SU_T_50

[i] Hello, [name].
[r] Hello.
[i] How are you?
[r] May God bless you.
[i] Can you introduce yourself?
[r] I am [name], from Morocco. I am from the city of Al-Qaeba Al-Saleh. I live in the city of Al-Torini and Al-Adessa.
[i] How did you decide to emigrate? And how did you choose Italy?
[r] When I decided to emigrate, I was studying in my country, in the city of Al-Qaeba Al-Saleh. I studied there for 9 years. I didn’t pass the exam, so I emigrated. I got married, but it didn’t work out. But that’s not a problem. I have a 6-year-old son who now lives with me. After that, I started working. I didn’t like my job. I knew that the university was not good for me. I didn’t work in Al-Qaeba. I worked in a school and then I worked in a stationery shop. After that, I decided to emigrate to Egypt. I didn’t like what I was doing there. So, I decided to emigrate to Italy.
[i] How was your emigration?
[r] My emigration was a bit bad. When I arrived, I didn’t know that I was going to emigrate from Morocco to Italy. I didn’t know that it was going to be difficult. I didn’t know that there were a lot of people there.
[i] Where did you emigrate?
[r] I emigrated from Morocco to Libya. After that, I emigrated to Italy.
[i] Did you emigrate from Libya by plane?
[r] No, I emigrated from Morocco by plane. I emigrated from Morocco by plane. After that, I emigrated by boat. After that, I emigrated to Italy by boat.
[i] Did you emigrate by sea?
[r] Yes.
[i] I emigrated by sea with my husband.
[r] How did you emigrate? At this point, has life become so black in your eyes that you risk your life and that of your child in the middle of the sea?
[r] I didn’t want to emigrate to Italy. I wanted to see my son’s life. I wanted to see my son’s life, he grew up day by day. I had to wait for him day by day. I didn’t want to emigrate in this way because I didn’t want to leave my son behind. I wanted to emigrate to Italy with my husband and my son.
[i] Where did you dream of emigrating?
[r] In the sea?
[i] Yes
[r] I lived for 8 or 9 hours in the sea
[i] How did you live those 8 or 9 hours? You and your son
[r] I don’t want anyone to live like me and my son in the sea I don’t want to see my son die in front of my eyes
[i] It’s not easy
[r] No.
[i] And when you arrived in Italy. How was it? When you arrived and put your feet on the ground and went out of the sea.
[r] First of all Thank God. Because I saw him die in the sea I saw him die in front of my eyes Thank God, when I arrived and my son arrived I didn’t lose him I didn’t lose him I saw him alive Thank God. When I arrived and went out I said to my husband and my son I wished to have a new life when I arrived. And I hoped to start a new life here, and I said that since I escaped death in the middle of the sea, the rest seemed easy.
[i] When you arrived where did you go? Where did you live?
[r] When I arrived I was in Sicily. Then I came to Torino, to the community of Torino From there I came to an organization. They took me and gave me a house I have a small house Little by little I started to live here Thank God.
[i] In this period of 3 years, what did you achieve?
[r] Thank God In the first year it was difficult. I didn’t know the language. I didn’t know how to deal with people. For example When you are in a community and you move to another community. It is difficult. In the first year I studied the language to know how to communicate with people In the second year I studied drawing Before I studied drawing I studied security to know what I have and what I have to do like duties and rights. After that I studied cooking
[i] Thank God. How do you live in this community? Can you make friends? Can you communicate with people? Do you have any difficulties?
[r] No In the first year I was isolated I was afraid I couldn’t connect with people. Thank God, I have neighbors here I don’t know where I live In Morocco I don’t know where I live. It is strange. I try to communicate with people Thank God I have a nice place. I have a good job. I leave a good impression wherever I go to work. I have a good job Thank God
[i] Do you communicate with your family?
[r] Yes I communicate with my father. I communicate with my brother Thank God I communicate with my family.
[i] Thank God. I want to ask you. Why did you decide to go to the sea? How did your family react to this decision?
