Joan Aldavert, student of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature: "Writing helped me communicate with young immigrants"

He got a job in the center for foreigner unaccompanied minors through a friend in a moment when the center needed staff for these tasks. What made you start working on such a thing, far from your studies?

It was an opportunity and an experience I wanted to live. What shocked me is that the center where I was, there were many people from these studies working as educators. I guess they had attended some training related to the job after their studies, but it was surprising.

Entering the center was a bit shocking, like entering another dimension, another world. Actually, when I remember it, it looks a bit unreal, like a dream. It is like a small world, like having a small Africa.

What surprised you the most about the immigrants?

They were very happy, after everything they had been through, they were eager to meet others and curious about the other people. They are teenagers who are starting from zero, in another place. And in some way, they are making new friends. Both with the other teens and with the educators. This hope is what made them start such a risky journey, and found a reality that can be hopeless, because it does not fit with their dreams. But this hope is what makes they eager to continue, they create expectations that will probably be different than what they want -like, for example, playing for Barça-, but they can go on while they think about this.

Another thing I realized the first night is that most of them are really grateful. They knew we were there to look after them and, except for some cases, they tried to make it easier for us. Some of them helped us, and acted as intermediaries or took certain roles to make the process go faster. They feel forced to mature before they should, as if they had come out from an incubator prematurely. They left Africa and their families to get a better future and money to send home. They already have this big responsibility, the same an adult has with children. But they did not have time to be parents nor children either. This is why they are still kids and they need models to follow, like the educators or other adults.

Was your work as educator related in some way to your writer role?

The fact that I attended the university was important when working in the center. The boys asked “what do you do?” and I told them I went to the university, studied literature and that I was a writer. “A writer -they said- what do you write about?”. They were very interested in this idea. One said “You go to the university because you worked for it, not because you are lucky”. I changed that idea and said: the fact that you are here, that you arrived in Barcelona, is not luck, it means that you made an effort to be here, and you will do the same to learn Catalan and Spanish to adapt to this place. Then they asked me to teach them words in Catalan, to combine it a bit with what they knew in French. I tried to communicate with them, and writing was helpful for this.

In the book, you talk about your experience but there are some interviews. Why?

I knew I wasnʼt an expert, because I am not a social educators. I knew the reality I had seen was not objective because many things could be rumours and I denied them in the interviews. I wanted to interview experts on the field of immigration.

Actually, I was like one of these sub-Saharan kids that arrive here without knowing anything. They donʼt speak the local language and they donʼt understand what is happening. In my case, it was like this: I went to a shelter center without knowing anything and whatʼs more, we were more or less the same age.

What did you learn?

First, breaking stereotypes. I think the media has depersonalized these young kids. I remember being working and seeing newspapers featuring kids breathing in from glue and this was shown as if most of the immigrants did the same, which is not true. Every boy is a specific case. Also, you have to think about the different collectives. Sub-Saharan people are different from Moroccan people regarding behaviour. We cannot generalize. People within the sub-Saharan collective come from different countries.

Do youngsters have an open mind regarding immigration?

It depends on the family you come from and your ideas. At the university, I see people who read a lot and are far-right supporters. I think it really depends on your family. But in general, I think young people are more open, they try to walk in the immigrantsʼ shoes, perhaps because they are the same age.