My grandmother by Estefanía Asensio

INTERVIEW

My name is Estefanía and I interviewed my grandmother.

• How old are you? .... Then, when were you born?

I´m 79 years old. I was born in 1935

• Where did you spend your childhood?

In Castilla la Mancha

• How many brothers and sisters have you got?

5 sisters and 3 brothers

• What did your parents do? What was their job?

My dad was a gravedigger and my mum didn´t work

What did you play in that period?

I skipped the rope in the street

• How old were you when you left school?

I didn´t go to school

• How was the school at that time? Did you have books, notebooks, etc.?

I don´t know

• When did you start working? What was your job?

I worked in a shop

• What can you remember about the Spanish civil war?

There was a big crisis and the families didn´t have food or a job

• And about the post-war period?

The crisis finished and people got a job

• What did you dream of at those hard times?

Travel to another country

• What did you expect from the future?

That the future was better

• Did you have the opportunity to travel?

No I didn´t

• When did you meet your husband/wife?

When I went to La Unión

• How long were you engaged?

51 years

• What was your husband/wife´s job?

He worked in the mine

• How was the relationships in the neighbourhood, with your neighbours?

The relationships were very friendly and funny

• What are the best memories of that time? And the worst? Do you remember special moment, good or bad, that you personally lived?

The best memory was when I played  in the streets with my sisters and the worst when we didn´t have money to buy food

• What are the differences between young people then and nowadays?

Young people nowadays don´t work to help his family and they are more selfish

The post-war period in Spain; hunger by Ignacio Victoria

                     INTERVIEW

My name is Ignacio Victoria and I am going to interview my grandmother. She is 79 years old and she was born in La Union, the village where she spent her childhood and where she lives now too. She has two sisters Jerónima and Josefa, and two brothers Miguel and Lico so they were 5. Her father died really early and she spent her childhood with her mother who was a flower seller. Her mother had to go to Cartagena to sell the flowers so my grandmother did the housework. When she was 16 years old she started to work in a richman´s house in Cartagena and then in other houses. She didn’t go to school because she had to help her mother and she couldn’t “waste” that time. She was very young during the Civil War so she didn’t remember anything but she spent her childhood during the Post-War Period and she remembers that she was very hungry and the life was so difficult at that time because of the censure and the dictatorship. At that time she only dreamed of living in peace and with happiness. She said that nowadays she only expects that her sons will be good men with a good job and a family and they pray for all our family’s health.

 She was 16 or 17 years old when she met my grandfather and they were a couple for six or seven years and when she was 23 years old she married my grandfather and they were married until my grandfather died 14 years ago. My grandfather worked making engines and then he became an electrician. Her best memory was when she met her husband and her worst memories when her mother and her husband died.

Finally she says that she can’t understand why people say that now the youth is worst or better than at that time, she thinks that now there are good people and bad people as there have always been including the old times, but she thinks that it is true that nowadays, because of the Internet and the new technologies, young people use those gadgets incorrectly and they do bad things.

Spanish post-civil war. Ana, my grandmother by Ana Ros

My name is Ana and I´m 16 years old. I´ve interviewed my grandmother whose  name is Ana. She is 76 years old. She was born on the second of June in 1938.

During the post-war period she lived in Roche, a little town of Murcia. She has one brother and two sisters. Her father was a driver and her mother was a housewife. 

She told me that when she was young she used to play games like hopscotch, skipping the rope or she dressed her dolls. When she left school she was nine or ten years old.  She went to a school where only girls could go. She only had got a notebook and a book.  She has never worked but when she left school she started to help her mother in the housework.

She can´t remember anything about Spanish Civil War because she was one year old when the war ended. About the post-war period she can remember that most people went hungry and they had a card of rationing which controlled the food they ate or the oil they used in their lamps. She also told me that at that time there wasn´t too much electricity and there was  almost nothing to eat.

When she was young she used to dream of being a dressmaker and she expected the future to be better and no one  go hungry .

When she was young she never travelled because she didn´t have the opportunity to do it and she didn´t have too much money either. 

