In a small town primary school, the pupils will experience something exciting... something mysterious... something that will help them discover how to live together in harmony!

It's the first day of school, and Maria, a girl with frizzy, curly hair, entered her classroom. Searching for a desk to sit at, she realized that the only available seat was next to Anna, who gave her a hostile look. Anna was a girl who teased and bothered everyone. 

Maria approached hesitantly and sat next to her. Anna pulled Maria's hat off and tried in various ways to make her feel bad about her hair, until she succeeded. Maria burst into tears and asked to leave school, claiming that her stomach hurt.  During the break, something mysterious and strange happened...

Suddenly, a pink ribbon fell in front of Anna. Anna looked up, the only odd thing she saw was a colorful little cloud...but someone was smiling up there! She took the ribbon in her hands, unraveled it, and saw two words written on it: "diversity - respect". Going home with the ribbon in her hands, she pondered a lot and seemed to understand her mistake.

The next day, she approached Maria and told her that she had a gift for her. It was the pink ribbon. She suggested Maria put it in her beautiful hair. She apologized and told her that everything different about us is what makes us special. The two girls hugged and ran off to play with their schoolmates!

Everything was going well between the two girls and most of the children were happily playing during the break but someone was feeling lonely in a corner of the school yard. Apostolis was a nine year old boy, born with mobility problems. He could barely walk so he used a wheelchair to get around. The kids didn't hang out with him because they wanted to run and play during the breaks.

Apostolis was looking at his classmates from afar sadly. Suddenly an orange ribbon fell off among the children playing soccer. Everyone looked up in wonder but saw nothing but a small colored cloud. A boy picked up the ribbon and read the words: "love-acceptance". That boy was Harry, a sensitive child who was Apostolis’ neighbor. His look moved directly to him, who was wondering what had happened.

Then, Harry, came up with an idea to invite Apostolis into their game. He suggested that the children play the "rusty phone" game, a game all the children loved. They sat down in a row and started the game, having fun with the words they came up with each time. They played several times, had a lot of fun and they laughed at the funny words that came up in the end. But, what mattered was that on that day Apostolis  experienced a different school reality. As you can guess, he left the school with a huge smile and with the ribbon as a gift in his pocket.

At school, there was a very lively child named Matteo who loved drawing and observing the stars. Matteo was a "special child", it was difficult for him to communicate with other children, so he often stayed alone jumping or running, this was his way to release anxiety. One day, his teacher, Mrs. Rossi, assigned a group project about the stars, so they had to work in groups. Once Matteo joined one of the groups, its members immediately showed little enthusiasm because they considered him incapable of helping them make a great project. 

But, when Matteo started to write everything he knew about the stars and made his knowledge available to the group, his classmates were amazed. They didn't know about his passion. Then, they started to draw and he gave a great contribute with his art here too but first, together with a mate, he went for a run in the courtyard. 

Two members of the group had the task of coloring and, when they took the crayons, they noticed that these were tied with a red ribbon with the word Caring. It inspired them to be loving and caring towards Matteo and towards all the people who had special needs. The children began to understand Matteo and Matteo felt accepted and valued. Thanks to his help, their project turned out to be the best one. All the classmates understood that differences can be our strengths and the source of mutual learning.

BRAVO

Aisha, a girl of Nigerian origin, was forced to emigrate to another country with her family because of the socio-economic problems that afflicted her mother country. When she arrived at  school, the girl showed fear because she did not know the language, because of her cultural and religious diversity (she wore the hijab, a head scarf), because of the color of her skin. Even her classmates didn't accept her, in fact they excluded her from every activity. Every day Aisha came home crying and asked her parents if she could not attend school.

Among her classmates there was Luisa, a girl who had lived abroad for a few years and understood very well what was happening to Aisha. She had felt that way too. While she was coming home, she saw a golden ribbon in her garden, it had been stuck in the lemon tree branches. She took it and the ribbon said “Hugs and Support”. That's what Aisha needed.

The next day Luisa brought to class the chair for the hugs that she had built together with her classmates the past year and made Aisha sit on it; she told her classmates how sad and uncomfortable she had felt when her parents moved abroad for work and she had to follow them. She also said that she would have liked to have friends who hugged her and supported her in learning the language and the school subjects. Then she asked everyone to hug Aisha. Aisha was amazed and happy. From that moment on everyone became her friends and helped her with the school activities.