighting for a just and common cause. In that moment, I had proof that our lives matter equally. Being black is not a fault, but a right to fight for on a daily basis»Declares the young writer who, deepening themes such as racism and colorism, managed to put order among the various pieces of a puzzle that, until recently, did not find the right fit.
The puzzle of truth
Today, Sabrina, who studies Political Science at the Federico II University in Naples, through writing and her commitment to defending her rights, she managed to make amends with her roots as well as with her mother’s past discovered when she was 11 years old.
«The arrest of yours madame made her feel the need to tell me the truth – remember – He never used the word “prostitute”, but he spoke to me of an irrepressible suffering that, at that moment, I felt on me. There was no need for questions, I understood everything and understood even more his hatred towards men. For a while, I feared that one day it would happen to me too, as black, but I never talked about it with my mother Antonietta, who respected my silence, nor with my friends, to whom I confided only a few days before the release of my book ».
The commitment to stir consciences
“Goodbye, see you tomorrow”, that it will soon be available as a podcast version for Chora Mediaas well as being the title of the literary work with which Sabrina Efionay hopes to succeed stir up consciences in a country that is still behind in terms of rights and inclusion, is also the phrase with which he seals his narrative addressing his biological mother, to whom he is timidly reconnecting. Though his home will always remain mother Antonietta, wherever she is.
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