I come from a family that expereinced poverty. My parents are from a small village in Morocco: Skhirat. They moved in their late 20s to Italy to find better opportuinities for themselves.
My dad used to tell me that he barely had clothes and that his best pair of shoes was shared between him and his brother. He had to walk one hour to get to the only school they had at that time. Dinner was a very special thing, sometimes they had it and sometimes they needed to sleep early so they couldn't feel much hungry.
My mum never went to school. It was too far and "dangerous" for a girl and she wasn't allowed. She never learnt how to write or read till these days. She used to babysit her little brothers, walk her neigbour's cows for some pennies and help my grandmother with house works.
My dad lived in a small house of cement with two rooms, whereas my mum in a shack and they weren't far from each other. They actually used to play together in their spare time.
Life wasn't that easy for them. Sharing a room with ten people wasn't that unusual as it could seem nowdays. They didn't have a lot of dreams mainly because they didn't think they could reach them. My mum really wanted to have a family. My dad wanted to go to Europe and despite everything they went trough, they did it.
It wasn't about being rich, it was about providing better life chances for me, for them, for their parents and they did it.
They will never feel poor again; because there is is no poverty in their hearts.
