Boutayna Bouchibti Jaziri, 14, Immouzer Kandar

The woman who has impacted my life the most is my mother, Fatima. She was born in the city of Al Hoceima. Her father was a soldier and her mother was a housewife. She has two older brothers, a younger brother and two younger sisters. When she was four years old, her father died. In order to support her family, my grandmother had to work in the fields. She stopped going to school in third grade to help raise her sister Rachida. Because she never returned to school, she forgot how to read. When she was 15 years old she started working at home making clothes from wool for her family.

One day, she went to Fes because her aunt was sick. There she met her aunt’s neighbor, my father. After two months they were engaged and after a year they were married. They lived in Fes for four years before they moved to our village, Ait Sebaa. My mom miscarried her first two babies. My sister Nihad was born when she was twenty-five years old, my sister Nidal was born when she was twenty-six years old and I was born when she was 30 years old. At first, my mother made clothes from wool and my father sold them to support us. However, after a few years, they opened a small restaurant. Everyday my mother cooks all the food and my dad serves it. She also cleans the house, makes our food and does the laundry

My mom is like my best friend. She is kind, honest and very social, but is also very serious and can become stressed. When my sisters and I were young she would sometimes punish us but only if we were being naughty. Before the restaurant, she didn’t have any time to raise us because she was working all day, so she asked a woman from our family to help her raise us. She always did things like this. She suffered greatly in order to her raise us to the best we could be. She deprives herself of many things so that we would not be deprived of them.

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Our mother takes care of us physically and mentally. When we were sick our mom would stay up with us and treat us with herbs. I have never seen a doctor because my mother took care of me so well and has kept me healthy. She always makes sure to feed us the best healthy food. She has encouraged me to learn and to expand my knowledge. My mother taught me to value education so I work very hard in school. I’m the first in my school in English and the second in French.

My mom told me she wants me to do well in school because education will give me a higher quality of life. She never finished school, that’s why she wants me to finish. She never pressured me to marry early or become a mother. When I tell her about my dreams for the future, she always supports me and tries to help me achieve them.

Sometimes I think about what my life would be like if I had another mother. Maybe I would be engaged or I would not be doing well in school because I wouldn’t have a mom who encourages me. Because of this my mother is my idol. I hope one day to repay all her sacrifices and make her proud. I love her from the bottom of my heart. She faced a range of difficulties in her life but in spite of all this has succeeded in giving her daughters good lives. My mother inspires me to break barriers.

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