During the interview she told me the story of how she met her husband. She met him during a party in her town in the 50´s. She was with her friends in the square of the town and suddenly my grandfather and his friends went to the place where my grandmother was. When she was  coming back home he approached  and decided to woo her. From that moment they became friends and after that they got engaged.  They were engaged for six years and then they were married another sixteen years until he died.  He worked as drawer and after that he worked in a nuclear power station. In her neighbourhood the relationship with her neighbours was really good because she lived in a small town and everybody knew  each other.  Of those days she remembers that most people were unhappy because of the impacts of the war and the dictatorship. People didn´t have enough clothes or food to survive. 

One of the most beautiful memories she has is when she went to the countryside to play with her sisters and with the animals they had. She enjoyed that time a lot. Or when she went with her grandmother to visit her uncle. She remembers that her grandmother never wanted her to go with  her and my grandmother always escaped to join her.

She thinks that young people at that time, although  they didn´t have too much, enjoyed their time more than us and they didn´t need drugs or this stuff to enjoy. She thinks that they were more responsible than we are now and they valued more the things they had.

My grandmother´s memories of the Spanish Civil War and postwar period by Ana Navarro

My name is Ana, I´m 16 years old and I made an interview to my grandmother about the Civil war period in Spain. She told me her experience in those hard times.

1)      How old are you? …When were you born?

I am 79 years old so I was born in 1934.

2)      Where did you spend your childhood?

My childhood was so hard.  The period of Civil war was so complicated and dangerous, there were shelling all the time, we didn´t have much money and it complicated our situation.

3)      How many brothers or sisters have you got?

I have got five siblings: three sisters and two brothers. In that period it was so common to have got a lot of siblings. When I was eight years old we were orphaned.

4)      What did your parents do? What was their job?

My father was a miner and my mother was a housewife. My dad died in the mine, and my mum got sick and died one year later.

5)      What did you play in that period?

We usually played at jumping the rope, marbles and especially we loved to play at being different roles that we could choose from, such as doctor, detective or pilot.

6)      How old were you when you left school?

I left school when I was approximately ten because I had to start to work to support my family because we didn’t have any source of income.

7)      How was the school at that time? Did you have books, notebooks, etc.?

At school there were few books, maps, a blackboard, desks and chairs and nothing else. We didn´t have computers, projectors or other digital devices.

8)      When did you start working? What was your job?

I started working at 13more or less, and for my first job I worked as a babysitter with two children in Murcia City and I earned 500 pesetas, (3 euros)

9)      What can you remember about the Spanish Civil War?

I don´t remember many things about the Civil war. One of the things that I remember is all the bombings because when a plane passed on with bombs, we usually went with our neighbours in a refuge.

10)   And about the Post-War period?

I don´t remember a lot of things of the post-war because I was working in this period. However, I remember that there was a hostile environment:  many families were dying of hunger… It was so difficult for all the people who lived through it.

11)   What did you dream of at those hard times?

I wasn´t mature enough to decide anything about my future but I only wanted to get out from there and live in another place with a better situation.

12)   What did you expect from the future?

I dreamed of changing my fate and the fate of my siblings because my aunt wanted to give us for adoption but we prefered to stay together.

13)   Did you have the opportunity to travel?

Yes, I travelled to Ibiza when I was working as a babysitter with the family because they had relatives there. I never visited Ibiza again, but I have very good memories of this trip.

14)   When did you meet your husband?

I met my husband when I was walking with my friends along the main street of the town. He went to me to introduce himself. In this period it was so common to do this to seduce girls.

15)   How long were you engaged?

We were engaged during six years.

16)   What was your husband’s job?

My husband worked in a mine, on the washing site. Afterwards, he worked in other mines but in the washing site too.

17)   How was the relationship in the neighbourhood, with your neighbours?

With my neighbours I had a trusting relationship. We met together in my house to talk or go out with our husbands frequently. My neighbourhood was so quiet, it was a good place to live in.

18)   What are the best memories of that time? And the worst? Do you remember a special moment, good or bad, that you personally lived?

