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But, the life doesn’t stop there. Today (28 April, as I write this), as I was working on the trellis, a couple birds flew through the courtyard, making a lap or two. They were pretty black and white birds, reminding me of magpies, but smaller. They didn’t stay long, but I expect as the grape vines grow, we’ll be seeing more of them! And then, yesterday, as I was weeding the greenhouse, I found roly-polies under some of the seedlings, when I moved them. Roly-polies! In the Sahara! How did they get in our greenhouse? I don’t know, but I now understand why people used to believe in spontaneous generation! I suppose they probably caught a ride on some of the seedlings we bought from Tindouf, or maybe there were eggs in the potting soil we bought, or maybe birds brought them somehow. But, I seriously doubt they heard about our greenhouse and made the long crawl across the desert just to set up a new home in our greenhouse!

It’s unfortunate that funding for the garden project has run out (want to donate?), but the school garden should be in good shape for years to come!

The family gardens have also been producing well. One of our technicians, who decided to grow only tomatoes in his greenhouse, reported that he had harvested over 120 lbs of tomatoes already this season, with more still on the vine! More typical families seem to be harvesting about 50 lbs of tomatoes, and 25 lbs each of carrots, beets, turnips, cucumbers, zucchinis, and 10 lbs of lettuce. Plus, there are figs, which I forgot to ask about, and Moringa leaves, which would be hard to weigh. And, it’s great to hear that many families are reporting that Moringa has been very helpful in treating various diseases, including one man who had been going to Spain for high blood pressure, but who no longer has any problems after he started taking Moringa. Diabetics are also reporting fewer problems, and it’s been said to be great at stopping diarrhea! Interestingly, much of this acceptance seems to have occurred after some of the technicians saw a documentary about Moringa on the Arabic-language National Geographic channel.

Ok, I’m going to stop writing and let the pictures do the rest of the talking!

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Saharawi Voice is a blog designed to let people know what happened in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, why half of the population lives in refugee camps in southern Algeria and who are the Saharawi people.

Our main goal is to be a voice for those who lost theirs. To show the world their suffering and unmasking the human rights violations in the occupied territories.

We want to offer our readers knowledge about the other side of the Saharawi life. Besides their longing for freedom, the culture, music, daily life in the refugee camps.

The people writing information, posting articles and making videos are mostly young Saharawis living in the refugee camps.

Its also a space for Saharawis who are living in the refugee camps, in the occupied territories and in Spain to connect, exchange ideas and share their points of view about the collective destiny.

Saharawi Tea

3 cups of tea

Not to be confused with the ‘book’. The Saharawi cups are much smaller, but delicious with every sip. You start your day with tea, then there’s mid day tea, then there’s

afternoon and evening tea. And oh, if someone stops by for a visit, guess what? That’s right, more tea. Some cultures are famous for their coffee, but in the desert they are famous for their tea. I don’t always get to drink all the cups I could in one day. But man, when I do get a chance, it completely transforms my day. And even more so when I get a chance to make it for others.

bread and Spanish tortilla

Spanish tortilla, Saharawi bread and hot sauce

Now I have been speaking Spanish since I was young and have many friends from several different Spanish speaking countries. So I don’t know how it is that I’d never heard of Spanish tortilla. Not sure what it is? Well I can tell you that it definitely involves eggs (you should YouTube it). I know we are in Africa but there is a lot of Spanish influence here. Also, the Saharawi make their own kind of bread, perfect for sopping up leftovers from any dish. And of course a meal (anywhere in the world) wouldn’t be complete without hot sauce.

sunset

Sunsets and starry nights

You know I grew up as a city girl. So living in the desert, is without a doubt a far cry from the city. Have I seen a sunset before? Well of course. Have I seen starry nights in the city? Absolutely (once you get past the smog and buildings). But nothing can prepare you for a sunset here. The sky turns colors that are just amazing and missing from the rainbow. And the stars at night are big and bright. Yes, even brighter then Texas. I see at least one shooting star when they decide to come out. And I won’t even get started on the moon. When it’s full, I feel like I could just reach out and grab it. Of course all homage goes to our Creator!

Melfas

PTL! There’s purple in the desert

Women here wear something called a Melfa.  Just to give you a clear picture, it’s basically a large piece of fabric that you wrap around your outfit and underneath wear pants/skirt or blouse. Many women in many other countries wear something called a Burqa. It’s usually all black. I praise the Lord as often as I can that I am serving in a place that is not stuck on black. In fact there are many beautiful colors. Colors you’ve seen before and some you haven’t. Designs you could totally imagine and some you couldn’t think of in your wildest dreams. Feeling blue? Well there’s a Melfa for that. Feeling a little green? There’s a Melfa for that too. But let’s not forget my favorite color. Yes! Purple! There are so many shades of purple, I feel I’ve died and gone to Purple Heaven!

