Nurse in Marrakech

Isn’t a wife or sister considered a burden for the Moroccan family?!! And I’m sure you wouldn’t agree that your sister gets her own apartment and lives alone without being married (if you do agree, let me know and I can give another opinion..?). Living with 10 people in one house is almost the norm in Morocco (that’s how family members read it).. The French only dream of this kind of family luxury... Most families in France don’t even know each other (everyone for themselves); is that what you prefer, or have you been influenced by European life, which even Europeans themselves are tired of.... Tell me, if you’re Moroccan, be reasonable and solve the problem with your head? I know a family where two people both have degrees (Agrégé)... and they might be living quite normally... And don’t tell me a nurse can live well in France!

Yes, it's true that maybe everyone buys on credit in France... but not necessarily in Morocco. There are lots of people like me who don’t buy on credit. Is it a religious catastrophe!?

1300 € in France? Maybe enough to live minimally with one or two small kids. A 3-bedroom apartment (85 m²) with social assistance plus utilities costs at least 70 €... so tell me how you expect to feed the kids in France with maybe 600 € left, plus a car and saving for a place (apartment or house)?? PLEASE, SIR ::DON’T DREAM:: YOU’RE IN FRANCE

Thanks, Mr. Bouriane, for stepping in... being modern means having credit? That’s new to me?! I’m not behind the times, but I’m reasonable, and I want to open the eyes of people like you who are caught up in this life of credit—never sleeping, always living in fear of not being able to pay it off, and then death comes knocking... Don’t dream, live peacefully without credit

According to your calculation, 1300 - 70 (rent) isn’t equal to 600 euros but to 1230 euros. I’d love to know how you’re doing the math.

It’s not just housing assistance but also support for children. So even if they have 1000 euros left, you can live on that and even have a car.

And this isn’t possible in Morocco (with the same level of comfort).

Can you tell me how you manage not to buy your apartment on credit? Maybe you’re rich enough to pay for it in full.

You don’t know anything about life in France to lecture me like that. So tell me, how do nurses in France manage to live???? And don’t even get me started on factory workers in France. Maybe you’ve forgotten that a large part of Moroccans in France earn little, yet they still go on vacation to Morocco and own cars. How do you explain that?

hi,

France is a country where taking out a loan is still legal and not (yet) immoral—it’s still a secular country!

A salary of 1,300 € in France is very common; it’s not far from the average and still well above the poverty line!

Do some research instead of making assumptions, and proofread your messages so people can understand them. They’re sometimes unclear (maybe due to a certain obscurantism you seem to advocate?)

Good evening, Monsieur raoulx... it's true like I said. You can live as a nurse on a salary of 1200 to 1300 €, but not in luxury. Maybe a used mid-range car, but don’t dream of building a career in France or living like a high-flyer and owning property. In Morocco, you can’t really compare because of the system and other factors, but at least family helps you get something decent.

I’ll try to answer, because I don’t understand everything. First, have you ever been to France, or are you just repeating what you’ve been told? I lived in France for over 40 years—my sister is a nurse, my daughter wants to pursue this career, and I know many in the field. So when I tell you that nursing is a job with average but decent salaries, I’m sure of it. A lot of people would love to earn between 1,200 € and 2,500 € (excluding night shifts or other bonuses). Plus, it’s often a female-dominated profession, so it’s usually a second income in a household. Hope that was clear.

