Success paths of young immigrants in higher education and the professional world.
Hello, my name is Mohamed. I was born in Morocco
in a small village near Larache. The village is called [Migorfet]
and I arrived in Spain when I was 3 years old.
We came directly, as family reunion [as for Spanish Law], to here in Mataró.
My father had spent many years living and working here.
And since then, when I was about 4 I began to go to school
close by, where there's a a school called Peramàs
I was lucky to come at a very early age.
But the first year, that was the first year of school
I do remember having difficulties understanding my schoolmates.
I had... I ​​didn't speak the language very well.
I felt many times that I had this difficulty.
And so... Although I did not have much difficulty
I did notice a bit that barrier.
I had a rocky start at primary school.
I didn't value studying very much.
A student rather chaotic, quite hyperactive.
I wasn't paying attention. I didn't value my studies all that much.
More than anything because I had no point of reference. It was something new for me.
Also it was difficult for my parents, because they had just arrived as well.
Especially my mother. My father studied in Morocco
but he didn't know much about Catalan education, nor,
I guess because of... They also had difficulties
to adapt to a new city, a new culture, a new language
and so I imagine we have also have suffered for it a bit.
I have always lived in Mataró. Now for a couple of years
I live in Barcelona, ​​but since I was little, since we got here
we have always lived in Mataró and...
Perhaps since we arrived, when I was 3, so far
perhaps we have moved three or four times
but it has always been within the same neighborhood and has always been here in Mataró.
When I was little I did feel strongly the issue of being a foreigner,
especially because of my schoolmates who...
When you're very young nobody wants to feel different, and feeling different
creates certain inconveniences and make certain conflicts arise
by this fact. Above all, I remember that time,
when my mother came to pick me up, and... My mother wore the veil
and when he came to pick me up I was very tense,
for what my schoolmates would ask me. "How will I explain
why my mother wears the veil?".
That did create a little stress in me, a little confusion.
It wasn't until the ESO [high school equivalent] that I took it a bit more seriously.
It was also a bid for my parents, who believed in me
who had confidence in that I would be a good student
And also I also was lucky to find good tutors
and good teachers who took a gamble and helped me turn towards
my way, towards my future.
[Núria was Mohamed's high school tutor]
How, how are you?
[Inaudible]
How's life?
[Inaudible]
Mohamed: I was between 13 and 14 at the time.
Núria: When I met you? Mohamed: Yes, yes.
Mohamed: The first time you were my tutor. Núria: The first time I was your tutor.
Núria: I was you tutor at 3rd of ESO
4th of ESO, and the 1st and 2nd years of [post compulsory] High School.
Núria: So it was... Muhammad: The most important years. Núria: The most important years, yes.
Mohamed: Now, when I think about it, when you recall it...
When I sat here in the classroom, how little importance we place on this.
The ESO, the High School, when you're here studying.
You don't realize how important this will be for your future
and for me this was a key time, this time of...
Núria: You don't realize how important it will be.
But you do realize how important it at the time
to do the job, to do a good job.
Collaborate. The teacher always tries
to make everyone understand how important that is
But not everyone sees it. But if at least, the student does the work
he has to do, he grows up, and as he gets older
he then realizes, how important it is since his first day here.
I trying to know what you were doing, what you liked
because if you don't get inside the life
of the person in front of you
you can hardly, not just give advice,
but to say "well, look, here are several paths."
"Look, this, this, this other one. Which one would you like to take?"
Since I was little, I think that until I went to college,
I placed to importance on my origins...
from Morocco. I just saw it as a quirk.
But now I see it as an advantage, being a foreigner.
Mostly because Morocco is a country I like.
Their culture... The more I discover the more I like it.
And you always feel the need to immerse yourself in
what you had as a child. The language, the aromas,
the writing, the culture.
When you grow older, you start looking for all these things again.
Then, there comes a time... I've been raised here and I like local culture
but, at the same time, you like the other culture, and you want to have them both:
The one from where you grew up and the one from your parents.
[If you were a child again, what would you change?] What I would do differently is maybe to try to not be embarrassed
by the fact that my mother wore the veil.
It's just silly, but at the time, the feeling was much more powerful.
And maybe, what I may have done would be
to take my studies even more seriously, which at the time
you were not very aware of what you were doing, and also that
every step and every school year was a step forward and to the future.
What message would you want to send?
Early on we start building our idea of ​​what kind of person we want to be when we grow up,
or what kind of profession we want to have. I didn't always want to be a doctor.
I've had many ideas, but the last one... Already in high school, I knew that...
I know that I'd like being a doctor very much and I want to tell everyone that
no matter what dream you have and no matter what you do or what you want to be
what you need to do is persevere in this dream. Fight for it.
With whatever means, persevere, and with enthusiasm, even if it's hard.
There is nothing easy in this life. But if you try hard enough
you will always find the opportunities to move forward towards this dream.
What I want to [say] to the students or children who are watching this video
is that to persevere and to fight for a dream, whatever it is,
and finally get it right, this is success.
We don't want to prove anything. We just want to study and end up
working in what we like, and to get up every morning
and go to work with enthusiasm, go to work happy,
and to have the profession that we have chosen.
"I do things because I like because I want to do them and that's it"