1. Have you felt integrated into this country? How do you and your children feel at school?

We arrived 13 years ago. My husband and I have 3 children who were born here. At the beginning it was exhausting especially due to the language barriers. I attended two years of school and then I quitted. I did not take the third grade because I got pregnant and I did not feel well, but I would like to go back to school now. Nowadays I can relate to friends, pediatricians, teachers. Of course, I miss my family of origin (every year we return to Morocco), although now we have friends here. At school my children always have had a good time, my eldest son’s teachers still greet me if I meet them.

2. How do you perceive the integration? Choose from the following options a) or b)

  1. I feel integrated but I feel that I must try to be similar to others.
  2. I feel integrated and respected for who I am and what I do.

I choose option B

3. What do you think is needed to improve the paths of inclusion of foreign-born people?

I think cultural mediators are very important. At the hospital with the midwife I was helped by the cultural mediator and I think that at school they would be useful too.

4. If you could improve the process of integrating immigrants into Italy, especially children in the educational context, what would you do?

A place, like an educational center, where children could be helped in doing their homework, where they could be with other children, speak Italian, and learn new things. It is also important that all mothers go to school to learn Italian; we often help each other during the interviews at school (a mother who knows Italian better accompanies another mother who does not understand to explain to her what the teachers say). We also need more funding for middle schools and high schools.

Facilitated by Save the Children Italy