Experiences of a Moroccan in Italy

Only people who are, who are like me will understand me.

I grew up in Italy, spent my whole life in Italy, my entire life

I felt different from, from, from the people who were

around me. From school, I was always the Moroccan,

the Moroccan, the Moroccan, straniera, Marocchina,

Marocchina. I came to Morocco, I tried

to come to Morocco to do my projects.

I found that even here I don't, I don't, I found that even here I didn't feel

100% Moroccan. My mindset is different, my interactions

are different. Here, there is nothing but thieves, nothing but

looters, only scammers thrive here, there is no humanity.

You really have to be nasty at heart, you shouldn't…

You have to not just get robbed, and not challenge someone who is going

to rob you. It's a horrible feeling, I mean I was, I was

hoping

that when I came to Morocco I'd feel my country, and I'd feel the people are,

I mean, of our blood and culture.

...all of ours. I was hit by a, a reality where

I find myself here, maybe an immigrant more than,

more than in Italy. Because in Italy, yes, there is racism, everything,

but

at least there are, there are some rights.

Here, truly, here,

I can tell you that the worst, worst experience I've lived in

my life

is, is, is at this very moment,

when I'm trying, trying, trying

to open a project completely alone. It's been roughly, say, eight months now,

eight months, eight months of torment, eight months of torment.

There are people stealing your money, the work, the work is redone

and redone, redone again and again, over and over, redone.

Yeah, they have no sense of humanity, there's no humanity,

they want nothing but money, to take from you nothing but money, just money, only money,

money.

What mistakes did I make? It was when, when I started

hiring workers for this, for this project.

Yeah, what—where did I go wrong? I made the mistake of not,

not, I mean, I didn't

I trusted someone, I trusted some—some people who were around me,

around me.

Yeah, I trusted my accountant. Yeah,

he introduced me to people who were no good, they only brought me trouble, and took

and blew a lot of my money. Yeah,

ugh, another thing I was wrong about is that I trusted,

because I didn't make, I didn't make

I didn't make contracts. I trusted because, yeah, I didn't

check prices around, and I didn't ask much, I didn't ask around much.

I trusted, I trusted these—these people who,

who, who, who screwed me over.

Who scammed and defrauded me, but, God willing, oh Lord, I will not, God

willing,

I will not let them get away with it, because I'll hire a lawyer to—I'll hire

lawyers, and ev— if I have to hire more than two lawyers, I'll hire them,

because

they are not going to fool decent girls.

They will not fool decent girls.

Yeah.

What can I tell you?

If right now, at this moment, I'm saying this is the worst, the worst,

yeah, the worst choice I've made in my life, it's this one, of, of, of

the idea of coming to do something in Morocco. I am asking, asking

the authorities,

I ask the authorities, honestly, to find us a solution,

especially for people abroad, for there to be, for there to be

some, some institutions to take care of us, to show us,

to show us the way, how to navigate things, to show us, to, to have an

an office that explains to us how things are here.

I mean, we really, truly come back as a community,

To tell you the truth, I came to my country because I love my country to death,

and I'm crazy about my country, and I love my roots.

And the idea I had in my mind was that if I had the opportunity

to employ people, I wanted to employ people from my country, because I

knew that they might need it more,

They might need it more, maybe like the people in Italy, the municipalities,

There are, there are, I mean, there is help, there are a lot

of things.

And what was my reward for all of this, when I came wanting to,

to do something good for my country? What was the reward that these

people gave? Instead of welcoming us, instead of

being happy for us, because we came with good intentions,

coming to do something good for our country.

What, what is, what is the reward?

What is the reward? Making us hate our lives, giving us headaches, making us sick,

making us psychologically ill. Is this—

I mean, anyone who comes to work with me, I truly treat them with—

I treat them well, I treat them with humanity.

People don't understand, when they see you treating them with humanity, they think you're

an idiot or…

I don't know why, why at this time, at this moment, in this life,

the one who is good and nice gets screwed, while the one who is a scoundrel

and full of dirty tricks is the one who gets ahead in life.

To tell you the truth,

to tell you the truth, at first I told you, "Come to this country, come do things."

I— I'm not going anywhere because,

because, I mean,

I don't give up easily. I will, I will, I will, I will,

I will spend a few years here, a few more years

I'll finish them here. But to tell you the truth, it wasn't worth it.

Don't come, don't come, don't come, don't come, don't come at all,

don't come at all, don't come, don't come. Because there are only cutthroats, only

thieves, only plunderers.

Don't come. Unfortunately, unfortunately,

unfortunately, really,

that I'm saying this. And everyone used to tell me, everyone.

He used to tell me, and I'd tell them, "No, my country, my country, my country, my country, my country."

I hope you're happy, all you thieves

and looters, that you're—you're, like, happy and see, see

the destruction... you destroy people who came just to

help you.

They just came to help you, and you destroy them like this and send them away like this.

I hope you're really happy. Anyone who took a single dirham from me,

I pray to God to take revenge on them. Anyone who ruined the work for me

and wanted to get paid, then left, and I brought someone else... I truly pray to my Lord

that God never makes things easy for you.

Just as you make people bitter and miserable, I pray to God

that God never makes things easy for you.

I wasn't... I wasn't... really, I...

I didn't... didn't want to say this, but

don't come and waste your money here.

Really, they... they told me so, so, so...

so many times.

God willing, I will finish this project of mine, I will finish it.

I will finish, I will, I mean, I will fight

with them. Everything is so hard. I want to do it because I want to do

something on my own, I don't want to come out

a loser.

I will build these projects to the end, I will sell them and leave.

I will build them, I'll stay here with them until

my projects are built, they are sold, and I will leave.

I will go back and...

finish my project there in Italy. Because here, you don't let us...

You don't let us, you don't let us! Until when, you bastards, until when?

You thieves! Until when, you looters?

You leave no room for people who want to work honestly.

And those who want to help honestly, you don't let us.

With this video, I hope there will be someone,

I don't know, an official or someone to try and do something.

Because it is impossible, it is impossible.

Those craftsmen shouldn't just come off the street, they must work, they must have

someone.

This, this, this is another matter. This is another matter.