Placed in a home at the age of 7, the Youtuber, comedian and comedian Jhon Rachid confides in his career as a foster child. Portrait.
At 37, Jhon Rachid, pseudonym of Mohamed Ketfi, is a youtuber, comedian, comedian and comic book author. A success that was not necessarily won in advance since it was placed in foster care at the age of 7 until the dawn of his majority. The eldest of his siblings, his parents did not have sufficient financial means to meet his needs. His brother and his sister will also be placed in their turns a few years later, while he is about to leave. What made him stand out? “The energy of despair. It’s thanks to it that we get out of it. When I came out of adolescence, I had no money. So, I couldn’t do anything with my friends , so I got moving and started working. I think some people need to hit rock bottom to be able to bounce back.” confides Jhon Rachid.
“If I managed to cultivate myself and to do everything I undertook it is thanks to the examples I received”
“Encounters made during childhood also forge and help to aim higher”, believes the actor. Indeed, if “we can’t talk concretely to children because they don’t have perspective. What works, on the other hand, this is the example through encounters. If I succeeded in cultivating myself and in doing everything I undertook, it is moreover thanks to the examples that I received. And in particular, thanks to a very cultured Algerian educator who taught us to play chess, told us stories and with whom I identified.”. What he would like young people to integrate: that if it worked for others, it’s possible. They can get away with it, they have cards to play.
SOS Children’s Villages: “a partnership from the heart”
Jhon Rachid supports the SOS Children’s Villages association. “I myself grew up in a foster home from the age of 7 until I was 17. It was not like SOS Children’s Villages, since I was in a classic home with educators, etc.”. Nevertheless, when the association contacted him, it spoke to him, “I obviously accepted straight away,” he recalls. “She had heard about my videos and my comic strip and asked if I was interested ingo talk to the children placed so that they have an example of what we can become. And, to concede to them that “yes, it’s hard, boring, but we can get there later”. Moreover, over time, between Jhon Rachid and SOS Children’s Villages, it has become “a partnership from the heart”as he himself defines it.
Jhon Rachid, from his Youtube videos to comics
Professionally, it is by writing that Jhon Rachid comes true. “Everything I have undertaken is through writing. Even on Youtube, I have never improvised anything. One day, I wrote and made my video called “I grew up in a home” in which I told about my childhood. It had worked well and a publisher offered me to do a comic strip. I love comics, I also tell them that when I was little, I read them all the time. titled “As we can“(Ed. Michel Lafon) and illustrated by the designer Leni malki, it comes in four volumes”.
Young adults only aspire to leave home, “including when they have nowhere to go”
Regarding the latest measures put in place by the government regarding young adults, the actor and author believes that it is indeed “super important to put an end to dry outings.” “Me, I was let go at 17 and a half. Because of me, my bullshit, my fed up, but when I left home, I had nothing”he says. And to add that, “Not letting the barely adult youngsters go into the wild would avoid a lot of drama. A large number end up in the street in particular”. Fortunately, there are some for whom it works and the insertion is done perfectly. But, for many others, as was the case for him, “after having spent their life at home, as soon as they reach majority, they aspire to only one thing: to leave to finally feel free. Including when they have nowhere to go or it’s misery at home”. Result, they do not always want to continue to be accompanied, even from afar. However, according to the actor, “Listening to them, accompanying them, offering them solutions, is much better than opting for dry outings”. The Children’s Villages association has established a more family-oriented, more humane framework, which only applies to placed siblings. “It would be nice to try to recreate this atmosphere in other homes”, suggests Jhon Rachid. Finally, even if it is not obvious, everyone has a different and complicated history, he calls on politicians to “show more humanity and less administrative coldness because they are children and not just numbers or statistics”. Fortunately, he ponders, “within homes and associations, there are humans who try”.