MRE: “Are we Moroccans or aren’t we?”
Returning to live in Morocco after several years in Europe does not necessarily mean immediately finding one’s place again. Now settled in Marrakech after having lived in France, Amina says that she was sometimes regarded as a foreigner in her own country.
The beginnings were difficult for her and her family. Beyond the change in lifestyle, Amina says she felt a form of distancing precisely because of her background as a Moroccan who had lived abroad.
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“We suffered a great deal from it,” she told Hespress. This feeling did not affect her personally alone: her children also felt that they were sometimes treated as foreigners.
An experience in Essaouira particularly affected her. Amina had taken part, along with other MREs, in welcoming travelers arriving by plane, at a time when the city’s airport was experiencing growing activity. She says she invested a great deal in this operation without feeling that this commitment was recognized.
“Are we Moroccans or aren’t we?”
This experience led her to openly question herself: “Are we Moroccans or aren’t we? Why do these people treat us this way?” For her, this question sums up the disconnect that some MREs may feel when they move from being summer visitors to permanent residents.
Yet her experience of returning did not end with these difficulties. Over time, her family managed to find its bearings, and her children integrated. Amina now regards settling in Morocco as a positive experience.
She therefore encourages MREs who wish to return permanently not to give up in the face of the first obstacles. In her view, those who have lived in Europe can also bring Morocco the experience they acquired abroad: “Let them bring back the good things they learned in Europe and put them into practice here, in our country.”
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For Amina, returning to Morocco therefore does not simply mean changing one’s country of residence: sometimes, one must relearn how to find one’s place there.