I’ve managed to find three distinct memories that encouraged me as a teacher and reminded me why I do what I do that I have the time and space to share with you now.

Galia

Galia and Jessica

In 2007 I had my small group of advanced students write a paper on Saharawi culture and then give a presentation to a visiting group of Americans.  My student, Galia, was incredibly nervous. It would be the very first time in her 26 years of life that she had stood and spoken in front of a group.  We broke the ice in a practice round, and she did fantastic. Come the day of the presentations, a prayer with me outside the classroom helped calm her nerves and she stood and spoke with confidence and beauty.

Later, in 2010, she was accepted, because of her English skills, to be one of two Saharawi to live and teach Arabic in Norway through an international university. During the following year she travelled throughout Norway giving presentations on her nation, raising awareness and making a difference for herself and her family.

Najla

Najla

This past year one of our top students, Najla, was invited to South Africa to speak on behalf of Saharawi youth and assist as a translator. When she arrived back in the camps, her eyes were dancing as she told us about the experience. “I stood up and gave a speech to over 300 people!! I’ve never spoken in front of that many people before! And- they asked me if I wanted to give my speech in Arabic or English- and I said ‘English!’” For a teacher who has spent countless hours trying to help Arabic speakers put together and pronounce sentences in English, that was one of the best things I could’ve heard!

As I write this, Najla has recently arrived in Austria to view a German-made film (in English) she was invited to star in that tells the story of her people. Najla has also met hundreds of foreigners with the translating jobs she’s been offered because of her outgoing personality and skills in the English language.

Mohamed Salem

Mohamed Salem and Ben

I first met Mohamed Salem in 2006 as a frustrated youth who desperately wanted to fight for his people – in any way possible. He had profound thoughts and eloquent words I knew he wanted to communicate to the world, but his level in English just wasn’t quite there yet. Throughout the next 6 years, he worked hard and didn’t give up on his dream. He made extra effort with teachers to work on his writing skills, spent exhausting hours over a dictionary and as it became available, on the internet, seeking out ways to improve his writing and offer it to an uninformed world. He took opportunities to interact with foreigners – during several film festivals and was also invited to South Africa to speak and represent his people.

On my most recent trip to the camps – on his day off from teaching English with us and coaching the soccer program he helped start – he showed me all the articles he’s written, blogs he’s participating in, and ideas he has for using his writing to peacefully fight for his people. Tears welled in my eyes as I remembered the angry youth I met so many years ago. I was so proud of the man sitting next to me, making a difference despite the difficulty. Most recently he shared this link with me to an article he wrote on Saharawi youth. I encourage you to check it out and continue to support the work at the Essalam English Center for these students and so many others like them.

http://www.saharawivoice.com/archives/1989

I’d been to several weddings here before, but this time one of my own hosts was getting married and I got an inside scoop to what really goes on behind the scenes. I’m used to weddings in the states. You know…there is usually a wedding coordinator, a ceremony at a church or other location, reception to follow with food and maybe a little dancing,  there’s a pastor or officiator to perform the ceremony, and out of town guests usually stay at a hotel or a few stay with family. Just one afternoon or evening and then it’s a wrap.

Sahara weddings are a little different. There’s no wedding coordinator.  Every able-bodied person you can find chips in to help build tents, donate pots, tea sets and burners. Family and friends cook, serve food and clean. There is no ceremony, just dancing, eating and tea making. The day of the wedding the family of the bride and groom sit with an Imam (Islamic pastor) to sign papers to seal the deal. There isn’t just one reception; there are three days of reception. In fact, the bride and groom don’t even attend the majority of the festivities that take place in the tent. Out of town guest sleep in the tent in the evenings for two nights or anywhere else they can find in your house. We had about one hundred people in every corner of our house. There are no hotels. And weddings here last three days.

On day one of the wedding, people gather in the tent in the afternoon and wait for the groom and his family to bring everything that the newlyweds will need for their new home. While everything is being loaded off the truck, women from the bride’s family serve camel milk and dates to the groom’s family and friends, welcoming them to their home. Then everyone transitions to the tent for tea and snacks. Plates prepared the night before with popcorn and sweet treats are quickly gobbled up. Then someone turns on the boom box to play local traditional Saharawi music and women get up three or four at a time to show off their very best dance moves.

