Thursday, 18 March 2010
Impossible to Describe
The last couple of weeks have passed so quickly. It is surreal that we have been here for almost three months now. We are currently waiting for a reply from the Algerian authorities whether they will accept to extend our visas for additional months. We are really hoping for an extension as we feel that our presence here has a big effect on both the people we meet and on us. This week we organized workshops at the centre where we teach English daily. The workshops were related to the campaign against the illegal fishery agreement between the European Union and Morocco. To have the opportunity to make slogans and banners and to be able to voice their opinion on a video means a lot to our students. They all can not believe that the exploitation of their natural resources can go on without any major interference! To know that their pictures may have an effect on the future decisions regarding their country gives them hope, but the situation as a whole is nothing but frustrating.
We learn so much about the Saharawi people through our daily activities with them. Still after more than three decades in the refugee camps, the strength and the stamina of the Saharawi people is unbelievable and impossible to describe.
We learn so much about the Saharawi people through our daily activities with them. Still after more than three decades in the refugee camps, the strength and the stamina of the Saharawi people is unbelievable and impossible to describe.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Marathon back to War?
The Sahara marathon is one of the biggest events organized in the refugee camps. Athletes from various parts of the world come to the refugee camps to participate in this demanding race.
One of the aims of the marathon is to increase the publicity around the Saharawi issue. The foreign participants of the marathon live with families in the refugee camps throughout their stay. This way they also lean about the Saharawi culture and way of living. They observe and experience the life of the people in the refugee camps with its amazing hospitality, love and care as well as the difficulties that the refugees face everyday.
The start of the marathon was celebrated with music, children in the traditional Saharawi costumes, Saharawi men riding camels, the presence of President Mohamed Abdel Aziz and many people both foreign and Saharawi. After the start of the marathon, Maria and I met the president thanks to Mohamed. Among the crowd that would like to have a word with the Saharawi president was also an elderly woman. She expressed her opinion about the current situation and she strongly believed that the Saharawi people should return to war was waiting for more than 30 years has not lead to any progress. We later heard that most Saharawis agree with her and that although they do not like war, they believe it is better than waiting in the Algerian desert for an unknown amount of time. Saharawi people are peaceful people who have the right to return to their country. Of course everyone would prefer a diplomatic and non-violent solution, but the Saharawi have tried everything and feel forgotten. To return to war can seem like a way to remind the world of their situation and it might lead to an actual solution between the Morocco and Western Sahara. The conflict in itself is nothing but unjust and it is unbelievable that it has been going on for more than three decades.
One of the aims of the marathon is to increase the publicity around the Saharawi issue. The foreign participants of the marathon live with families in the refugee camps throughout their stay. This way they also lean about the Saharawi culture and way of living. They observe and experience the life of the people in the refugee camps with its amazing hospitality, love and care as well as the difficulties that the refugees face everyday.
The start of the marathon was celebrated with music, children in the traditional Saharawi costumes, Saharawi men riding camels, the presence of President Mohamed Abdel Aziz and many people both foreign and Saharawi. After the start of the marathon, Maria and I met the president thanks to Mohamed. Among the crowd that would like to have a word with the Saharawi president was also an elderly woman. She expressed her opinion about the current situation and she strongly believed that the Saharawi people should return to war was waiting for more than 30 years has not lead to any progress. We later heard that most Saharawis agree with her and that although they do not like war, they believe it is better than waiting in the Algerian desert for an unknown amount of time. Saharawi people are peaceful people who have the right to return to their country. Of course everyone would prefer a diplomatic and non-violent solution, but the Saharawi have tried everything and feel forgotten. To return to war can seem like a way to remind the world of their situation and it might lead to an actual solution between the Morocco and Western Sahara. The conflict in itself is nothing but unjust and it is unbelievable that it has been going on for more than three decades.
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