[r] To be honest I didn’t say anything I just decided. I don’t know if the sea will encourage me or not. I decided to go to the sea because of my son. I don’t want to leave him behind coming here with a work contract wouldn’t have allowed me to bring him with me. But I had to come here first and then bring him later. And the idea of leaving my son behind was absolutely not in my mind.
[i] We know that there is a big difference between Moroccan culture and Italian culture. How do you live with this difference and with this two cultures?
[r] Thank God I have a nice place I meet new people. I meet new people who have different ideas than the ones we have in Islam. We all go to the sea God said you do what you want and we do what we want We live together
[i] How do you say … What is the difference between Moroccan culture and Moroccan traditions?
[r] In my home we have the same traditions as Moroccan people For example, we have the tradition of wearing Moroccan clothes I don’t forget that I live in Europe I travel with my family and we imitate the Moroccan traditions. When I learn how to cook I learn how to cook the Moroccan way I hope that in the future we will be able to mix the Moroccan and the European way. I hope so.
[i] I want to ask you Did any Italian cook for you? Did he ask you to cook a Moroccan dish?
[r] I served, I served as a teacher for Italians I taught them how to cook the Moroccan way. I was very happy to teach them and I was happy to show them my country and I don’t want anyone else to show me
[i] What are your dreams and ambitions? What is your biggest dream?
[r] My biggest dream? I have a lot of dreams I met a lot of people around me. I have a lot of dreams. The first thing I want to dream of is to be healthy and happy Thank God. This is the first thing I want anyone to dream of. My dream is to have a restaurant here where I can serve everything the Moroccan way and the Italian way I don’t want to come back to Morocco to a different restaurant. This is one of my dreams and I hope it will come true.
[i] Me too. I wish you all the best and a lot of work so that you can achieve all of this. Do you have any difficulties in your daily life with people around you? Do you have any problems? Have you ever felt like you are being treated like a stranger?
[r] No. Ever since I came to Italy I have never experienced racism. I have never seen it. One time I was on a train, I was on a bus I was sitting and an Italian guy looked at me and he said I look like a foreigner and I laughed at him. I didn’t react to his reaction. I laughed and that’s it. That happened to me I have never experienced anything like that.
[i] Do you think that when you are treated like a stranger you don’t have to react?
[r] No, on the contrary. When I was afraid to think I didn’t react to his reaction I treated him like a stranger. I laughed at him and that’s it I didn’t react to his reaction.
[i] [name] do you think that your life will always be in Italy? Do you think that you will return to your country?
[r] To be honest I don’t have an idea. I don’t have an idea. As I told you I want to do something that will make me feel like I am alone I don’t feel like I am a foreigner. When you read with foreigners you feel like you are not a foreigner That’s the first thing. The second thing I want to do with things here in Italy and then we’ll see, but for the moment I’m staying here. –
[i] [name], what about your culture and your language? Do you try to pass it on to your children? Do you try to preserve your identity and make your children feel like they are Moroccans?
[r] Of course. We are Muslims and Moroccans. If you want to change something don’t change it. That’s the first thing. And the second thing is that we always tell our children that we shouldn’t do this and that. We shouldn’t do that. There are many mistakes that Moroccans make and we always try to teach them in Arabic so that they know what is right and what is wrong. And what are their rights. My son is learning Arabic and he is getting better and he knows what he is doing.
[i] Can you tell me what you know about your family? Do you have any … Do you play music? Do you cook?
[r] No, I don’t have any handicrafts I don’t have any. Honestly, I am not lying I told you that I used to work and I used to work and it wasn’t my passion. it wasn’t my hobby It wasn’t my passion. That’s why I chose to do a cooking course because it’s my passion and I do it with my heart.
[i] We can say that your passion is cooking.
[r] Yes. Thank you for this interview and I sincerely hope that all your dreams come true.
[r] Thank you.
[i] And I hope that your child can do the same.
[r] Thank you.