Heart of Coal

In the summer of 1956, in a small town in Belgium called Marcinelle, disaster struck. Marcinelle was a coal mining town. Belgium in the 19th century was one of the most heavily industrialized countries in Europe, and coal was a big part of fuelling that industry. The mine at Marcinelle had been active since 1822 and had survived two world wars, fought intensely and bloodily in that part of the world. 

Belgium and Italy had signed a 'men for coal' deal in 1946, which gave Italian miners the chance to escape the poverty of postwar Italy and bring their expertise and fortitude to a new coalface. Italy, in exchange, got cheaper coal to help revive their ravaged economy. 

Over one hundred thousand miners over ten years headed north to make a living underground. By the mid fifties, then, the Italians in Belgium, often shunned by locals and obliged to live and work in stark conditions, had created for themselves and their families a distinct way of life, and the chance of a more prosperous future.

Sadly for many that future was cut short. On that morning in August, a poorly placed mining cart in an elevator cut through some cables, causing a fire in the Marcinelle mine.  There were 274 miners below ground; the fire created toxic gas, all but 12 of the men suffocated to death. This colossal tragedy took the lives of 136 Italians, mostly from the Northeastern regions of Friuli and Veneto. The youngest of the dead was the 16 year old Agostino Sacco.

Cut to this year, and the community of people who use, develop, and generally appreciate the content management system Joomla. (you use it to make websites). In Italy, one of the key members of that community is Druskus. He's also an oldbie in Opensim, owner of the historic Clone Life grid, and these days, of ZoneNations grid  and you may know his social site, Hype Metaverse, aimed at gamers of all kinds, but with quite a few opensim people on it.

Via the Joomla chatroom, Druskus came across Andrea Campagnolo, a teacher and historian who has been researching information about the death of his grandfather in the Marcinelle tragedy. The project he was working on is aimed at explaining this story, and all the interconnected social, psychological, and historical implications to his students, and to the community, to remember the sacrifice of these men and their families. He's putting on a RL event in the small town of Latisana on May 15. The presentation is called 'Heart of Coal, the story of fatigue and hope in the depths of the Belgian mines'.

Druskus riding through the installation

Druskus: I make a point of not to always talking about Opensim to people, it can be too much, I don't like to go on about it, but  in this case, I really thought the virtual world platform could be a great way to bring the project to life. Andrea provided the photos, which have brief explanatory comments under each one. There's a lot of information to take in here but it's not presented in a way that is overwhelming, you can read each one, or you can just absorb the atmosphere and appreciate the culture that these brave, hard working people carved out for themselves.

 Druskus created a tunnel system, with beautifully realistic with ups and downs, twists and turns. He also scripted a miner cart that is rideable - one appears every 30 seconds - so you can experience all the pictures in the sort of lighting and cramped space that the miners lived and worked in. The installation has explanation in italian - in the future he plans to expand that into other languages too - that sets the scene. Just looking into the sea of faces at the landing point, and realizing how many people's lives must have been touched, not to say cut short or ruined, by this experience is enough to give anyone pause. I asked Druskus' partner Cleo what she thought.

Cleopatra Abu

Cleopatra Abu: It's very touching, It's been lovely to be part of this installation. When the photos were set out in the tunnels, I got quite emotional, it made me look at them in a new way, you really feel connected with the people whose lives were torn apart by this tragedy

NPCs and photos bring this story to life

Mainstream academia has come to accept the possibilities of platforms like SL, but it's still true that not everyone realizes how an immersive experience in a 3D world can really touch the imagination of students and get them involved and interested in subjects that many might otherwise find dry or disconnected from their reality. So this project, mentioned in the news outlet Udine Today offers a way to make Opensim known to the wider world.

For those of us lucky enough to reside in Opensim, it's just another jewel in our crown. The build is open any time if you would like to explore it.  

HG Address: login.zonenations.com:8002/Pizzoferro/250/11/24