The stone dedicated to Hamadi in the Garden of the Righteous of Tunis
In July, when we were working to create the Garden of the Righteous of the Tunisian capital together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Italian embassy in Tunis, among the names of the figures to be honoured the one of Mohamed Naceur ben Abdesslem - Hamadi for those who know him and for the Italians whom he has accompanied for over 20 years to discover the marvels of his country, emerged. On 18 March 2015, during the attack against the Bardo Museum, this Tunisian guide had managed to save several tourists, by taking them to the closest police headquarters. When we called him up to announce we were going to bestow recognition upon him, Hamadi expressed a great wish: to be able to meet, or at list hear from, those Italians with whom he had shared that day.
Over one year after the attack, and a few months after the inauguration of the Garden of the Righteous of Tunis, a phone call really seemed to make this wish come true. "Good morning, it's Valeria. I am one of the people who were rescued by Hamadi during the attack against the Bardo Museum” she told me. Valeria was in Tunisia with her husband and a couple of friends, and thanks to Hamadi's help she managed to escape from the Bardo.
“This experience has really marked our lives - she told me on the phone - and for several months we have tried to find a way to contact Hamadi. My friend's husband found his complete name, and writing it on the Web I suddenly saw your interview and the news of the creation of the Garden of Tunis. Thus I found your phone call and address, and I am trying to call you up…”.
Valeria recalls the day of the attack: “We were in Virgil's room, we were looking at the mosaics. We heard a shot, but we thought something had fallen down or there was a problem in the electrical plant. As soon as we realised that the strikes went on, we understood they were real shootings. I saw people fall around me, the bullets created holes in the wall and caused a lot of dust... Then Hamadi called us to make us escape and we passed from a side door that he knew about. In the confusion I did not see my husband anymore, I only noticed somebody on the floor with a gray jacket, like his. In the stampede the other people pushed me down the stairs. I was despaired and I kept on screaming "my husband is not there anymore, they shot at him", but the group told me to be quiet and turn down my voice, as the terrorists could hear us".
Hamadi took the guests of the Museum to the emergency exit, then crossed the courtyard in a hurry - "I was not breathing anymore", recalls Valeria, until we reached the police headquarters.
“Also when we crossed the park, I never thought of the worst scenarios, - said Hamadi - although there could be some terrorists on the terrace, ready to shoot at us. It was a spontaneous, natural reaction.. I really believe in God, and I say God's will help us get in the outside".
It is from the stop at the police headquarters that Valeria remembers a detail: "Before our visit to the Bardo we had been to the medina, and Hamadi had told us not to take with us all our bags, to keep only the essential things because it was an unsafe area, where thefts are quite frequent. So I had given my mobile phone to my husband, who had a belt bag. When I found myself at the police headquarters I had nothing but number 25, which was the name of our bus. But I remembered I had given my phone to my husband and I thought of calling him up to see whether he was alive. No one seemed to have a mobile phone to lend me, everybody said theirs was off charge. Then thanks to Hamadi I found a phone, I dialed the number and my husband answered. He was alive”.
Valeria's husband was still inside the Bardo, hidden with a couple of friends in a veranda of the hall, and could not speak loud out of fear he would be discovered by the terrorists.
“I was bewildered, I knew none of the tourists who were at the police headquarters with me. I knew only Hamadi. And it was Hamadi who told me that the police would get us out of the building one by one. We crossed a road along the railway, to then get to a bus with all the soldiers around. The road though was not safe, and we could not go the harbour. Then they took us to another barracks, a bigger one, where we would remain until everything was gotten again into safety. We found the tables set with oranges and bottles of water. We sat down and wrote on blank sheets of paper our names, surnames, nationality and number of our rooms on the boats, for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the navigation company. About 5 pm I saw an other bus arrive that was my bus no. 25. So I found again my group, my husband and my friends, and together we went to the harbour and got on the ship that would take us back home. .
With Hamadi we had a hug and we kissed our goodbye still in prey of the emotion for what had happened. For months I tried to contact him again, and now I eventually found him".
In July we hoped the dedication of the tree to Hamadi inside the Garden of the Righteous of Tunis would be the first step for a new meeting between this guide and the Italians he rescued. Today the time to celebrate life, friendship and gratitude is really close: Hamadi's wish will finally come true.