SU_T_20

[r] My name is [name]! [name], I come from Morocco, I’m 38 years old, I’ve been living in Italy for 12 years, in Turin to be precise, I chose Turin because it’s a city I’ve known for a long time, partly through my sister who has been living in Italy, in Turin to be precise, since 89, so every year she came back to Morocco, she would tell us about her life in Italy, so I’d seen Italy and Turin from afar too, so when I had the opportunity to come and go abroad I chose Turin. I’ve been married for 8 years, my husband is South American, from Ecuador, I have two beautiful daughters. one is 7 years old, and the younger one is 3 years old. Basically my trip was pure chance. The idea of immigrating was part of my dreams, but it was just to visit this country, as you said before, through my sister’s story, I fell in love. When I came, I had just graduated, so I was quite young, I wanted to see the world, have new experiences, look for opportunities, why not? I had come, I remember that I had fallen in love with the country, the city, its history that I also knew from my studies, because we also studied the history of Italy, a very important history, so I really wanted to get to know it, live it, and discover it for myself first hand. as I said, I’ve been here for 12 years, I’m happy, I can say that I’m fairly integrated when you love a place you always look for a better way to integrate, a sweeter, more correct, more just way. but this doesn’t take away the fact that you encounter difficulties, because they are part of life’s rules. For the most part I feel very comfortable, I have friends, male and female friends, that I love and who love me, that I respect and who respect me. I’ve done many jobs, many things, voluntary work, also work with the public, like intercultural mediation. I’ve done a few projects with the intercultural centre of Turin. I like having contact with the public. with people, feeling useful, for that first neighbour I’m always available. this is a characteristic that i…
[i] Most important.
[r] It’s not the most important characteristic that describes me. If you want to ask about me, who I am, ask others at least what they say about me. I’m a very helpful person, and I like to help, because my philosophy is that he who helps is always helped. Then in life you never know. Everything about
[i] You told me that you are Moroccan, you come from Morocco, your husband is South American, he comes from ?
[r] Ecuador, and he is Latin American
[i] How did you meet ?
[r] We met at school in 2010, it was November 2009, we were in the third year of secondary school. We met and immediately became friends, so we told each other things. We were very close, the fact that we had many things in common united us. As they say… anyway a deep friendship was born, slowly love also grew, after .. less than a year we got married, in 2011, then after just 9 months 15 days our first daughter was born. [name] is a very, very bright child, very intelligent. In fact, the fact that she has South American blood on one side and North African Arab blood on the other has made her a very advanced, very bright child. So, as they say, love has no nation, no race, no religion, no language. In fact, I describe my story as one that comes out of the blue. North Africa, South America and Europe. This union unites not only the two of us, two hearts and two bodies, but also three cultures. The South American one, the African Arab one and the European one. However, our language is a language of love, as happens in all couples, and Italian, I feel quite lucky to have this. I feel quite lucky to have this richness because it’s something extra. Thanks to my husband, thanks to the fact that I married a South American, I have also learnt Spanish, another language that I speak. My children speak three languages at the moment. It’s a richness, I haven’t stopped at the fact that, like many have, oh my God, it will be hard, difficult, how have you done it, how do you do it, to live this thing here, to live this difference, this diversity. But I see diversity as an extra. I have got to know another people, another culture, another language, so I see it from this point of view.
[i] Coming from Morocco, you probably have a family where everyone is Muslim.
[r] Yes, exactly
[i] You wanted to marry someone who doesn’t share the same culture, maybe even the same religion. Did you have any difficulties with your family?
[r] Well, I can say that when I met my husband we were just friends, the idea of loving him and even marrying him didn’t even cross my mind. I was convinced that we would remain friends, I saw him as a decent person, a smart person, a hard worker. A person who wants to learn, never stops learning, so there we were. He was interested in the Muslim religion, and then, to my surprise, he became even more interested. Little by little, talking about my religion and his interest in it, all this also led to his love for me and for this religion, which led him to convert. even if I don’t like the word convert because he chose Islam as his religion, not eliminating his true religion but rather, something more, this is a richness, something more, because all religions are based on the same things. no religion says you have to hurt someone, or vice versa, so they are all based on beautiful deep things, on being good to others, to oneself, towards God, he chose this religion and added something more, an extra detail, basically the things he didn’t do in his religion, he would pray five times a day, fast, something he did once a month, he would fast for one day. now with the Muslim religion he does it once a year, but one month during the year he does it whenever he wants not to smoke not to drink in my opinion that must also be a philosophy of life, so as not to damage his own body. regardless of who said it, what religion is he saying it from. He added some things to what he had said before. I can say in simple words he completed what he had said. So in himself, inside himself he has the Muslim religion and the Christian religion, we all come from the same creator. God created us all, maybe I call him ALLAH, in Arabic of course I call him ALLAH, but in Italian I call him DIO, in French I call him DIEU, anyway it’s him, it’s not like we’re talking about two different things. It’s true there have been difficulties, but not because of religion, but because of the distance. I come from Morocco and he comes from South America, we are so far away, and the first thing my dear soul said to me was, ‘But my dear girl, where is this Ecuador? If I had to look for it on a map one day, just to look for your husband in case he hurt you, where could I find this Ecuador?’ I had this fear, then as we know in mixed marriages, especially so far away, the fear is that, not for the harm that can happen to us adults who have chosen it, but to our children. because the first question that many people ask me, especially my fellow women, is . . . aren’t you afraid that one day he will take your children away from you? because we are totally far away from each other. this is what scared me, but I didn’t want to be afraid. because I was sure that with love you can face anything. But above all with respect, so I got through it. But it’s normal to suffer or be afraid, to worry, as I say it’s part of life. For the moment I don’t want to think anymore, because thinking would only ruin my present, and also my future. Now I try to live my life, because I chose it, and to live it the way I want my children to live it because that’s the most important thing. And let’s see what destiny has in store for us .
