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She wanted to spare other Moroccans coming to study in Germany the hassle she had to endure during her first weeks there. Indeed, this is what drove Khadija Qirtasse, a Moroccan woman based in Germany, to set up with her colleagues an initiative to welcome and assist Moroccans in said country. Her ambition was to help them by focusing on certain issues she had faced when she moved to the European country in 1990.
Although she knew that any initiative she would take would have a limited impact, Khadija and her classmates proposed some measures to try to mitigate the difficulties related to adaptation and integration. «I tried to help new Moroccan students, in my own way. I put them up for free in my house», she says.
She recalled she would wait for them at the train station after learning, with her friends, about the schedules of the admission exams the students had to take. «We tried to get to know the Moroccan students and I would take them home», she said.
Khadija Qirtasse also remembers the first years when settling abroad :
«When I arrived in Germany, my financial situation was comfortable, but I also had the opportunity to work in many jobs».
From the private sector to the General Directorate of German Police
The engineer admitted having had trouble in the beginning to understand the functioning of the German educational system, although she had already taken German classes before leaving her home country.
Born in Kenitra in 1967, she decided to go to Germany in 1990, after graduating from Ibn Tofail University’s Department of Physics and Chemistry. In addition to her university studies, she attended courses at the Institute of Applied Technology where she obtained a diploma in industrial electricity.
«I then settled in Dortmund, a city to which I have remained faithful. That's where I joined an engineering school and got my degree in electrical engineering, with high honors, in 1996», she explained.
Khadija Qirtasse' skills were a gateway to the job market immediately after her graduation. She was first hired by Siemens, for a job specializing in the field of modern electrical and industrial electronic engineering and climbed its corporate ladder. Starting as a project manager, she progressed all the way to become a consultant specialized in communication companies and government services.
Her 14 year-long career there ended when she opted for a civil service job in Germany. Today, the Moroccan woman is in charge of the technical equipment within the General Directorate of the German police. «I am also in charge of certain tasks and responsibilities, as a consultant and project manager», she added.
A German school in Morocco
However, despite her long years of work in Germany, she did steer away from her first initiative in favor of Moroccan students. Khadija Qirtasse indeed plans to build a school in Kenitra, teaching classes from kindergarten to high school.
«I would like to set up a German education system-school. From kindergarten on, students would learn German alongside other foreign languages. They will be able to further their studies in Germany more easily».
The Moroccan-German also explained she wanted to engage children and encourage them to try drawing, music and singing. «These are things we do not see much in Moroccan educational institutions», she lamented.
Khadija Qirtasse hopes this project will help Moroccans living in Germany who wish to return to their home country. A school of this kind could, according to her, overcome the «problem of the lack of fluency in French and Arabic for the children, which currently prevents them from studying in the country of their parents».
Khadija speaks from experience : it was the absence of a German-system educational institution in Kenitra that prevented her from returning to settle in Morocco seven years ago. She could not find a school adapted to the needs of her daughter, who was 10 years old at the time. «She had been studying in German throughout her life and it would be difficult for her to adapt to the Moroccan education system», she explained.
The Moroccan-German engineer regrets the situation as she mentions she has never forgotten her homeland : «I will never forget what I was able to achieve thanks to Morocco. That's why I spend my time between my host country and my homeland», she said.
