"People matter, not the activities they do"
Rachid Boukhrissi, 47, originally from Beni Mellal, Morocco, is a social worker for CEFA in Assisted Voluntary Return projects in Rabat. He currently works to support returnees through Assisted Voluntary Return projects, collaborating with Denmark, the Netherlands and France and other European countries to assist people returning to Morocco after a period of migration abroad.
We met him during the first Focus Group of the We Propose project and asked him a few questions to better understand the projects he works on. Below is the full interview.
Tell us a little bit about your story
I have been working for almost more than 13 years in Cefa. I am a former migrant in Italy. I lived 7 years in Italy and when I came back I worked in International Cooperation at the local level, with Spanish Cooperation. I was part of a local association in Morocco when I left, and once I came back I reconnected. From there came the first contact with Cefa, which had opened contacts with my association, which then offered me a contract.
I spoke Italian and that was helpful.
I arrived in Italy that I was 28 years old, I lived in the north, I lived in the province of Brescia. I came back after 2008, following the great economic crisis. The company I was working for was in trouble and I found myself out of work. In the end it didn't work out, although I tried to find other ways, but there were no amnesties at that time and I chose to come back. Let's say I didn't have a chance because I was left undocumented.
I had never heard of assisted voluntary return and I came back on my own. At first I had a difficult time and got into psychological difficulties, but then I chose that I didn't want to go back to Italy anymore and to get back up, on my own and start my life here again.
When did you start working in AVRR projects?
I have been working for these projects for 10 years. By now I am a senior operator for Cefa and work on all types of returns.
What do you think about return projects? What about return in general?
Often people are in a difficult situation for which Assisted Voluntary Return is a useful tool, perhaps because they no longer have papers and risk deportation. On the other hand, it is different for those who decide to return of their own free will: these are people who have everything and are satisfied with their life in Europe, have made a career and are looking to return.
Those who usually accept Assisted Voluntary Return are people who have risked their lives to get to Europe, but because of migration policies, they find themselves forced to return.
Even within Cefa we had a reflection on the sense of continuing to work on this kind of project. I think that we here in Morocco play an important part: we welcome those who return. Without our support their return would be more difficult.
Where do you find meaning in your work?
I like to be able to offer support, partly because I have lived through this. I have the same language sometimes with some people. It is not magic, but that depends on knowing this path of return. I know the suffering, the desire to start over when you return to your country and the intention to take back the risk of your life. I like it when I am in relationship with people. I don't like doing paperwork. Every person is a story. Every story is different. They are return migrants, but they are not all the same. I am very happy when we can solve the difficulties that are encountered while working in return processes.
When you return there is a moment when you have to leave behind the country you migrated to, Italy for example. You have to accept that in the migration you have made there is an experience and when it happens that the person who returns wants to value the migration experience made. Here, this thing excites me. That moment when the person accepts the new condition of his life.
It is not a failure, but it is an experience that of migration, even in the return.
What are the important elements in your work for return assistance that really supports people?
The key thing is the first contact that we make already at the time when people are still in-country in Europe. This is an essential moment for people who want to return, to answer their questions, to prepare psychologically, to make contact with their families of origin. You have to think that sometimes people have been away from their country of origin for years, so it is important to explain the changes that have taken place.
In CEFA then we try to have complementarity between different projects to be able to support the person more and more, mixing funds.
Continuing to have relationships with the people we have met is another important element: I have contacts and relationships with all the people I have met in my work, even years later. We become a reference point for them, and it is right to be there.
What are the limitations from your perspective of current AVRR projects?
The fact of thinking that all people who come back want to open a business. Not all people have the entrepreneurial mindset. Sometimes people who return need other things, such as medical help, psychological support, medicine.
Migrant people are fragile people: when choosing people to work in migration you have to know how to choose them. If one person is not competent he decides on another person's life. One has to be careful in the accompanying processes. In addition, not all migrant people are entrepreneurs. With respect to projects, it is important to broaden the possibilities of support that can be offered. It is not the business that is important, it is the people that are important.
In what ways do you think migration should be looked at?
I think freedom is an important word. It should be made easier to integrate migrant people, in Italy for example. Offer possibilities and make immigration regulations lighter. Nobody chooses to leave their home-there are push factors that push people to leave their country.