ILDE TERRACCIANO

“Woman of Courage” Award

A punch in the stomach, deaf and relentless, yesterday as today: Ilde’s past is among the most heartwrenching that the human mind can conceive. A continuous, hammering suffering that leaves too many questions unanswered. Ilde sold, abused in body and soul, robbed of the innocence of childhood and the carefree nature of youth, stripped of all human dignity. Ilde, fleeing barefoot from an unacceptable reality and an indifference capable of killing. Ilde who rebelled, who fell and rose again, again and again. To be reborn from her ashes and run toward the longed-for and deserved redemption. To ensure that being a child bride remains just a hollow chronicle devoid of correspondence with her true identity. Ilde today does not remain silent; she tells her story without pause: her voice is no longer faint, and her very life is a signal of positivity meant to instill courage in those who no longer see a way out before them, and her message resonates loud and clear in any corner it can reach.