Moroccan Migrant’s Journey: From Bus Stowaway to University Pioneer in Spain

The quest for a bright future drives Othman Beda to travel more than 760 kilometers hidden under a bus from Tangier to Fuengirola. "I simply wanted to escape the bad life," he recounts in La Linterna. Upon arrival, he will be picked up by the Guardia Civil elements. "The first thing I encountered was Guardia Civil police officers, who took me to the police station and to a protection center, where it’s quite tough," he adds.

Eight years later, Othman has passed the selectividad and started a Social Education degree at the University of Jaén. "He is the first unaccompanied foreign minor to enter university in all of Spain," explains Expósito. This was the culmination of a long process. "[...] I went from a center in Málaga to another in Jaén and, when I got out, I ended up on the street, living on the street, until I came across the Málaga Acoge association. They supported me enormously when I decided to study, which is not done by the one who should do it, that is to say the State, which does not grant you any scholarship, it is almost impossible for them to accept it," explains the young Moroccan to COPE.

Othman was a thousand miles away from imagining that he would enter university. "When I took the selectividad, in my head, I was going to fail and, the day the grade came out, I looked at it and I couldn’t stop crying with joy," he confides. Currently, the young Moroccan lives in Jaén, in a university residence that is still paid for by the association, "because the State still does not allow me to work after 7 years, I cannot study and work like my classmates." He adds: "And they don’t give me scholarships either because they consider me ’independent’, which I’m not, because I’m in distress and without family."

The young Moroccan is proud of the path he has taken. "The main idea in leaving my country was to find a good future, not specifically to study," he acknowledges. And he continues: "When I arrived at Málaga Acoge, they bet on me, they told me to study, that I could. They helped me, I got the baccalaureate and I passed the selectividad, everything was done little by little." According to him, his parents in Morocco are "amazed" by what he has accomplished in Spain. "Me, as a child, I was very turbulent and I didn’t study, and now they’ve seen me in the newspaper and on television," Othman rejoices.