The Rahmeni Family
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- A soccer field in a school around Gabes. The region is very arid.
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- Mr Rahmeni at home. He is a school teacher and he is hard working in his field with olive trees and other cultivations
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- A shepherd in the surroundings fields of the Rahmeni house
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- Rami, PhD student in biology. He often helps the father in field work
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- a street close to the Rahmeni field
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- Nihed, with her traditional clothes
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- Nihed, while she is reading the Koran
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- Ms Rahmeni, collecting the olives in family field
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- Ms Rahmeni, during relax at home.
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- the sense of family is very strong. It often happens to find relatives at home, even just for a greeting.
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- Members of the family relaxing in the street after the dinner during the end of Ramadan
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- 11- A wiew of the Rahmeni family house. Very often the houses are not externally completed, to allow to build further levels to host some of the married children.
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- A religious procession in Gabes, close to the house of the family
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- Nihed using the cell phone to chat after washing clothes
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- Like in Europe, kids spend much time in the social, chatting and playing by phone.
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- a beach close to Gabes
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- Ms Rahmeni working in the field, she helps the family to increase the income and allow to Rami, Nihed and the other kids to study and, hopefully, one day to leave the country for a better future.
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- Mr Rahmeni posing in front of his house
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- The youngest daughter using the phone. She is one of the best students in her class.
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- a scene of affection between brothers, a relaxing evening at home
The differences between the north and the south of the country were further accentuated after the “jasmine revolution” of 2011, and today, although many of the aspirations that have driven thousands of people to protest in the streets at that time have not been realized, the part of Tunisia closer to the Libyan border seems to be bogged down. I chose to tell this part of the Tunisian region through the images of the Rahmeni family, who hosted me in Gabes, during my one-year stay. It is an extraordinary family, of great workers, willing and able students, who represent the most genuine part of the country. Even if they do not have much money, the pride of a wounded nation is reflected in their faces and gestures, especially in its southern part. If on the one hand, the economic and partly cultural backwardness is evident, on the other side, the political instability of the neighbouring Libya significantly influences the life of the whole region, which in recent years has seen the vertical collapse of tourism, the main source of sustenance for the whole area. Moreover, the lack of work drives many young people to leave their homeland to seek their fortune in various forms, not only in the north of the country, but also abroad. Even Rami and Nihed, the eldest sons of the family, who study biology and visual arts, dream of carrying out their projects in Europe, to visit something different and live a life experience that can enrich them spiritually and professionally. The expanses of desert, which takes on different colors depending on the different areas and on the succession of the seasons, and the immense olive groves that stretch out on every type of terrain, even sandy, surround a very hospitable society, made up of simple people and with deep values.
Agriculture and pastoralism are the main activities in this part of Tunisia, and the Rahmeni family also owns olive trees and some fruit trees. When not at work as a schoolteacher, Mr. Rahmeni is always in the field, taking care of his trees, often helped by his wife and children.
The south of Tunisia is an area rich in oil fields, all exploited by Western foreign companies that do not bring any work for local communities, as well as the production of olives and oil, the fourth in the world, does not seem to bring particular benefits to who lives and works this land.
Time passes slowly from those parts, waiting for some change that can only happen by moving away from there … and this is what Rami, Nihed, and, later on, probably also the other brothers, are hoping.
My purpose is to continue this project, spending more time with this family, which hosted me for almost one year. I would like also to follow in particular the events of Rami, Nihed and the other young children in order to give an idea of the real conditions in which the south Tunisian population is living and the reason why most of them try to reach other places, especially in Europe.
Photos and text by Enrico Doria
