Tangier and Aleppo

When I was teaching my students in Aleppo the novel “Adieu Rosalie” by the Tunisian writer Hassouna Mosbahi, I did not realize that I would face the same destiny articulated in the excerpts I selected from the novel. I did not realize that I would face the same destiny of the protagonists and their disappointments; that I would share the drops of sweat, the fatigue, boredom and heartbreaks of the migrants who fill the boats and sail under the sun of the Strait of Gibraltar. Those migrants who yearned to spend a happy summer vacation in Tangier, away from Europe and the ordeals of exile, the brutal cold, and the eternal darkness; away from the slums, the dark dungeons and the narrow rooms on the rooftops; away from the daily insults and the inhumane work conditions.