Translator: eric vautier Reviewer: Elise LECAMP
Get up and go!
It’s getting too dangerous to stay here!
Go with what you have on you!
Give up everything! Run away !
Here !
In two minutes, you became a refugee.
We are not born a refugee, we become it.
And become a refugee,
it does not happen only to others.
In Algeria, 20 years ago, the country was at peace,
the population was alive, cinemas, theaters were very alive.
And very quickly everything went downhill.
We started by killing journalists,
then artists,
teachers,
then people on the street.
Then it became too dangerous.
I remember one day when we were in class,
and suddenly we heard gunshots nearby.
And they did not stop.
The mistress was frightened and began to scream hysterically,
and asked us to flee.
So we went out in panic, under shots,
we saw dead people, blood everywhere.
And a man caught me,
he ran with me.
As soon as he saw a building, he entered,
he waited for the gunshots to stop,
and when they stopped, he told me to flee and find my family.
I remember that day, I was really scared,
but my parents never talked about leaving.
But when my father’s two brothers were murdered,
with us,
the only day they were the only ones present in our house,
he had to leave.
And we had to leave everything.
I was a little Algerian,
I was 8 years old, I spoke only Arabic,
I had my school, my family, my friends,
I did not understand what was happening.
I remember our departure,
I remember the fear and sorrow of my parents.
I remember asking:
“When are we coming back? When will I be able to find my room? “
And my parents who answer me that we come back as soon as possible.
Yes, because that’s it, exile.
To leave,
it’s giving up everything
without knowing when we will be able to come back,
without knowing when we will be able to find his life.
We arrived in France in 1996,
I can not even tell you what time of year,
these memories are still so vague for me.
You know, exile, seen from 1m20, it’s complicated.
It’s hard for a child to understand what’s going on.
And paradoxically,
on our arrival,
it’s not so much the material difficulties that marked me,
although, of course, they existed.
We lived in a home,
we went to the Restaurants of the Heart,
but precisely, we benefited from generous structures that helped us.
What marked me,
I did not have the right to go to school.
And that, for a child, it’s terrible.
The child has only that to make friends,
Learn the language,
and it lasted a long time, when I was not allowed to go to school.
And that’s when my parents had the right to go to school
that my life has changed.
Or rather, that my new life has begun.
So, as I did not speak French,
schoolmasters did not know what to do with me,
but they still put me in CM1, the class that corresponded to my age.
But since I did not understand anything,
they changed my class,
I went to CE2.
They are nice, they could have put me in CP.
In CE2, the first few weeks were difficult,
but the mistress did not notice me,
she just let me hang up.
And I succeeded.
I succeeded because I had the help of a woman,
a volunteer,
a retired grandma who was coming
twice a week in my school to teach me French.
And I learned it very quickly,
in a few months.
It is very easy for children.
And I loved that language.
As we lived in a home,
I was encouraged to stay as long as possible,
at the recreation center, under study.
At the recreation center, a facilitator made me do theater.
And the theater, in French, I loved it.
So much so that I have done more and more,
as soon as I could.
And I found myself, refugee, arrived in France at 8,
to play
at the age of 13 on the stage of the Comédie-Française.
I played on this stage two to three times a week for three years.
My love for this language
led me to read.
So I read some texts,
and I read,
at the National Assembly in Paris,
the Geneva Convention,
this text that creates, which defines the refugee’s status.
It was on the occasion of the Paris Appeal.
So, I could have continued to do theater,
but in high school, we had to choose.
And me,
even though I was welcomed in France,
I’m still afraid of a new forced departure,
I am afraid of a new exile.
I stopped the theater
because I live with that fear that we have to start from again.
And I did not do theater, because my father,
who was a known comedian in Algeria,
who had done 15 years of television and radio,
became a night watchman in France.
No, very logically, I did electrochemistry,
and I became a doctor in electrochemistry,
I defended my thesis four months ago.
(Applause)
Thank you.
Thank you.
20 years ago,
I did not speak French.
Twenty years ago, I was an exile,
but today I am a Frenchwoman,
of heart,
of mind
of culture,
nationality too.
France is my country,
but I am still a child of refugees.
A refugee is not amnesic.
When we are welcomed, we know,
we are aware of it,
same child,
we are aware of it.
And that’s probably why I work so much.
I do what I can
to give back to this country what he gave me.
But my story
is not the story of an integration.
I do not like that term,
I find it overwhelming
stuffy.
I prefer the term adaptation
acclimatization.
My story is not the story of acclimatization.
My story is the story of a welcome,
because that’s what it’s about.
And this reception has faces,
it is this mistress, this grandmother, this animator,
these are the people who allowed me to acclimatize so easily
and learn the language as fast.
I was not born French,
and yet I have become him.
Do not underestimate the power,
the strength and attraction of France.
To believe that we can not welcome is not to believe in ourselves,
and it is above all to deprive oneself of true wealth.
As Ban Ki-moon said,
examples to demonize refugees
are not just [offensive],
they are also fake.
And I know
once acclimated,
refugees become forces for the host country,
because,
when you have the strength to leave everything,
we have the strength to rebuild everything.
