It is morning time and a coffee time. So I sit to a Starbucks coffee here in Marbella, Spain. And I hear some foreign parents, a Lithuanian mom, an Arab father, and two young women with the Lithuanian mom, chatting with each other about a very sensitive topic. Bullying and racism at school.

“Spanish children are racists” shouted the Lithuanian mom a little bit of angry. And this phrase caught my attention while I was putting the cup of coffee near my lips.

“They bully foreigners,” she went on saying with a higher passion. And then her voice suddenly wavered.
“So if you want to bring your child to a Spanish school, I don’t recommend it to you,” she told to her younger friend of unknown origin.

At this moment, the Arab father jumped in the conversation and said, “You are right, they bully a lot and especially the Arabs. I remember one day my son came back home sad and with tears in his eyes said to me that his classmates pushed him to the ground.

“And when I asked my son why? he told me that his classmates said to him, “You are not Spanish, so go away from us, we don’t want to talk to you. and so on…”

“Here in Spain schools are a disaster, our kids are bullied daily while the teachers do nothing.” He said and then paused drinking some water.

“Yes, and it happens everywhere, they don’t like foreigners,” the Lithuanian mom went on speaking. “The Spanish create groups of friends, because they are the majority, and fight against the foreigners.” Here she suddenly stopped because her voice began to shiver.

And then she began again talking and now with a crackling voice. “When I first came to Marbella from Lithuania,” she went on saying now almost crying, “my child came back home crying and…