Day 2: Saharawi Recce

Day Two Sat 25th

Tea Ritual

A sleepless night was had as the heat was too much for me and the creepy crawlies didn’t help either. Plus I never sleep well on the first night in a new place, even back home.

I was woken for a breakfast of bread, cheese and eggs and a tea ritual that consisted of three small glasses of tea: first Bitter as life; second as sweet as love; third as mild as death - although they just seemed to get sweeter and sweeter to me. The ritual takes about an hour and a half in total and the amount you drink is about a third of a cup of tea from back home, but I enjoyed watching the process and the tea is great. I preferred the 2nd glass for taste.


Today I start the many visits that Hamdi has programmed in for me. We start at the Saharawi museum and I get a brief description of their history and the troubles in the occupied territory by Hamdi. The images are very similar to those that I have seen on my travels to the Australian outback, many of the same methods are used in their cooking techniques, implements and structures.

Saharawi Museum

Morrocan Jail

When prompted Hamdi explains his own story of how he came to be in the camps in Algeria. He explains that he came to the camps four years ago as he was facing a 9 year prison sentence in a Moroccan jail for publicly speaking out against the occupation of his country. He lived in Laayoune the capital in the north of Western Sahara and he travelled to the south to Bojdour some 200km before climbing the wall and making his way through the land mined area on the other side. He travelled for two days in the Western Sahara desert before he was found by the Saharawi army and taken to the refugee camps in Algeria near the city of Tindouf. He left behind his mother, father, 5 sisters and 2 brothers, he is 24 years old now and works for the protocol, which is there to look after westerners and aid workers who visit the camps. His English is very good and so he get the jobs of looking after the English visitors and receives a wage of 50€ for 3 months work.

Zorgan

We then go to the school in FEB 27 and visit a teacher and see the kids. Next to the school we visit a centre that is housing a group of UK theatre teachers. They are from the 'Olive Branch Theatre' www.olivebranchtheatre.com who have a group of young men and women who are learning to act for a show that will be played in a weeks time for the people in the camps. The directors of the camps are very concerned that their culture will soon be lost if they are kept out of their country for much longer. They are very keen to have the young people learn new methods to express and tell the stories of old, which is what the play will be about next week. It’s fun to watch the rehearsals and to hear the translations from Zorgan the translator.

 I am told by Hamdi that he has just arranged a meeting with the director of Naaja Ali the centre for info / culture in FEB27, Anana Labat Arachid. I'm there to discuss with her the possibility of housing the FairTunes/Sandblast studio in her centre. I am surprised to see that they have a AV studio and internet via satellite in the building and to hear that they will soon have a ADSL line in OCT 2010. She explains the importance of having a music studio in the camps as the traditional music and spoken word is fading from the youth and they need to document it in order to preserve their past for the future generations who have and maybe never will see their homeland. She also explains that music is a great way of spreading their message about the occupation of their country.

Western Sahara Desert

FEB 27 is the smallest yet the most advanced of the camps in Algeria and was originally set up as a camp for the women to study and continue their culture. Anana explains that without the women the camps probably would not have been set up so soon and certainly not as advanced. It is evident that the women here are very respected by the men, which was a fear of mine before coming here. I was worried that I would see the men dominating everything and the women being put down and treated as 2nd class citizens, as this is what I am lead to believe by a lot of press back home and, to be fair, what I have seen with my own eyes. But the Saharawi people are liberal Muslims so nothing is forced as far as dress and roles within the community and, in fact, it's fair to say that the women run things here.

The heat is overwhelming at times but this doesn’t stop the women from wearing a full body dress, called Milfer’s, and thigh high boots with woolly gloves with sun glasses. Apparently the reason they wear this seemingly crazy outfit in such hot weather is because it creates a micro climate which keeps them cool. The young women here seem to find my presence funny and giggle when they pass while the young men ask about my bandana, which has Bob Marley on it.

Olive Branch Theatre Crew

This evening is spent wondering around the camp seeing all aspects of life here. The goats all live on the hills and when I get there I can smell why they live apart from their owners - they are housed in pens made from whatever scrap metal they can find . We head off to the shopping area within the camps, which I soon nicknamed oxford st. Again I am shocked to find that there are shops at all and that there are shops selling a variety of home wares, building materials and food. It seems that my guide Hamdi is very popular here and we are stopped every two minutes by male and female friends just saying hi or interested in his companion (me).

Finally we get back to Hamdi’s house and I offer to help cook but I am turned down and instructed that some female friends of Hamdi will be coming over to cook for us, which I happy about as Hamdi isn’t married. Therefore there wasn’t much of a female presence in his house so I was looking forward to talking with them and hearing their stories. Alas i was not to have this opportunity as they came cooked and left only to return to clean up after we had finished... I asked Hamdi why this was and he explained that when they heard that he had a western visitor they wanted to help him to look after me so they came for that purpose, a shame as I wanted to hear what they had to say too.

Dinner is eaten late in Hamdis house, 0030am to be exact, so after eating I went straight to bed as the night before wasn’t the greatest sleep.