By Driss R. Temsamani
Very few things in life move my emotions so high and so deep. Lifting me in a timeless second beyond my human senses and dropping me in front of the harsh reality of injustice. Injustice where mercy has been taking hostage by cruel selfish creatures disguised as humans.
While walking the path of solidarity, hoping for an answer, drinking from the fountain of hope and looking at the horizons for a better tomorrow. Far but not far, I always felt that the end of suffering was near. No, not yet! Whispered a voice from behind forcing me to open my eyes and see. That’s when I turned and faced the reality. The harsh reality of the story I decided to share with those who have pledged to defend the rights of the hopeless. This is the story of Hind, a 38 year old Moroccan mother, who in a different time and a different place is fighting her own autonomy battle.
In 1993, Hind Mikou graduated from the University of Tunis with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. With a bright future ahead of her, she decided to follow her dreams for higher education and moved to the United States. Few years later, she got her Master’s Degree in Communication Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. There is nothing more satisfying in life than achieving and fulfilling your dreams and Hind embodied the example of the successful Moroccans women who wanted to make a difference.
On December 19th, 2001, Hind moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she married Mohamed an Algerian citizen who worked as an Operations Manager for a large Bank. Life continued to bless Hind and 2 years later she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named her Ryhabe.
Living the American dream, Hind got a job as an Editor with Time Publishing Corporation in Chicago. Life could not have been better for the happy family. In 2005, another gift, Shaymaa was born giving the couple another reason to celebrate their union. All seemed perfect, a story right out of fairytale book. Little would Hind know about the turn her life was about to take.
Shortly after the birth of Shaymaa, Mohamed got a job offer from his bank to move to Algeria. Hind did not agree to move with her husband and felt uncomfortable with the idea to leave the US and move to a new country. She did not want to give-up her career and everything she had worked so hard for. But, there was very little she could do. She was between the rock and a hard place. Between making the choice to move or separate from her husband she did what every caring and loving wife would do. Go to Algeria. A journey that will change her life forever.
The couple settled in a city called Hydra where they got an apartment. At first life seemed to be normal. Beside some cultural differences, Hind was busy raising her daughters and taking care of her husband. The couple had their third daughter, Malak on March 2006.
As months passed the first signals that something was wrong were hard to ignore. Mohamed started to have problems at work and his behavior became radical with Hind. He started to get sick often and became paranoid. The Doctors he visited did not find anything wrong with his health but Mohamed was obsessed and became superstitious about his condition.
In the process Mohamed started seeing fortune-tellers and the like who brainwashed him about what was making him feel the way he did. From worse to worst, Mohamed became distant and violent, and although living at the same place they were physically separated as a couple.
As Mohamed’s life was heading toward a dead-end, he decided to resign from his job and move to Oran, another city in Algeria to live with his family. By now Mohamed had put his wife Hind as the evil behind his misfortune. Imprisoned in his family house, Hind was not allowed to use the phone or the internet. She was completely isolated from the world.
Mohamed became paranoid about people in general and did not allow his wife or children to have any social contacts. The couple was financially broke and couldn’t afford to send their older daughters Ryhabe to school. Hind and her daughters were under constant watchful eye of Mohamed and his family. Hind tried in several occasions to leave Algeria to visit Morocco but in vain. Her husband had denied her the Algerian residency so she could move on and about the country.
By now Hind’s parents were concerned and desperate. The absence of news from their daughter was deafening. They had lost contact with her after the move to Oran. Hind was now completely isolated from the world. And if isolation was not enough, Mohamed started to escalate his aggression on Hind. The constant insults and humiliation were upgraded to beating.
The physical abuse became a norm in Hind’s daily life with Mohamed. He made sure that she was punished whenever she would voice her opinion or disagree with him. He even threaten to kill her if she ever runaway from his house with the children. Trapped, beaten and scared for her life, Hind was fighting her autonomy thousands of miles from her home country and family.
On July 2008, Hind convinced Mohamed to let her leave Algeria and go visit her ill mother but he did not let her take her daughters.
Finally reunited with her parents, full of joy and alive again, Hind had one thing in mind; get her children back. She knew that although she had started the US residency process and did not have the permanent Green Card herself, her 2 children were born in the US and that would put the law on her side. Her first stop was the American Consulate in Casablanca.
After telling her story, the American officials advised Hind to file a case and meet with the US Consul. She was full of hope but unfortunately nothing would prepare her for bureaucracy of the system. Hind was asked for her bank account information, the job she had held in the US and other personal info. She prepared all documents but eventually The US Consulate in Morocco refused her case application. The US official answer was that she did not show enough evidence on her US employment and financial history back when she lived in the states. Hind cried that she was imprisoned in Algeria and was not allowed to go back to the US to continue the process. She told the American officials in Casablanca that it was out of control.
At that moment, there was a new meaning for bottom in Hind’s life. She had sunk to the lowest level of hopelessness. All communications to her daughters through her husband Mohamed were refused. The American Consulate closed their doors and Moroccan officials did not recognize her US and Algerian marriage to Mohamed. Hind fell into a depression, lost 90 pounds and collapsed. She was admitted to the hospital under a critical condition and while in the intensive care her husband, Mohamed called to tell her that he was divorced. Now all chances for Hind to reunite with her 3 daughters were shutdown.
For many women like Hind, the story would come to an end. But, I am a foolish night with no armor. My faith in people’s conscience would tell me that Hind’s story just began. I see 100,000 people standing right now. Angry, sad and full of passion extending their hand and shouting, “Get-up Hind, get up!” “Ryhabe, Shaymaa and Malak are waiting for you and need you. Don’t give up hope Hind, you are not alone. Yes, it has been hard and what you went through would bring down a mountain but, you are not alone now Hind. We are with you.”
Somewhere carved on a stone in the valley of the wise, a timeless sentence reads; “In life we are not judged by what we do for our self but rather what we do for others.” The story of Hind is a real life drama. Hind has not seen or talked to her daughters since July 18th, 2008.
Every day we see examples of how people can make the impossible a reality. The story of Hind is an invitation to prove that we can bring down the walls of injustice. Together, we can make those that have turned a deaf ear to Hind listen to her story. We can make those that have closed the doors of help to Hind open them again and let her have her basic rights. Together we can ask the American and Moroccan government to help Hind reunite with her daughters again.
Please support for Hind, voice your support, be one of the 100,000 to sign the petition today.
PETITION Add your name to the list
We the people signing this petition ask for the immediate reunion of Hind with her children.
We ask the US government officials and the American Embassy in Morocco to provide the necessary administrative and legal support for Hind to take custody of her Moroccan American daughters.
Sign Petition
Submit your article, poem or story for publication.
