Contrasts

25.01.2011

Just when we though we'd started to figure out the life of the Saharawis, we're caught off guard. The other day, we started the day as usual with English lessons with our students. However, Abba, our contact in the camps, came and told us there was a delegation from the occupied territories arriving the same day, and that we should go and try to talk to them – which of course was an opportunity we didn't want to miss.

The people arriving from the occupied territories turned out to be human rights activists. Many of them participated in the protests in Western Sahara in November last year, and many of them had also at some point been to prison. We had heard stories about breaches of human rights by Moroccan authorities, amongst other things torture in prisons, but never actually spoken to someone who had experienced it. Needless to say, the celebration dinner (consisting of vast quantities of camel meat, including camel stomach, for those of you who are particularly interested), turned rather bleak when we started talking to the people whose presence we were celebrating.

In short, life in the camps is one of contrasts. On the one hand, everything is calm and quiet, and our days – as well as the normal life of the Saharawis living here – follows a fairly predictable, comfortable pattern. Then, there are the reminders as to why we are here. These people are refugees, unable to return to their home country. They are in a desperate situation which has lasted for 35 years. They live their lives here in the camps – but this is not their home. They put up their tents and build their houses, thinking that everything here in the harsh desert environment is temporary. This is not where they want to be, which the heated speeches made by the human rights activists illustrated. The Saharawis are about to lose their patience. As one of the activists pointed out; unless the international community steps in and helps solve this conflict, the Saharawis might again be on the verge of another war.