A student
Malaysia 🇲🇾 “I was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. But I am originally from Mali. The Saudi law does not give the right to be a citizen even if you are born there. You must keep your father’s nationality. My father is from the Timbuktu region in Mali. He’s from a village deep in the desert called Zarho. My parents left the difficult life in Mali in search for opportunities. They came to Saudi Arabia and are still living there now. I grew up in the city of Mecca, a diverse place. I used to meet many people from around the world. I have friends from everywhere.
In Saudi, when you finish high school, you need to leave the country or there must be someone who can sponsor you to obtain a new ID. I decided to leave because I wanted to see the world, to experience something new. I wanted to go to Mali to see how life is there.
First, I went to Malaysia to study English at the Albukhary International University. This university gives scholarships for underprivileged people from poor countries, students from around the world to study english. I met people who also spoke Arabic and it was easy to make friends. When I first arrived there, I didn’t know anything in English. The only thing I knew was “good morning” and “good evening.” Now, I can understand and speak it. It was the best six months of my life.
We started our quarantine on March 18th 2020, the cases were increasing really fast but then they gave us a curfew. Our university has been closed since, the university does not allow us to go out. Two days ago, the prime minister of Malaysia said they will reopen the economy like small shops and restaurants from 8am to 8pm. I’m not sure if the university will let us go out for a few hours because we are in a green zone, all cases in our area have recovered.”
