When he arrived in Portugal, the son of Mozambican immigrants, he was just 11 years old and was greeted with insults that he never expected to hear. “Black, go to your land”, they shouted at him outside the school and in the streets. Decades later, Faisal Aboobakar is the director of a group of schools in Palmela and a symbol of overcoming in a country where, one day, he felt he did not belong, according to Público.
Born in Mozambique, Faisal Aboobakar grew up in a multicultural environment where he lived with whites, blacks, Indians and mulattoes. In 1981, he arrived in Portugal with his parents and two sisters, fleeing the civil war and political restrictions that marked the African country. What he found was a country where “there was only black and white”.
“I arrived at school and it was ‘black’ here, ‘black’ there”, he recalls. The shock was great. Until then, I had never felt different because of the color of my skin. In Setúbal, where he settled with his family, he realized that integration would be a marathon and not a hundred-meter run.
Forty-four years later, he sums up this journey with one sentence: “I had to work twice as hard for people to see me for who I am and not for the color of my skin or my origin.” Today, he proudly hears his students and colleagues call him “Professor Faisal Aboobakar”.
An exemplary academic and professional career
Since 2021, he has been director of the José Saramago School Group, in Poceirão, municipality of Palmela. He was elected by teachers, staff, local authorities, parents and students. “I won with 13 votes against six”, he said, quoted by the same source.
Physical Education teacher, with experience teaching from basic to higher education, believes he won “because the project was seen as the best for the community”. The area where he works is rural and welcomes many immigrants to Portugal who work in greenhouses and agricultural fields, as well as in the Lidl logistics warehouse, in Marateca.
Despite the region’s political and cultural differences, it feels integrated. “I am accepted and I have a different skin color,” he says, highlighting the support he received along the way. For Aboobakar, the real challenge in Portugal is to continue to ensure that the children of immigrants have access to education and opportunities for the future.
Teacher who changed everything
Adapting to Portugal began with difficulties. When colleagues insulted him, he responded aggressively. “My reaction was to hit them”, he confesses. It was a teacher, Lígia Figueiredo, who helped him change his attitude.
“Faisal, responding with aggression is not the way to go. You have to be a diligent student and follow your path”, the teacher told him. Since then, he has promised to “get revenge” in another way: by becoming one of the best students in the class, as mentioned by the same source.
“It was my way of showing that a ‘black’ student had the same abilities as others”, he recalls. From that moment on, he began to build his own place, with effort and resilience.
Arrival in Portugal
The story of the Aboobakar family is intertwined with that of thousands of other immigrants who left Africa in the 1980s. His father was a locksmith and his mother was a secretary at the Ministry of Education in Mozambique. They had leadership positions and believed in the country’s future after independence, but political instability and the risks of civil war made staying impossible.
“We planned our exit in secret, because Mozambique wouldn’t let anyone leave”, recalls the professor. “We came on vacation. Until today.” They only brought three suitcases, two bags and the equivalent of 45 contos.
They arrived in Lisbon in November 1981 with no one waiting. “Seeing my father, with the few coins he had, calling from a booth to ask for help, was an image I never forgot.” A friendly family welcomed them for two weeks. “It was the first example of welcoming the Portuguese people.”
Start over from scratch
According to , in Portugal, the father returned to work as a locksmith, but without management positions. Faisal, against his father’s wishes, started working early. He washed cars, helped a painter and electrician, and participated in the construction of the Belém Cultural Center.
The father, however, always repeated the same message: “The only thing I have to give you is your education.” The three children followed the advice. Two became teachers and one pursued a career in design and telecommunications.
Include those who were previously excluded
Today, as a director, he is dedicated to creating opportunities for those who arrive with the same difficulties he faced. The school he runs welcomes 190 foreign students of 21 nationalities, many of them children of immigrants who have recently arrived in Portugal.
Aboobakar opened scientific-humanistic teaching, created an evening course in Adult Education and Training and implemented a reception office for migrant families, in partnership with the Local Support Center for Migrant Integration and the Palmela Chamber.
Furthermore, it instituted the teaching of Portuguese as a Non-Mother Language for students and Portuguese as a Reception Language for parents. “We respond to children and parents. This school is in rural areas, but it has to be a reference for the entire region.”
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