Now, regarding your family issues—I know Moroccan families are very close-knit, and your customs differ from European ones, but I’ll reassure you: I see my family every day. We’re close enough to support each other, just like you. But we don’t face the same struggles. As I mentioned earlier, your challenges are ones we had thirty years ago—no sewage system, no running water (we had a well at my grandparents’), and so on. We lived with similar constraints. No credit was allowed—my God, that was frowned upon!!! Back then, we went to church too!!! Times have changed—"not always for the better"—but I can assure you, you can get by just fine on a nurse’s salary, even better than you might think. As for your other message, we’re talking about salaries like mine because I’m a civil servant with the same pay scale as a nurse, and I live comfortably. Now that I’m in Morocco, I can compare, and I live much better than many Moroccans—even with the high cost of living in France, my salary allowed me to eat well, unlike Moroccans in the same profession. The Moroccan people are exploited by a small group, and don’t tell me it’s Europeans—that’ll annoy me. As for loans, we manage to sleep at night because we only take out credit when we have a stable job. It might be harder for you. As for living on 1,200 €, we never said it allows for luxury. The difference between our countries is that you only know two lifestyles: luxury for a few and poverty for most. In France, there’s luxury, many live comfortably, and unfortunately, some still live in poverty. Hope I didn’t bore you too much. Good evening, everyone.

Thanks for replying! A salary of 1200 € might be enough to live normally, but not much more, and 2500 € is a starting salary for an engineer in France. It’s nighttime, I need to sleep—I’ll try to reply and tell you about life in France and Morocco, and the life of French people in Morocco... Good evening or good night! Don’t dream too much.

That’s the salary of a 40-year-old nurse. See you!

Chariff, I’ve got a question for you.

Let’s say your sister (not married, of course)—just hypothetically—finds a job and decides to rent out her apartment. She rents it and moves in by herself, not in the same neighborhood as you. And let’s say she actually goes through with it.

What would you do in that situation?

This hypothesis doesn’t exist in Muslim countries... and rest assured that Moroccan girls don’t think about living alone..... only if it’s a woman of the streets, and even then, she’s lost her family (this happens in France)... here in Morocco, a woman always stays with her parents and brothers until someone comes along to marry her, and there’s no marriage without the parents’ approval either... Morocco is a 99% Muslim country.

hey chariff

lots of Moroccan girls leave home to live on their own, and they’re so happy to no longer be under the thumb of a brother or family who act like little bosses. and every time I meet one, I congratulate her!

I'm telling you to consider that she might actually do it. Moroccan law doesn't prevent it, right! So imagine if she does—what would you do?

I’m sorry, but my upbringing doesn’t lead me to see freedom, family, or women in society the way you do. To me, you lack an open mind—I don’t hold it against you because I think, unfortunately, it’s your upbringing as a Muslim man speaking. I’m trying to come to terms with it. I really wish you could understand that your way of thinking is outdated. What I don’t appreciate is how you speak for Moroccan women and label them as "women of the streets," then bring those ideas to France. I respect your religion, but you must also accept the customs of others without seeing evil in them. 99% of Moroccans are Muslim—I’d love to talk with the percentage that embodies tolerance, because I believe that’s part of your religion too. Don’t forget that. (I’ll open a discussion about all this one day).

Small correction: His attitude or way of thinking isn’t at all tied to Islam. If he were Christian, he’d be a traditionalist. We shouldn’t blame everything on Islam.

..maybe it's a new generation of girls who leave the family home without reason (marriage). Tell me, dear sister (brother), where are the religious principles... and still, I don't believe what you're saying... traditions are still here, especially religious ones...

You still haven't answered my question, my dear Chariff?

I really don’t know... it’s gonna be a shock for me and the whole family, and maybe it’ll be the end of our brotherhood? A Muslim woman isn’t allowed to live alone unless circumstances force it, and that’s from a religious perspective that might be deeply ingrained in Moroccan Muslim morality.

let's move on from that. Do you know about the new Moroccan family law?

Now, a girl doesn’t need her father’s permission to get married. What do you think about that?

Salam Alaikoum bouriane If you're truly Muslim, you’ll surely understand what I’m explaining... the Islamic religion exists and is unchangeable (valid for all times and will remain until the end of the world, and only Islam will endure...) This archaic term doesn’t exist in the Islamic religion. With all respect for women, but I’m talking about Moroccan Muslim women (not like those you hit on in clubs and bars in Morocco). Thank you for being understanding... I write clearly and don’t impose my ideas on others who don’t want to understand me or don’t even know why they practice Islam...?