The best memories of these years were when my husband and I got married and we had our house. We were really happy in that moment. The worst memory was when my parents died. The best memory of my life was the birth of my children.

19)   What were the differences between young people then and nowadays?

Nowadays young people have different values, different education, different studies, different relationships… Everything is different now.  Above all they have a lot of opportunities and they must appreciate it. 

Growing Up in La Réunion by Janie NOEL

Ms. Noel M. has chosen to tell us in a few words about a long period in her life: that of her adolescence until she became an adult.

«First, I grew up in the heights of Saint Paul in La Réunion.

We used to go to school on foot, there was no public transport; we had to walk two hours before arriving at school. We walked in groups. At that time, my parents were very strict with me. I was very obedient. Fortunately, the rest of my family did not live too far from us. We could help each other. Throughout all my adolescence, my only activities were to go to mass and to make straw bags with my grandmother and my mother. We were rather poor. I often went to weddings. At every wedding ceremony we had to keep changing partners at the end of every song so that we wouldn’t grow too attached to one single boy. (Laughter). At that time this subject was taboo. I was an only daughter, life was not too easy. When I was growing up there were no night clubs or discotheques for teenagers.

Time passed. At the age of 20, I got married. At that time you became an adult when you were 21. I had to ask for my parents’ authorization. I had no work. I only began to work at the age of 37! And yes! (Laughter) I can say it’s from that time I started to live a totally different life. I became independent; public transport began to develop and by that time I had 5 children!

The youngest child of the family was born when I had already started working; he was not born in the same situation as the others, even if he never lacked anything. (Laughter). If I compare growing at that time with today, I can say that it is totally different. Nevertheless, I am proud to see that my children have educated their own children just as I did. I am very proud to see that.

Until I started working we never really had very much money. It is only today that materially speaking I can live more comfortably and so can fully take advantage of the surrounding mountains, the beach and coconut trees. (Laughter)

I can say “THANKS” to my parents for the education that they gave me in spite of our poverty. It did not prevent me from building my life. Today I live normally, I will not forget this period which I would qualify as a transition period."

The Life of a Boarder in a Convent in the 1950s by Lucas PALATIN

I questioned my grandmother about her life at boarding school when she was young. She arrived at the boarding school when she was 15 years old in 1952. She couldn’t stay in her parents ‘house because they lived in the countryside and to be able to study my grandmother had to go and live in Chambery in a middle school called Jules Ferry. There were no places at their boarding house, so she was accommodated by the nuns in the nearby convent house. There were only girl boarders. The life in the convent was very strict. The boarders spent all their time there and they had only two supervised walks a week on Thursdays and Sundays after mass. Of course the boarders had to go to mass. My grandmother explained to me that she slept in a big room; there were fifty girls who slept in this room. It was a very big dormitory where it was cold because there was only a wood stove in the middle of the room to warm all the room. Then suddenly, my grandmother with a big smile told me: “I remember that one day the heating broke down, and there was smoke everywhere. At the time this heating broke down it did not make us laugh but now looking back I have a pleasant memory!”

In the boarding school, she ate especially soup because the nuns did not have a lot of money and because it was not very expensive to make. It’s the boarders who did the cleaning and the service. It was a very strict and controlled life but even if it was hard my grandmother never rebelled because she found it normal.

My grandmother left the boarding school only to go to study at Jules Ferry. The Jules Ferry middle school building had largely been destroyed during the Second World War and the replacement building was made of prefabricated cabins where it was either very hot or on the contrary very cold according to the season. In class my grandmother had to wear a blouse as all the others girls. She finished lessons at six o’clock in the evening and she returned directly to the boarding school.

My grandmother’s youth was thus very different from my youth today. She had very little freedom and her life, when she was young, was very controlled. She couldn’t go out in the evening to go to sport or spend moments with friends in town. Today we have many more liberties and we can do lots of things without being controlled. But when I asked my grandmother if she has regrets or if she would have preferred another route and another more free youth, she said that for her it was normal because it was the only life she knew and that thus she can’t know if she would have preferred to live differently.

