A day in "the forest”

The days go by as if nothing had happened. Or almost. In “the forest”, the name given to the illegal camps of sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco, Nossiami and her baby girl have managed to create a semblance of normal life. In the hope of reaching Europe, she arrived in the camp for almost two years, after being raped in the middle of the desert, between Algeria and Morocco. She tried five times to cross the sea when she was pregnant. She has not enough money to try a new crossing, or to leave elsewhere. Nossiami has to fend for herself inside the camp to survive. Moroccan police regularly come out at night to hunt down migrants and destroy huts, but it is generally indulgent with women accompanied by children. The days pass and the dream of Europe moves away. Nossiami will not return to her country, which she left to flee excision and forced marriage.