We often ask ourselves whether we were clear from the start. In deciding to publish books and set up a site on the Horn of Africa, did we express our aim clearly? Our only aim was to help the people of that part of Africa in any way possible, and to try to convince the governors of the Horn that they live in one of the most beautiful places in the world and that they are beholden to God and humanity to use that beauty to offer a decent life to their people. This would not be difficult. Hundreds of western tourist agencies would invest in the Horn of Africa if there was certainty of peace and safety.
We received threats, criticism, legal action, insults, libel and so forth. We have been accused of being communists or fascists and ignorant about Africa. For example, Nicky was criticised for claiming that much of the merit for the rapid conquest of Ethiopia by the Italian army in 1936 was due to the valour of the Eritrean Ascars. This was considered inadmissible because it would increase the rancour of the Ethiopians towards the Eritreans. We disagree with this opinion. These are truths that can no longer exacerbate a war that has been going on for over 40 years. The truth cannot be denied or manipulated. Of the many letters and communications we receive, not one is about the questions we raised.
We are contacted by Italian and other universities with dissertations on research topics as we are evidently the last sons of Italian colonialists willing to talk about what Italy did and about our fathers. After us, there will be nobody to talk about events experienced. Many write for news of ancestors who worked in Africa or for the strangest information. We reply not only out of politeness but also because we always hope to persuade someone to help the peoples of the Horn. What do these belated requests matter to us when despatches arrive almost daily from UNICEF, FAO, WHO, Red Cross, NGO and missionary organizations denouncing the natural calamity of drought in the Horn of Africa? What do we care about news of old Italian colonialists, when hundreds of thousands of children, women and elderly people are struggling to survive, and most will soon die of hunger, thirst and disease?
So far we have written books which describe and show the beauty of the Horn of Africa in the hope of raising money for these children. The books have done quite well, winning prizes and selling and the money has been sent to the Horn. But, as we mentioned, these are tiny drops in a sea of need. In the next books, we not only write about the beauty of the Horn; we also report current environmental disasters, but mostly man-made damage. We stress the absolute necessity that the governments of that part of the Africa build the peace necessary to open borders safely to foreign tourists and pacify their countries to stop the exodus of refugees