Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother. She is really my superhero.
That's why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities,
perspectives, and emotions about this world. In these difficult times in human history,
we need to bring the people of the world together. And when we hear the voices of women, when
we listen to real lives of women from other countries, we connect our cultures without
our differences or stereotypes, and we get inspired by their stories to live a better
life. That's what this podcast is all about. My guest today is Muna Derkawi. Muna is a
Moroccan girl, a member of UNICEF Advisory Committee for Youth and Adolescents, and she
is living in Hanifra, Morocco. She is studying mathematical sciences and loves reading books,
singing, dancing, photography, and watching shows. Muna is a YouReporter, a program by
UNICEF aiming to solve societal problems. She participated in public speaking competitions
and took some mentoring from Y peer Morocco. Muna, how are you today?
Hi, Aziz. I'm doing pretty well. How about you?
I'm feeling grateful to be alive, thankful to have the opportunity to explore who you
are and understand you even better. So I'll begin with this nice question. If your friends,
Muna, could describe your personality, what would they say about you?
Okay. If my friends could describe me, the first three things that they can say, hard
worker, strong, and a source of positive energy. Thank you. That's really, really interesting.
And I'll ask you about hard work. What motivates you? What vision or drive gives you the energy
to be hardworking and to put in that extra effort?
My dreams and also I would like, I love to see the people that I love proud of me and
proud of what I'm doing. That's two things that can motivate me.
Thank you. And to understand that even more, especially the part about the people you love
and that are important to you, why and how is that emotion and fulfillment created within
you? What I mean is, do you like to feel useful or do you dream of changing their lives in
a big way or is it because you love to please and satisfy people or you love the sense of
community and you want to contribute or what drives that specifically?
Okay. The reason why my people are like a source of motivation for me, just because
first they support me and second, because I want to develop myself and be a better version
of myself when I'm around them.
Thank you. And you're involved with the development of youth and adolescents in Morocco, at least.
What do you feel are some important developments that you want to change? What are some dreams
you have and visions? What do you want to change in the situation of youth and adolescents
in your community?
Actually, there are two things that I would love to see them in the future and I will
work so hard to achieve them. First is take care of the mental health of youth and second,
give the youth the chance to spoke themselves and to talk about their thoughts, their emotions.
I guess that will change a lot.
I agree. Those are very important topics and I'm curious, you as a Moroccan girl from
Hanifra, how is that unique compared to other girls from other parts of the world? What
is different about your culture? Maybe someone listening doesn't have friends from Morocco
or doesn't know adolescence from Hanifra. Are you a traditional girl? Are you a mix
of many cultures of the world and Hollywood and anime, Japanese a little bit and all those
mixed together or how are you as a person?
Okay, talking about the Moroccan girls, I guess we're all the same because we're
open-hearted to other cultures and to other people. So yes, in Morocco, we love to know
more about other cultures. There are a lot of girls who love K-pop, Asian drama, other
girls who would love American series, would love to listen to American rap. So we have
different interests but the only commune thing about all of us are we're open-hearted to
other cultures.
Thank you. I noticed that and I agree 100% and I'm interested in exploring your hobbies.
For example, when it comes to photography and singing and dancing, those are creative
things. What is the experience you have when you do them? I mean when you do photography
and dance and singing, are you expressing your emotions? Are you learning new things
about yourself or what is the thing that makes you love those activities?
Talking about the three things, the whole three things, yes, I'm doing them because
they express my feelings and they express my reality. Starting with photography, actually
like when I'm so attached to sky, clouds, sunsets, you know. So when I see like sometimes
the sky is gray, I feel like okay, today I'm not that good, I feel a little bit depressed.
But when I sometimes watch like orange sunsets, I can feel more like shiny and happier. And
same thing for two other things that I'm doing like dancing. Dancing, I prefer to choose
like songs who I need to put a lot of effort on them if I want to dance like and that make
me express all the things that I'm feeling. So when I'm maybe depressed or sad or mad
at something, I just like put music on and keep dancing and express all the things that
I feel with that music. And for singing, singing I truly choose my songs so careful because
I really want when I'm singing to mean them and to feel them before like express them
to other people.
That is wonderful. And you're studying mathematical sciences. At university, what do you plan
to study? If you plan to study some engineering, then as a STEM girl, how is the situation
of girls in engineering in Morocco? Is it accepted as part of the culture? Do people
look a little bit on it as unusual? Do girls have all the freedom and support to become
engineers, to compete in those spheres? Or is it something that needs more development?
What's your opinion and thought on that?
Okay, about the girls who wants to like to choose to study in January or like they're
studying in January right now, like I don't think they have a problem and their parents
like are so supportive and understandful about that point. The most of parents right now
like they're so, they support their girls to choose in January. So yeah, now I don't
think well like with the development that happened in Morocco right now, girls can choose
in January like so easy.
Thank you. And for you, what is your dream for the future? Do you dream of studying abroad?
Do you have a specific country in mind or do you want to study in Morocco? And if so,
what field or subject is the one that is very interesting for you?
For me, I'm so like interested about like being a surgeon and like especially like neurosurgeon.
I would like to study in Morocco and to live my whole life in Morocco because I want to,
if I want to make change, I want to start with my environment and to make it like better
than go into another country and like trying to make it better when I need, when my country
need me and need me to like help her to be a better one.
I love that attitude and I'm curious, why is neurosurgery fascinating and interesting
for you?
When I was young, I was like always wanting to be a doctor and when I start to grow up
and realize things, I choose to be like to try like to be a neurosurgeon in the future.
I guess there are two things that make me like throw up that way and think that way
about this. First, cause I read a lot of books and I watched a lot of shows. There are a
couple of books that are talking about neurosurgery and talking about like the main character
is a neurosurgeon. So they make me wonder how their life are and how like if I was,
if I will be a neurosurgeon, how it will be. And second thing, I love helping people and
I think that neurosurgery is something hard for people to do it like cause it's 14 years
of studying and so it's not easy. I feel that I can be unique and do it and help people
like in different situations.
I agree. That's a very important goal. And Mona, to finish, is there any advice or lesson
you have for adolescent girls from all over the world and from Morocco that you think
will help them go after their dreams, have more confidence and live a better life?
So if I want to give a piece of advice like to American girls or girls in general, I would
tell them that if you want something like just do it. Even if you're not finding, like
even if your people do not motivate you, they are not like supporting you, find your own
motivation and make it by yourself. Second, I would just say like if you're sometime like
feel weak and you cannot do it anymore, you just need to take a break and you'll become
more stronger.
Thank you so much, Mona, for that inspirational message. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts,
your experiences and your vision. I'm honored and happy to include you in this podcast and
I wish you to keep going and I wish you to become that neurosurgeon that you dream of
becoming and always continuing to develop your country and helping your people. Thank
you again.
Thank you so much, Aziz. I have the honor to be here with you and that project. Thank
you.
