Solidarity

The Western Sahara refugee camps truly lives up to its reputation of being one of the best organized refugee camps in the world. Although the people living here have close to nothing in terms of material things, the care and the solidarity that they show amongst each other and towards all that support them is amazing. The Saharawi people are still waiting for a peaceful solution and to finally be able to return to their homeland. In spite of the fact that they are living in a refugee camp, the Saharawis know that life must continue. All children go to school and the good relationship between Algerians and Saharawis allow young Saharawis to attend Algerian high schools and universities. Although there is close to no paid work in the refugee camps, most Saharawis return to the camps after having received their education. Some work as teachers in one of the primary or secondary schools. Others work in the administrations or hospitals of the camps. Many young, well educated people work as volunteers in various institutions in the camps. One such institution is “Casa de Mujeres”, which is a school where women can learn languages and how to use a computer in order to work in the administration of the camps later. They also learn about and discuss health issues especially related to the women and the babies. The solidarity that the Saharawi people show is immense and this along with the strong bonds between family members and the wish to help each other drives many Saharawis back to the refugee camps and their people.
The strong community spirit creates the frame around the well organized refugee camps.
The supplies of food and necessities such as gas and soap arrive once every month and is carefully divided between the refugees. The women of the camps organize this distribution and together they ensure that everyone gets their share. The women are responsible for many things in the refugee camps and in practice they run the camps. However, the decision-making lies with the men who often hold the highest positions.

Generally, in a traditional Saharawi family, the man is the source of some income and thus often also the one with the power in terms of making the major decisions. The woman on the other hand is primarily responsible for the household, the food and the children. This is a full time job and especially the afternoons and evenings are busy as the husband and the children will be at home. Due to this, the initiatives that offer language courses etc to women are held in the mornings until midday. At the same time most of the institutions function as kindergardens, so that a small child should not be an obstacle to aquire a new skill.

The camps offer many possibilities taking into consideration that they are refugee camps. The open culture welcomes everyone to take part in various activities. This includes people with special needs. Every camp has a school for disabled youngsters and special programs to take care of disabled elderly. The students at the schools learn to draw, write and read just like in any other school. In addition they learn how to make arts and craft as well as artifacts and material that is useful for the life in the refugee camps. These range from scarfs and clothes to doors and tables. The schools for the disabled also focus on integrating its students into the society. There are exchanges between the students at the school for disabled and the other schools. Both parts have much to learn from each other. Some of the students at the school for disabled attend one of the other schools regularly in the afternoons. The schools for disabled also offer sport activities and organize competitions between the schools in the different camps. Recently five young Saharawis were chosen to compete in the paraolympics in 2011. This is a big inspiration to many of them and also another chance to try to tell the world about the situation of the Saharawi people. Hopefully the world leaders will help us to bring an end to this conflict and let the Saharawi people return to their rightful land.