Anaya arrives in France from Morocco by Soukayna LAABDOUI and Emmanuelle JEAN

This is the testimony of my grandmother, Anaya. She's 65. She's going to tell us about an important part of her life.

Me : Hello grandma so what are you going to tell Emmanuelle and me ?

Anaya : I'm going to tell you about my departure from Morocco and how I came to France which was such an important turning point in my life.

Emmanuelle and I : Ok great explain everything, when you arrived, your feelings, when that happened...

Anaya: So it was during the late 1970s, I was 31 years old. I was married to your grand father, Moustapha. At that time, I had 6 children and we were living in a village close to Marrakech in Morocco. I didn't see your grandfather a lot because he had been working in France since the early 70s. He came to see me once or twice a year. This situation lasted about 6 years. It was very difficult. I was living with my stepmother, my sister who was in the same situation (but at that time she didn't have any kids) and my children. In 1980 thanks to "family reunification law" (‘la loi de regroupement familial’)my husband could sort out all the administrative papers and we could all come to France including my sister. My sister's husband was my husband's brother. Her husband stayed in France and my husband came back to Morocco to drive all of us to France. The farewells were very difficult and hard. I didn't know when I would come back, it was a very strange feeling because I was excited about this new life but so afraid and sad at the same time. I remember, there were 9 of us in the car, the journey lasted three days, I had never been so far from my home. We arrived at Orleans in October 1980. My sister went to join her husband in Haute Savoie because he was working there. The first day, the weather was so bad, it was pouring with rain. We lived in a furnished appartment. In the neighborhood, there were a lot of Asians. It was the first time I had seen Asians. The district was very cosmopolitan. My husband worked a lot so I had to take care of children and take them to school. I did not speak a word of French but it didn't prevent to me making friends, because indeed I met Moroccans and Turks who were in the same situation as me. Sometimes I felt homesick for my country but thanks to my children and to my friends I remained strong.

Concerning my children, they adapted better than me thanks to school and learnt the language very fast. For me it was very complicated to do something myself because I did not speak French, I was illiterate because i had never been to school. I had to wait for my husband until the week end to accompany me to do some shopping, or bring the kids to the doctor...

In 1981, I gave birth to my seventh child and in 1983, my eight and last child. Our situation was better and better so from 1984 we spent 2 months every summer in Morocco and it was good to see the whole family. My sister Aicha and her husband came with us every time. When the holidays were over, we had to come back to France. It was very difficult because we had to leave again the whole family. In 1984, we had to move because my husband had opened a grocery store in Chambéry. This was complicated because we had to abandon our life in Orléans, our friends, the children had to leave school... We had to start a new life in LA ROCHETTE. It was more difficult to adapt. My husband came back every time home late, so I had to take care of children. Soukayna's mother and her sister studied in Chambéry and slept all the week at my sister’s Aicha, because she lived next to the school. Indeed Aicha had moved to Chambéry so every weekend we saw each other, it was nice to see a familiar face.

Over the years, I enjoyed my life in France. I had more and more friends. My husband’s grocery worked very well, so we enjoyed life a little more. We bought a house in 1990 in Morocco. In 1996 we moved to La Motte Servolexe, it was better because we were near to Chambéry. Over the years my children have grown, my husband opened a larger grocery and a butcher shop. He retired, and my children are now working in this store. In 2002 we built a second home in Morocco bigger than the first one and on the ground floor we built a restaurant. One year later, Soukayna's grand father bought apartments in Marrakech. Since he retired we have spent a lot more time in Morocco and he has devoted himself to his passion, horse racing. Now, Souayna, as you know your grandfather is no longer of this world. he changed my life. Today I feel good in France, my children and my grandchildren live next to me. I speak little bit better, I often see my sister Aicha who lives in Grenoble now. I have many friends in Chambéry, I always spend all my summers in Morocco with my children and their families because Morocco is our country and our roots are there no matter where we live.

Emmanuelle and I: Thank you for this touching testimony.