Moroccan Students in France Face Double Burden of Isolation and Worry Amid Pandemic

Ophélie, Kenza, Éric or Laliya, are desperately struggling against boredom and distance that are beginning to weigh heavily since the pandemic has led the French authorities to take strict measures to protect the population. They only have distance learning and social networks, or the phone to fight against the monotony of confinement, very far from home, reports the newspaper La Montagne.

Like Kenza who comes from Morocco, these four foreign students have seen their year take a hit, and are asking many questions about the rest of their training, while expressing concerns about their families, about what they may be going through due to the pandemic. "Fortunately we are receiving the courses, otherwise it would be even more difficult," observes Kenza.

"I’m especially worried about my mother, who is a high-risk person, since she is diabetic and has respiratory problems. It creates a lot of worry and almost panic. My mother calls me every day, asks about what’s happening here, repeats things I already hear on the news. And knowing that we can’t go back, that she won’t see me for a long time, worries me even more," she says, anxiously.

While in Morocco, the situation was approaching 2,000 cases already in mid-April, despite the drastic measures the country has imposed, in Europe the situation is quite heavy. "We don’t have much information on the location of the cases. Around April 18, there were about 400 cases, because it arrived a few weeks after the Metropolis. They haven’t reached the peak there yet, and I think they’re not respecting the confinement too much. It’s worrying because Reunion is a small island and the virus can spread very quickly," fears Ophélie.

As for Kenza, she uses the argument that Aurillac is less affected by the virus to escape the concerns of her parents, the frequency of which is a particular source of stress. "It’s sure that I prefer to be in Aurillac than in a big city right now," adds Kenza. The young woman also appreciates having been able to return to Aurillac just in time to confine herself there, while before the confinement she was on an internship in Clermont-Ferrand. Kenza and Ophélie expect to finish their final year a little later, due to internships to be completed, but also because of the uncertainty surrounding the end of the pandemic and the return to normal life.