From a Tom Boy to a Pulse Woman

I come from a large family, comprised of one illiterate mother and seven other sisters. While growing up under the roof of a very abusive alcoholic patriarch, I’ve always considered myself lucky, or at least, luckier than many other girls in Morocco for I had access to an education. I was given a chance to study, and it was my savior.

Thirty years later, my aim in life is to do the same for the girls of my community. Ways to help women in Morocco are so evident and obvious. Educate. Educate. Educate.

I can’t stress enough the importance of education in developing countries such as Morocco where illiteracy rates among women reach 90 % in rural areas. Development projects rarely take into consideration the fact that a community or a village is entirely dependent on a very young workforce. Children are kept out of school because they are needed elsewhere: get water, do housework, work as maids in the big cities, work in factories, etc. My starting point is simple then: raise awareness.

It is with great gratitude and much appreciation that I am here, writing this. I owe this to my mother, to my sisters, and to myself. Women mean so much to me and have had such an influence in my life. Whenever I stumbled, I found one. Whenever, I struggled with life, I found one. Whenever I was hurt and cried, I found one. We are so powerful and yet so powerless! Educating ourselves, going back to basics, reading and writing, speaking for ourselves is the only way to reclaim our oh-so-much needed power. I can only imagine this Morocco if every girl went to school… And they will.

It is a bit odd to hear the voice of this new woman inside me given the fact that I grew up renouncing all my femininity; a residue of a teenager who resented the large family of seven sisters, perhaps - or maybe my way of rebelling against a male dominated society where women barely exist.

It is this voice of this new woman found in me that I would like to nurture and help grow by joining the team of Pulse correspondents. It only makes sense to me because it’s just a way to give me more strength to continue doing what I’ve already embarked on, what I’ve dedicated my life to doing: reach out to women, speak up and help an entire generation of women speak for themselves, trust their instincts and have faith in their power… Women of World Pulse, HERE WE GO!