In Montesson, a little magic to evoke a serious subject. At the beginning of March, the village hall of this commune of Yvelines welcomed a young 34-year-old magician, Mehdi Ait Elhocine, who has a single mission: to make young people aware of the problem of school bullying using magic and his own experience.
The ten-year-old children who have taken their place watch the scene attentively so as not to miss any detail of this particular spectacle: “My name is Mehdi, I am 34 years old. I find it difficult to integrate into groups, I find it difficult to talk with others. But what you see in front of you is a superhero. Like a superhero, I’m there and I pretend to have confidence in myself, ”says the magician who was himself harassed at school. Marked by his experience, he knows how important it is to help bullied children and restore their self-confidence.
Evacuate emotions
“What I went through during my childhood made me the adult I am today with a lack of self-confidence. I’m a very sensitive person, like a little teddy bear,” the magician explains to the children, while a girl draws her emotions with colored markers on the stage. According to him, the hardest thing is to share his emotions, to tell his story to someone, because “it leaves traces”. Mehdi Ait Elhocine talks about the harassment experienced to free up speech among young people. The aim of his interventions in the school environment is to create an emotion in the children in order to form a memory “which is to fight against bullying at school”.
“Harassment is when you’re hit every day, when you’re hurt”, “when someone says things to you that hurt you…”, are pronounced on the stage one after the other. The magician tries to move a table covered by a purple napkin, but it seems very heavy, like emotions that we keep inside us. By creating a link between his magic and bullying, Mehdi gives children useful advice so that they can protect themselves from bullying as well as help potential victims.
Accept the “outstretched hand”
A rubik’s cube, which the magician solves in less than a minute in front of the children, expresses emotions that must be sorted out and put in order. As if by magic, the little man, colored by a young girl on the album page, appears in a magician’s suitcase dressed in the same colors.
Mehdi spins the metaphor: when we are harassed, we try to find reasons not to tell loved ones about it, we put our emotions in a suitcase. But it was by revealing his difficulties to his parents that he was able to change college, put this bad experience behind him, and even meet his wife. The story of his childhood is a moral lesson for all young viewers. You should always ask adults for a helping hand: “it’s no shame to talk about bullying”.
“Save people”
The pHARe program which was launched by the government aims for its part to form “a protective community of professionals and staff for students” within establishments. “Give young people self-esteem, self-confidence, by giving them compliments, motivating them, telling them that a bad mark is not serious and that they will get there…”, such as are the tasks of an educational team to enhance their students, according to the magician. “A lot has already been done on bullying in schools, but more needs to be done because one in ten children is still bullied. So, in the class of 30 students, there are three who are likely to be harassed”.
Mehdi’s ambition is to reach all of France through his interventions, so that all young people can become aware of his testimony. At the end of the intervention, when all the emotions are released, the magic table begins to fly around the room. The children, impressed, applaud the feat without being asked, before leaving the room. We already have to make room for the afternoon session.