Rai's historic correspondent in Nairobi, Enzo Nucci, the man who opened the headquarters of Radio Televisione Italiana, today the national information hub of Sub-Saharan Africa, is retiring.
Since 2007 Nucci, sixty-five years old, a true Neapolitan, has reported on East Africa on a daily basis, not only on video but also in various radio news bulletins, and has been in the field at several crucial moments in Kenya's recent history.
"In 2006 I was asked to open the first 'Rai Africa' office," Nucci told me in the interview for the book 'Italians in Kenya', "a continent I had never explored. What I didn't know was that I would have to do everything myself: 'open' in the true sense of the word, from renting premises to buying lamps and armchairs. A year later we were up and running.
With a very good cameraman and two other Kenyan assistants, Nucci, with his reportages, introduced Italians to the many 'Africas' that coexist on this continent.
In recent years, Nucci, in Kenya alone, has documented events that have had worldwide resonance, starting with the post-election chaos of 2008.
'Recounting a massacre in what had become my home seemed unreal,' Nucci recalls. 'I saw scenes that I thought only belonged in the movies, strong images so close they were frightening.
Then the Westgate bombing and the Garissa massacre in April 2015, which he documented impeccably despite the strong scenes he witnessed.
He also often found himself in the middle of police attacks, such as in the Kibera slum when Kenyan officers were shooting at eye level, or in Mogadishu, during the production of a special for TG1.
But Nucci also recounted the Kenya of religious and secular missions, of cooperation, of unity among poor people, of a people always ready to rise again.
In addition to the many stories of compatriots, linked not only to news and politics, but also to tourism and solidarity.
'As an Italian, it was a privilege to get to know first-hand the realities of our Catholic missions and their rootedness in Kenyan society,' Nucci concluded his interview, 'as well as the cooperations and the various business sectors, including tourism on the coast, with its large community of residents.
Dear Enzo, I will greatly miss our (all too rare) chats about Kenya and the surrounding area, your wisdom and ever-ready wit, which often reminded me of my Neapolitan parent for whom you always had a certain affection. I know that you will enjoy your beautiful coastline, and that a little 'Sickness of Africa' will always accompany you.