Thank you.
(Applause)
Get up and go!
It’s getting too dangerous to stay here!
Go with what you have on you!
Give up everything! Run away !
Here !
In two minutes, you became a refugee.
We are not born a refugee, we become it.
And become a refugee,
it does not happen only to others.
In Algeria, 20 years ago, the country was at peace,
the population was alive, cinemas, theaters were very alive.
And very quickly everything went downhill.
We started by killing journalists,
then artists,
teachers,
then people on the street.
Then it became too dangerous.
I remember one day when we were in class,
and suddenly we heard gunshots nearby.
And they did not stop.
The mistress was frightened and began to scream hysterically,
and asked us to flee.
So we went out in panic, under shots,
we saw dead people, blood everywhere.
And a man caught me,
he ran with me.
As soon as he saw a building, he entered,
he waited for the gunshots to stop,
and when they stopped, he told me to flee and find my family.
I remember that day, I was really scared,
but my parents never talked about leaving.
But when my father’s two brothers were murdered,
with us,
the only day they were the only ones present in our house,
he had to leave.
And we had to leave everything.
I was a little Algerian,
I was 8 years old, I spoke only Arabic,
I had my school, my family, my friends,
I did not understand what was happening.
I remember our departure,
I remember the fear and sorrow of my parents.
I remember asking:
“When are we coming back? When will I be able to find my room? “
And my parents who answer me that we come back as soon as possible.
Yes, because that’s it, exile.
To leave,
it’s giving up everything
without knowing when we will be able to come back,
without knowing when we will be able to find his life.
We arrived in France in 1996,
I can not even tell you what time of year,
these memories are still so vague for me.
You know, exile, seen from 1m20, it’s complicated.
It’s hard for a child to understand what’s going on.
And paradoxically,
on our arrival,
it’s not so much the material difficulties that marked me,
although, of course, they existed.
We lived in a home,
we went to the Restaurants of the Heart,
but precisely, we benefited from generous structures that helped us.
What marked me,
I did not have the right to go to school.
And that, for a child, it’s terrible.
The child has only that to make friends,
Learn the language,
and it lasted a long time, when I was not allowed to go to school.
And that’s when my parents had the right to go to school
that my life has changed.
Or rather, that my new life has begun.
So, as I did not speak French,
schoolmasters did not know what to do with me,
but they still put me in CM1, the class that corresponded to my age.
But since I did not understand anything,
they changed my class,
I went to CE2.
They are nice, they could have put me in CP.
In CE2, the first few weeks were difficult,
but the mistress did not notice me,
she just let me hang up.
And I succeeded.
I succeeded because I had the help of a woman,
a volunteer,
a retired grandma who was coming
twice a week in my school to teach me French.
And I learned it very quickly,
in a few months.
It is very easy for children.
And I loved that language.
As we lived in a home,
I was encouraged to stay as long as possible,
at the recreation center, under study.
At the recreation center, a facilitator made me do theater.
And the theater, in French, I loved it.
So much so that I have done more and more,
as soon as I could.
And I found myself, refugee, arrived in France at 8,
to play
at the age of 13 on the stage of the Comédie-Française.
I played on this stage two to three times a week for three years.
My love for this language
led me to read.
So I read some texts,
and I read,
at the National Assembly in Paris,
the Geneva Convention,
this text that creates, which defines the refugee’s status.
It was on the occasion of the Paris Appeal.
So, I could have continued to do theater,
but in high school, we had to choose.
And me,
even though I was welcomed in France,
I’m still afraid of a new forced departure,
I am afraid of a new exile.
I stopped the theater
because I live with that fear that we have to start from again.
And I did not do theater, because my father,
who was a known comedian in Algeria,
who had done 15 years of television and radio,
became a night watchman in France.
No, very logically, I did electrochemistry,
and I became a doctor in electrochemistry,
I defended my thesis four months ago.
(Applause)
Thank you.
Thank you.
20 years ago,
I did not speak French.
Twenty years ago, I was an exile,
but today I am a Frenchwoman,
of heart,
of mind
of culture,
nationality too.
France is my country,
but I am still a child of refugees.
A refugee is not amnesic.
When we are welcomed, we know,
we are aware of it,
same child,
we are aware of it.
And that’s probably why I work so much.
I do what I can
to give back to this country what he gave me.
But my story
is not the story of an integration.
I do not like that term,
I find it overwhelming
stuffy.
I prefer the term adaptation
acclimatization.
My story is not the story of acclimatization.
My story is the story of a welcome,
because that’s what it’s about.
And this reception has faces,
it is this mistress, this grandmother, this animator,
these are the people who allowed me to acclimatize so easily
and learn the language as fast.
I was not born French,
and yet I have become him.
Do not underestimate the power,
the strength and attraction of France.
To believe that we can not welcome is not to believe in ourselves,
and it is above all to deprive oneself of true wealth.
As Ban Ki-moon said,
examples to demonize refugees
are not just [offensive],
they are also fake.
And I know
once acclimated,
refugees become forces for the host country,
because,
when you have the strength to leave everything,
we have the strength to rebuild everything.
Thank you.
(Applause)
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