[i] Now you’ve made me wonder, does the husband take the children to his country, have you been to his country?
[r] Of course I have.
[i] Do you know his family, and does he know yours?
[r] For sure the first thing we did after we got married was to go on our honeymoon and we chose his country. I remember the first time the idea of going to a country so far away that the only way to travel was by plane, with 12 hours of travelling, it wasn’t easy so I went, I remember as soon as I got there everything was different, even the appearance of the houses was different from the ones I know in my country, in Italy, as soon as I got there I was not afraid but it was a new country, a new family, mother-in-law, everything you can imagine. I remember that the first week, after two days, I told my husband that we would go back to Ecuador once every 4 years. After the first week I said we’ll come every 3 years, and in the third week I said I’d like to come every year. That means I really enjoyed it, and to be honest I have a mother-in-law to envy. In the sense that she’s a good person, she loves me, she respected me, and she respected her son’s choice. Even though she is very religious, a practising member of her religion, she never went against her son’s wishes. So I can say that I’m lucky in this respect. My husband has also been to Morocco four times, and since they met him they have told me that you did well to choose this person, they understood the reason why I risked choosing this union, this marriage. He likes Morocco, he likes Moroccan food. When I married him, I said to myself that finally, by marrying someone who isn’t Moroccan, I’d be freed from Moroccan cuisine, which I don’t mean to say is bad, but quite the opposite, in fact, it’s very demanding. Instead I’m with a South American who loves Moroccan cuisine from A to Z, so I haven’t freed myself at all. I also cook his cuisine. I get 10/10, his mum already gave me 9/10. So I can say I’ve integrated in that sense too. My children love Morocco very much, they have a very, very strong relationship with it. In fact, when my eldest daughter is asked where she comes from, she answers ‘I’m Marichina’. Even if I specify that she is Moroccan and Ecuadorian and lives in Italy, because for a while there was a bit of confusion. I also tried to guide her, to give her roots, something solid, in my opinion those who have no roots cannot bear fruit. Like a tree, she grows in the air, so she knows she loves Italy, Morocco and Ecuador. In my opinion it’s right that she is here.
[i] What are your plans for the future?
[r] I have lots of plans, I think that’s how it should be, otherwise you live without goals. Without anything, you don’t do much. I have many plans, I can even say dreams, because they are a bit difficult to realise. But they’re impossible, because in life nothing is impossible. Let’s see what destiny has in store for me, what it has in reserve for me, what it makes me discover. I had never imagined marrying an Ecuadorian, and here I am, married to a South American. With children, a family. So in life we dream of one thing and then we get something else. But the important thing is to do things according to your own convictions, with choice and with love. So if I were to tell you about all my projects we’d never finish, but I do have a project, as I said I like to have contact with people, and I love my fellow man, without exception. When I see my fellow man I don’t see his language, his colour, his origin. I’m firm on that. One thing I’d like to have is a restaurant. Yes! Why? A restaurant that can unite North Africa, Europe and South America, in fact I even have the name of this restaurant. But it’s not the other things that will make it happen, but a dream, a restaurant where food is cooked with a different spice. Not the one we know but another one, love. Love and respect. The most important ingredients are offering good food, but when I say food I don’t mean what you eat. But also that which nourishes us, in the human sense, of relationships, in respect for others. So it’s a dream. Or my granddaughter hopefully will bring it about. Because we need a place that you enter and you see no boundaries. You see no differences, where you see, you have the experience of being yourself. Of being a person who goes to eat something good. Discover the other world, if you can’t go there, we’ll bring that place to you. Where there is food, culture and customs, the ideal way to introduce us to the right way. Then when you do it, eating a good dish, the borders melt, the only border that remains is the edge of the plates. The only difference will be that.
[i] Is there anything else you’d like to tell me that I haven’t thought of asking you about?
[r] What can I say? I’d say I’m lucky to have chosen Italy, and specifically Turin. I consider myself a true Turinese, I love Turin, I love its history, I’ve always loved it, and I love it as a beautiful, captivating city. But last year I had the opportunity to get to know a part of Turin up close. I did what I always do when I read about Turin, about the people who sacrificed their lives for Turin. I know the places where I spent all my time, I knew they had a history, but I never got to know it. With this little job I did, I got to know it up close, so now I appreciate it more. But the thing that hurts me is that there are people who don’t appreciate it, who don’t see its true value. They pass by, ignoring the history, ignoring the sacrifices that people made so that we could live peacefully, without problems, without war. That’s how it is.
[i] Thank you for answering our questions.
[r] Thank you, thank you for this opportunity.