I will speak in Arabic, okay? I will talk about what happens to people who immigrate for financial reasons. I mean, the parents who send their sons to have “a better life” in Europe. I’m not on the side of these people. They should teach and educate their sons close to home, so they will be self-confident and strong enough to face the obstacles of life. If you are living with your parents, you will develop inner strength. The people from my home country are sending their sons and daughters to Europe at the age of 15 and 16 years old. No, I don’t agree with these parents. When girls come here without their family, they will be treated as house servants.. They [Europeans] won’t educate her, they won’t teach her, they won’t protect her. They’ll treat her as a servant to clean and perform domestic duties.

I want to thank the people here at [Centre de la Roseraie] who are helping us, motivating us, and empathizing with our condition by teaching us the language, how to communicate with people in daily life, and a lot of other things. God bless them and help them in their life for helping us.

And as for me, again, I send a message to the fathers and mothers to protect their children and raise them in their bosom. Educate them. Teach them to study well. Children must be close to their parents. No one should abandon their children.

I immigrated when I was 20 years old. [Cries].I came to Spain. I had no idea about the language. I was illiterate. I struggled a lot and felt insulted. I thank those organizations who have helped me a lot. God bless them.

I went to work in houses. One day, a woman in the park came to me and asked: “Do you want to go with me and work in my house?” I replied: “Of course; I am ready to work.” I am a conservative woman who works to preserve her values, her ethics, and her dignity. I went to work with her from 8 AM to 7 PM, and after all of that she only paid me Cinquenta [50 euros]. What can I do with fifty per day? I worked almost 10 hours, and she gave me fifty. What can I do with fifty? How can I pay the rent with it? How can I live with it? How can I eat? How can I drink?

Listen, my brothers and sisters. I strongly advise parents to keep their children and raise them at home, you understand?

I was married like any other woman. My husband wants the woman to work and bring in money for him. I have one child, Alhamdulillah, but he is like his father. He doesn’t respect me or treat me like his mother. He treats me like a servant. I work and give him money, I educated him, I obliged him to study all the languages, because of the heartbreak that I had. I said I will send him to school to study, to have a good future.

I’ve worked since I was 20 years old, and Alhamdulillah, sometimes there are people that help me. Other times people truly don’t pay well. When you work, they will give you just enough to eat.

I am always thankful to God. We shouldn’t abandon our children. I advise all the Arabs to not abandon their children [to Europe]. They come alone, they struggle, and they will feel sad and sorrowful. They will never feel happy in their life. They will face big obstacles and feel depressed. I don’t want children to be raised like that.

Children are a responsibility. We are responsible for them. They are nottoys in our hands. I was in good health and since I travelled my health got worse, but I thank God, and I appreciate his help for giving me the strength to still work and still look for a living. For this reason, I am always thankful to God and for his blessings.

Illiterate people will face a lot of obstacles in life and will struggle immensely. I advise people to keep their children with them. I repeat this message again and again, because people leave their children at the age of 16 or 17, or even 12 years old, to go to Europe. Please, what can this child do at this early age? What can he do in Europe?

I want to address my message directly to the people who conduct these illegal [human smuggling] trips, and who spread a false image of Europe to the youth. Don’t believe anyone of them. They are liars.

I thank [Centre de la Roseraie] again. And I want to say that this issue is extremely hard. That is all.