The experience with which Francesca Gallo, one of AsOne‘s singers , introduced the band’s new song, “Non sarò sola mai” (‘I will never be alone’), during Genfest 2024 in Brazil.

AsOne, a youth band from Northern Italy, released a new music video: ‘Non sarò sola mai’ (‘I will never be alone’) (F.Gallo-A.Benedetti-G.Anselmi). The single was sung for the first time in July, during the Genfest, an international youth event of the Focolare Movement, which was held in Aparecida, Brazil.

Before AsOne’s performance, Francesca Gallo, one of the lead singers of the band, shared her experience of suffering from bullying. We thank her for allowing us to share her testimony here at UWP.

After reading her important story, we invite you to listen to the song…

“My name is Francesca, I am 21 years old and I’m Italian. I play the piano and I like to sing, in fact when I sing I feel alive. I love life, people, with their stories and their differences. I feel there is a light inside me and I want to let it shine.

I want to be free, like when I put my hands on the piano and I feel I am one with my emotions and the music.

I am a person who has wounds… who doesn’t have them?

One of my wounds was the abandonment, rejection and hatred of people I considered friends, who marginalised me, making me believe that I was worthless, useless, that I had nothing to give.

I was just a child and I didn’t have the strength to bear all that hatred towards me. I believed everything they told me: that I was insignificant, that I wasn’t pretty. And that made me fragile. I locked myself in a place where it was almost impossible to get to.

I started to convince myself that food was a way to fill the emptiness inside me. But the more I ate, the emptier I felt. The more I ate, the more I hated my body.

I was waiting for someone to come and help me, but no one came. I remember one day, at a very difficult time, new conflicts with people close to me were bringing up all my fears from the past. I was in a church with other young people and I felt abandoned and so empty inside.

Suddenly I felt the presence of Jesus close to me. He seemed to say to me: ‘You are not alone’. From that moment on, whenever the past surfaced and I felt sad, I would take my bike and run to the church near my house to find that sense of peace.

Throughout all these years, my relationship with my parents helped me to move forward, my mother was my safe haven. I felt listened to and loved by her.

I know that inside me there is still that child, that little Francesca, a carefree girl who loves life and has many dreams to fulfil. All this is stronger than the past and the wounds I carry.

I haven’t solved everything, but I keep moving forward every day, one step after the other. Without looking back.

And I know I am not alone.