Why we wear melheffas

Why do you wear the melhefa?’ asked my aunt me a couple of days ago. Before I managed to come up with a sensible answer in Hassaneya my sister extensively explained my desire to become a Saharawi and thus also my stubborn attitude to eat with my hands, cover my face and sleep on the floor. Indeed I want to experience the Saharawi culture yet the reason for my perhaps determined behaviour is closer related to my own notion of respect. If someone visits my family I would expect them to eat with cutlery, and consequently when all women cover their body why should I be an exception?

Now when this is said, and as previous participants have noted, every day is not  ‘melhefa-day’. There are days when I wake up and simply wish I could use my time-worn jeans and a big jumper, however as soon as I go outside I’m happy I’m wrapped in my meter long, colourful piece of fabric. In the melhefa I am able to disappear in the mass of women, people don’t stir because I’m a foreigner and I am sometimes mistakenly taken for being a Saharawi. Indeed, having worn the melhefa every day since our arrival, both Sunniva and I feel naked without it.I’m not comfortable walking outside showing the contours of my body and Sunnva even covered her hair with her hands once when she lost the head piece while a car passed by once.

Sunniva and I have obviously our favourite melhefas and consequently also some not so nice ones. My pink gown look more like a brides mate outfit from the 80s than anything else and we all had a good laugh first time Sunniva entered the room looking like an Easter bunny in her yellow outfit.Yet, nothing beats the white malhefa I was given the other day. Firstly, the fabric in itself is considered very nice, where the textile is so stiff that is ‘stands out’ from my body. Yes, I do look like a balloon. Secondly, the white see-through fabric is decorated with yellow, blue and yes, pink dots, exactly like the stereotypical clown outfit from any European circus group.

In order to prove my point, Sunniva and I descided to take pictures of

our wonderful melhefa collection. The picture might be a bit small,

but you do at least get a sense of our colourful outfits all in one.

Written by Marianne