Sharjah24 – AFP: In the front row of a small classroom, three women, all different nationalities, avidly learn French in southern Tunisia's stifling summer heat -- grateful for support from an umbrella of charities.
Based in the city of Medenine, it's a rare locally driven opportunity for migrants to better themselves and integrate, in a wider North Africa region that is often far from welcoming.
And despite Tunisia's own biting economic crisis and the rampant poverty in its under-developed south, local associations have banded together to offer the less fortunate support.
Awa, from Ivory Coast, speaks good French, but wants to learn to read and write in the language.
"I never went to school," she said, her baby on her knee. "If you cannot read or write, it is as if you live in the dark -- you cannot do anything."
Banished by her family for refusing to marry, she travelled to war-torn Libya in the hope of crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, but was prevented from taking to the sea and detained.
"I was pregnant, and due to give birth," Awa said, adding that she was told Tunisia "was welcoming because it is not in a state of war".
That advice brought her to Medenine, where she attends a day centre run by the Organisation for the Support of Migrants, an initiative by eight Tunisian medical outfits that offers support to mainly female migrants.
"I was welcomed... I am very happy," Awa added.
Fellow Ivorian Bintou has discovered an inner confidence thanks to sewing lessons offered at the day centre.
"I have already sewn beautiful dresses -- it's a job that fascinates me," she said.
"It inspires me," she added, noting that she'd wanted to be a tailor even before she left her home country.
Like Awa, Bintou arrived in Tunisia in July last year.
Both are tempted to stay, largely because, as Bintou puts it, "it is peaceful," even if she sometimes suffers street harassment and racism.
For an optimal experience, please
