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Born in the rural town of Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia on March 29, 1984, Mohamed Bouazizi lived
in a rough financial life in a town infested with unemployment and corruption. Mohamed's
personal and social lives were not much better as he witnessed his father, Achraf, die of
a heart attack before his 4th birthday. He was educated in low quality 1 room school
15 miles from his home until the age of 10. When Bouazizi was less than 1 decade old,
his mother, Manoubi, remarried to Achraf's brother, and produced 7 new children. The
decision by his mother and uncle made Mohamed's life difficult, as he was pressured into getting
a job as a fruit vender in order to provide for the family. Every day for 17 years he
found a way to sell enough produce to keep his chaotic family running.
One day he came home and exclaimed, Mother, I sold 30 dinar worth of produce today! His
mother wished she could feel happy for her beloved son, but despite his valiant efforts
she knew 30 dinar was just not enough and responded, Only 30 dinar! I do not have enough
money to help feed Salia, Zied, Saled, Jamil, Zeila, Anis, and your father Skander with
this. First of all, He is not my father. Mohamed replied in disgust. Secondly, how do you expect
me to provide for this family if my best efforts always seem to come up short? I'm so sorry
Baboosha, congratulations on 30 dinar, now please go help Jamil and Zeila pick the chickpeas
from the garden. Mohamed did as he was told, but could not help but feel hopeless. He knew
at heart that all his mother was doing was pushing him to be better, but he felt angry
at the world for continually rejecting his best efforts. Unfortunately, Mohamed was not
your average 10 year old; he was very quiet and decided to bottle all of his negative
thoughts internally instead of speaking them out. In the short term this internal emotion
embottlement seemed fine, but 17 years later, his family would regret not pushing Mohamed
to speak out about his negative emotions periodically.