My name is Laurent. It’s not my real name. I’m 46 years old, I’m French, and I have lived in Tunisia for ten years with my wife and my children.
When I arrived, I did not think I would stay that long. At the time, it was a professional opportunity: to take the helm of a textile subsidiary working with European clients.
I already knew Tunisia a little, like many French people: a few trips, memories of light, of the sea, of cafés, of roads between Tunis, Hammamet and the Sahel. But living in a country is not visiting it. One thinks one knows a place because one has spent holidays there. Then you settle your family there, your habits, your children, your expenses, your points of reference, and this country becomes something else. It becomes a part of your life.
Today, when I talk about Tunisia, I no longer speak of a backdrop. I speak of our home.
La Marsa, our family balance
We have been living in La Marsa since our arrival. This choice wasn’t only about comfort. It was also a practical matter. For my wife, for the children, for school, for commuting, for daily life, La Marsa naturally imposed itself.
There is the sea, the cafés, the shops, the activities, a certain ease of living. There is also this rare feeling of being both in a city, in a neighborhood, and in a form of parentheses. At first, it seemed almost ideal to us. A house with a garden, space, a family life softer than what we could have had in Paris.
We rent our house 3,500 Tunisian dinars per month. It is already a significant sum. But we were lucky to have kept the same house since our arrival. Today, if we had to look for the equivalent in La Marsa, with a garden, in the same area, the price would probably be much higher. The market has changed. What was comfortable ten years ago has become much harder to replace.
And perhaps that’s where I began to understand that the Tunisia I knew at the start was no longer quite the same.
A comfortable salary, but a shrinking financial freedom
I earn €5,000 per month, about 17,000 Tunisian dinars. This income places me in a very favorable position, especially since my company covers the children’s French school, as well as the car, fuel, insurance, and maintenance.
This framework protects me a lot. It must be said clearly. But it does not prevent me from seeing a very clear evolution: the same salary no longer gives the same sense of freedom.
