Dear Readers
As you may know, I studied in Spain more precisely in Tenerife ( in the Canary Islands) during the 2004-2005 school year as an Erasmus student. That year literally changed my life and the lives of people around me, how? On that beautiful day of 26th September (my birthday), not only did I make my dream come true when I landed in Tenerife South Airport but I also learned a valuable lesson not to ever settle for less than you are worth. My decision to study came at the right time as it was straight after a very humiliating and public break-up consequently I needed some fresh air and find myself. With my degree in Applied Foreign languages, I had a good level in Spanish and within 3 months of living there and immersing into the population, my Spanish and my accent were at native level, people still think today when I speak Spanish that I am either Cuban or Colombian, which is normal because the Canarian accent is closer to the Latin American accent than Spain Mainland accent. During that year, I got to meet incredible people from around the world and some of them are my friends for life, that’s my girl from La Palma Begona, my half English and Spanish Kevin, my German friends Mik and Mathias and my American friend Nate. It was a year when I became aware that I could push boundaries and be whoever I choose to be without feeling judged. To be honest I was judged to start with in the small suburb of Santa Cruz de Tenerife because they had never seen people of my skin colour before. To be more precise they had never seen a French Black person who came to Tenerife to study, not to look for work or do some « illegal things ». Many of my neighbours biped me in the street whilst running or on the way to university calling me “morena”. At first, I was shocked then I realized they were simply ignorant and when they would get to know me, they would stop calling me names, which is exactly what happened. Within weeks of living in that suburb, I went from “morena” = Black to “mi nina, mi hija, guapa, presciosa = my daughter, my girl, beautiful and gorgeous, what a transformation! Everybody knew me and respected me for who I was. I have some good anecdotes of what could appear as racism but in reality it is purely ignorance!
The most memorable anecdote was when I went to visit my friend Begona’s family. Her parents knew I was coming but Bego didn’t tell them that I was black because it was irrelevant to her so when her dad drove past us and saw her daughter running with a black girl , he called her and said: ”Bego, my daughter who is that Black girl you are running with? » Bego’s response was epic “That’s my friend Zaina and we are coming tonight for dinner, is that still of?’ Her dad replied ‘yes of course”. At the dinner time, I was welcome with opened arms and everyone was genuinely happy to meet me. One thing that put me off a little was that Bego’s mum kept staring at me and smiling at the same time, which was freaky. She then asked the following” my daughter, don’t get offended but is it possible for you to show me your feet?”I thought it was odd but I said yes so I took my shoes off and showed her my feet. Her reaction was truly amazing and it is such a shame that I don’t have a video of it. She was so happy because apparently I looked like the doll she had when she was little and since then she always wondered why some black people’s hands and feet are a lot of whiter than the rest of their bodies and she finally understood that it was due to the sun. One stereotype and prejudiced knocked on the head with one action to show my feet to a stranger! Not many people know where Mayotte is, including French people from Mainland France therefore during my time in Tenerife I seized every opportunity to share my cultures with people around me. I cooked for my fellow students and my flatmates, I wore the traditional cloth during a school presentation and I intervened as an expert in African cultures in a class of students specializing in African studies and I gave French lessons to 2 Spanish University teachers who taught French themselves.
After that experience, I caught the buzz to travel and to live in different countries so I opted to do my placement in London in April 2007 for 6 months to validate my Master’s degree 1 in Negotiation of International Projects. Like in Tenerife, the start was rocky but the wealth of knowledge and experience was phenomenal. Not only did I manage to properly express myself in Shakespeare’s language within 2 months, get to work in one of London’s best Toy Stores Hamleys, get to write one of my best pieces in my final essay but I also found love on a beautiful and sunny Tuesday in early May. The rest is history as I have been living in London for almost 9 years, I met people I consider as friends for life ( my Zumba gang also known as Fran, Dan, Lisa, Eleonor, Elaine, Julie , Naomi and Lisa), Joe Gleesson, Marie Anne Jeffries, Marina Anguiano Sole, Silvia Bargans, Dom and Annette and I struggle to see my life anywhere else now.
I encourage anyone to take a chance and explore the world and its beautiful and amazing people. Get out of your comfort zone and meet the locals, eat their food, be curious and embrace their cultures during your stay.
I must admit that I partied a lot when I was in Spain even during the Ramadan period as I felt freer than ever. Thanks to Bego’s very successful triathlon career, she helped me get in shape and have the body of my dream, god I wish she could help me again get that amazing body back! Believe me, It was hard at times, sometimes I cried and I wanted to go home because I missed my friends and my family but I chose this very fulfilling life and I wouldn’t exchange it for anything in the world. The European Union has been criticized a lot lately rightly so with interfering with the sizes of our apples in supermarkets. However, the EU has allowed me and many others with the Erasmus Students Exchange to further their knowledge, their experience and to grow as good citizens of the world so please think carefully before voting for someone like Marine Le Pen who is divisive, short-sighted and is far from being a good citizen of the world.
My alter ego Tafara Houssaini and I are fine tuning the last leg of the Erasmus Plus program to welcome 20 students in the UK and we are determined to make this a success and set a precedent so the EU will fund more projects like this in other European countries.
Mayot'Together 