It rained today

Now you might think that this is a good thing since we are sitting here in the middle of the Sahara desert.



In one way it is. When it rains, the liberated areas of Western Sahara turns green, and a lot of the people of the Refugee Camps leave the harsh conditiones of the desert. For a few months they go back to living in the liberated areas as beduins (their traditional way of living.



However, when it rains like ot did today, it creates a lot of problems for the Saharawi refugees. The land is so dry it cannot absorbe the rain pooring down. As a consequence the ground turns into mud, making it impossible to get around. And as if that was not enough, all of the houses are made out of the Sahara desert sand. Water and sand are made into bricks to build the houses, so when it rains the houses are in danger of falling apart.



This is what happened in 2006. The heavy rain caused a lot of buildings to collapse, damaging schools, institutiones and peoples homes. When you are a refugee and aready have very little, loosing your home is a great disaster. They are living in a country that is not theirs, under conditiones that are extremely difficult, so you can imagine what it feels like to loose what is supposed to be your home.



The refugee camps in the South Western Algeria, are some of the best organised refugee camps in the world, but there are certain things you just can prepare for. The rain here is a good example of that.



Outside it just stopped raining.



For now.

The heat of the mid day.

It is 4.45 in the afternoon, and me and andrea are on our way to arabic classes. Around us it is all quiet, all we can hear are the goats that passes by us. As we cointinue, we realise that we haven´t seen a single car, or a person, or even a child playing. We feel like we are walking through a ghost village, despite the fact that there are more than 60 000 people living here.

The reason for this is the extream heat. From around noon until 6 pm, people normally dont move around outside because the sun is burning at it´s worst at this time of day.

I would guess it is around 40 degrees here in the middle of the day. And this is the time of year where it is supposed to be getting colder! And it is getting colder. But the temperature it used to be 2 months ago are so high that cooler doesn´t mean cool in this part of the world.

The worst months here are the summer months, June, July and August when the temperature gets at least 10 degrees warmer than it is now. I don´t even want to imagine what that must feel like!

The killing heat of the summer months is the reason why over 9 000 Saharawi children flee the camps and go to Spain for 2 months. While Norwegians go to Spain to enjoy the heatm the Saharawis goes there to cool down.

This summer project is called "Vacationes en paz", or hollidays in peace. This gives the children a chance to get away from the rough conditions in the camps, and spend 2 months on holliday with a Spanish family. The children get 2 months of peace each year. Even though the weapons were put down in 1991, people are still living in a conflict situation.

Living in exile

Or and other word for it is being a refugee. It is a very difficult thing to talk about, because when I talk about it, it reminds me of my peoples suffering. When you live in exile, you feel that you are like someone who lives in an orphanage. You feel that you are missing something priceless.

You are missing your motherhome, which no one can live without. How can someone live in exile and his motherhome, and his possessiones are usurping. But thanks god we are living in our second motherhome, Algeria. This country opened its doors and welcomed us to live on their land as brothers until we find a fair solution. We owe a lot to Algeria.

We have been living for more than 30 years in exile. We suffered a lot along these years. First we suffered from the natural circumstances (wind, rain, cold and heath). Second, places of living: Tents are exposed to fall down at any time the wind blowes. Homes are made of clay that are exposed to destruction when the rain comes down. Next we suffered from poverty, starvation and lack of medisin.

But despite these difficulties and frustrations, we challenge the hard circumstances with patience, education and our hope to get our independence. Because we always say that we have a dream that one day we will get back to our motherhome, and forget what we have been through.

At last, I call for all peacemakers and people who are aware of what is going on around them, to do their best to get us back to our home.

Written by:

Ali Dadi

27 years old

A refugee in the camp of El Auin

pictures from the first days

Mwajuba preparing to give us henna

our house

The most beautiful time of the day

Angie sitting on a bag of rice from the WFP

The camp of El auin

Mwajubas mother resting in her tent

Mwajuba praying outside our home

The Beauty of the desert

It's morning, and we are woken up by the sun. As soon as it hits the place we are sleeping, we can feel it's heat and the day begins.

Outside we can hear the wind blowing quite strongly. Knowing the sand will get absolutely everywhere as soon as we leave the house, we put on our melhefas and our turbans to try to protect us from the sun that is getting stronger every minute, and the sand.

Where the houses stops, and the desert begins, we feel we're at the edge of the world. The landscape is as flat as you can imagine, and the desert and the clear blue sky is never ending. Or at least it feels like it. Standind looking at this immense desert, you feel so small, so unsignificant. Why it feels like this, I can not explain. There is also something extremly beautiful about it. I t is different from everything I know, and it is nothing like I expected it to be. It is like another world. Everything is strange and unknown. Maby that is why we find it so beautiful here. I know how harsh this desert can be, but for now it is the beauty of it that impresses the most.

Inside the camps, on the other hand, there are tents and houses made out of sand and water. The colores are the same where ever you go. The color of sand is all there is. This makes it impossible for us to find our way around. It all looks the same. There is only one exeption, the people.

Every now and then, I see these colorful and elegant people walking around in the camp. But only when it's not too hot. Most of the day is spent inside, hiding from the burning sand. These colorful people are the women of the camp. They brighten up their surroundings with their beautiful melhefas (clothes).

As the day getscooler around 5 -6 in the afternoon, people start moving more outside. As the sun sets, the colors get warmer and they also get this redly glow to them. It is one of the most beautiful times of the day. Just befor the sun is gone it looks like the sky is caught on fire, and the clouds burn across the sky in the most beautiful colors you can ever imagine. Walking around at this time of day, you forget how harsh the desert is in the middle of the day. It is like the desert is blushing under the decending sun.

When the sun is gone, it's the stars and the moon that takes over, brightening up the night sky. And it is under the saharan sky, that we end our day, and goes to sleep.

Arriving in the Sahara

After a very long jorney we have arrived at our final destination, Laayoune refugee camp!

We have been here for almost two days now, and the impressions are many. Everything is so different from everything we know from before, but we are having a great time.

The heat is killing and is impossible to imagine if you have not been here! The people are wonderful, we are spending our nights under the sahara sky, eating camel meat and drinking lots of tea.

People are taking so good care of us, and I think we will have a wonderful 4 months here!

More news will come later.