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Fatifa Rouissem is an enthusiastic, strong and independent Moroccan woman with a busy schedule. Living in Italy for 29 years, the Casablanca native is a linguistic and cultural mediator in the city of Treviso, where she helps her compatriots blend in the Italian society.
At the very beginning, Fatiha Rouissem started her career as a French teacher in El Brouj (a town 72kilometers away from Settat, Morocco) where she worked for five years. Then, and out of love, she decided to move to Italy and join her husband who had started a life there.
Since then, her life has taken a different turn, with the desire of helping others. Her few first months in Italy were a bit hard and complicated. Despite the feeling of being a fish out of water, Fatiha did not know the language. «I learned Italian through TV and a dictionary that my husband bought me», she told Yabiladi. She worked at the beginning as a waitress, a job that helped her learn the language, interact with others and just integrate in a society that was new to her.
President of El Mondo Insieme association
Fatiha Rouissem likes to talk about Morocco to the point that she wants to change prejudices associated to Moroccan immigrants in Italy. She started by getting trained as a linguistic and cultural mediator. «I have always been into helping others. I went to schools before joining any association and realized that some immigrants did not understand certain laws. I was always ready to explain things to them», said the 56-year-old woman.
In 2008, Fatiha became the president of El Mondo Insieme association and headed it for nine years. Meanwhile, she has been running an information office for immigrants in the municipality of Conegliano (Treviso province) until 2016. During the same year, the Moroccan woman joined the Executive Office and Round Tables of Immigration in the Veneto region.
Fatiha Rouissem is also vice-president of the Italian-Moroccan festival, which is hosting its sixth edition this year. «We organize conferences with university professors from Morocco and Italy», she added.
However, the only thing that keeps Fatiha going is her work with the association. «When I was working in El Brouj in 1985, I was very young and had the chance to rub shoulders with people from the region which helped me with my work in Italy. I spoke their dialect, understood where they were coming from and knew their culture», she said.
Fatiha’s role is to make Italians understand the culture of Moroccans and help immigrants integrate. She says she is «proud» of the work she does, even if «financially, it's not the best». «I have it in my blood and I do it with passion», she added.
The Casablanca native is always in love with her origins and roots. «I visit the Kingdom four to five times a year». Fatiha’s husband is even planning to settle down in Morocco. «I would like to live between Morocco and Italy. I spent half of my life in Europe and here I feel that I am useful».
