Marhaba

The stars in Buccra are the most beautiful I have ever seen, and they have marked the beginning of a wonderful stay. We've been here for less than a week, and already I feel like a part of the family.

These few days have been full of new experiences. Everyday we drink the Saharawi tea, and put on our beautiful melhaffas. We have even had time to get henna for our hands, and I like mine better like this. The family includes us in all parts of their lives, and we have already been to a Saharawi wedding with its traditional dance. We have had two days of teaching and the students are great. In the afternoon we have Arabic lessons with a very good Arabic teacher called Mohammed.

What strikes me most with the people we have met, and the family we live with is their enormeous warmth and openness. The ability to include others the we they do is something I think most Norwegians could learn from. Some of the young people and the children in our family speak Spanish, but many just speak Hassaniya. Still, we communicate well and their warmth shines through.

There are many humanitarian organisations here that run different projects of all kinds, but far too few work with the root of the problem,- the political situation and the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara. We are planning to distribute a petition on the illegal fishing outside the coast of Western Sahara, and the fishing agreement the EU and Morocco. We will work with the Polisario, and hopefully distribute it across the different camps. The campaign is run by different European organisations, and you can read more about it on www.fishelsewhere.eu.

Mæesemallah!