Day one belongs to the bride’s family since their home is where the wedding is held, it’s their job to entertain the guests. They do all the cooking of the meals. It’s their day to put on the party in the tent, usually with a boom box (sometimes there’s a singer) and of course, dancing. And that night the bride’s family hosts a party for the groom and his entourage with tea making and snacks. One of my favorite parts is when one of the groom’s entourage carries a black suitcase. His job is to hold onto this suitcase and randomly give out candy to those who come to the groom to congratulate him.  Much later that night the groom visits his bride for the first time. But they are not alone, each with their entourage accompanying them.

Day two belongs to the groom’s family. It’s their day to entertain the guests. They cook all the meals. It’s their day to put on the tent party, usually with a live singer, and of course more dancing. In the afternoon lunch is held for the bride and her entourage.  There’s tea making, snacks, a boom box and more dancing. Later that night they will host another party for the bride and her entourage with tea making, snacks and of course more dancing.  That same night the groom’s entourage builds the tent that the newlyweds will be living in. Women usually like to stay living close to their family. In this case, my host sister had her tent built right behind our room.

On day three the tent comes down, the groom heads home to enjoy lunch with his family and the bride is left to enjoy a nice quiet lunch with her family and friends…in the new tent. Then later that night the groom will come back to join his bride and finally have their first night alone together. That is once everyone finally decides to leave their tent I got a picture of the bride and groom just before I left them that third night. This is the first picture of the happy couple after the three day wedding is finally over. I am truly happy for them. My new brother in law is “good people,” and he speaks Spanish very well, which makes it easy for me I wish them a life full of God blessings, favor and as many children as they can handle.

CultureTalk: Western Sahara

I even brought out an Arabic/English oxford picture dictionary for some things that I had no way of knowing how to explain. One of the students pointed to a picture of raisins. I never knew you couldn’t really explain what raisins were until someone tried to ask me. I remembered seeing a box of raisins in the office early. Someone had brought them from the states and left them behind for our team. So I ran into the office to grab a box, brought them into the classroom and gave everyone a taste. “Teacher!” they said, “We have these here”. “Really!”, I replied. They just weren’t here this time of year. All of a sudden, I hear everyone chatting in Arabic, something was wrong, but I couldn’t tell what. Finally one of the students shouted, “Teacher! She’s fasting!” Oh no! This poor girl was fasting (sun up to sun down, no food or drinks) and here it is her teacher had just given her a couple of pieces of raisins. Way to go, Teach!

Holly with Moringa Tree

One of the objectives of our family gardens project is to distribute Moringa trees to Saharawi families in the camps.  Moringa trees have highly nutritious leaves – “nature’s multivitamins”-that can provide a great benefit to refugees who typically do not have balanced diets.

On a visit to the camps in Fall of 2011, I was able to see these trees for myself and help prepare new seedlings for distribution.  The new school gardens around Essalam have several Moringa trees, which had grown up astonishingly fast in the few months since they had been planted.  The leaves have a nice flavor, like fresh spinach and a bit spicy.

During our visit to the camps, our team of Americans assisted Taleb, the Saharawi agriculturalist on the gardens project, with mixing soil and planting seedlings.  After the soil was mixed to the proper consistency, it was packed into small bags.  Then, a Moringa seed was planted about an inch deep into the soil of each bag.  These seedlings will be distributed to school children so they can grow their own trees at home.

It was exciting for me to see the progress of the school gardens and to offer assistance with the seedlings project.  It gives me hope for a better future for the Saharawi and a way for them to provide for themselves until they are at last reunited with their homeland.

Here are some photos I took while we worked on the Moringa seedling project:

If you are interested in giving towards the gardens project, please visit the donation link at the bottom of the page.

a typical view of the Sahara desert

I was so excited to be back in the desert again. I was excited to see my family and reconnect with the friends I’d made, and I was on a spiritual high from the religious dialogues. What I wasn’t excited about was teaching my beginner class again. With God’s help, I had survived last semester, but I was going to need an extra dose of His grace and mercy this time around. There are certain moments when I think; maybe I’m not cut out to teach English. Especially when I have a group of about 3 or 4 students who insist on helping me, by translating what I say to those who don’t understand. As helpful as this may sound, it distracts from the learning environment.  Day by day I trudge along, hoping that they are learning something, praying that I’ve been able to hide my impatience and frustrations, and haven’t given them a bad impression of English teachers.

Then one day my Father in heaven sent me a message. I remember this day vividly. Class had just ended. We’d just finish covering present continuous verbs (fun stuff).  The desert heat was in full swing as beads of sweat dripped from my fingers to the piece of chalk that I had just sat down. I was thirsty, but wasn’t looking forward the warm water that awaited me in my water bottle. Students began to gather their things to go home, and I started to clean up my desk. I was secretly happy that class was over and I didn’t have to worry about present continuous anything again until tomorrow. As one of my students walked out of the classroom room she turned to me and said, “Thank you teacher, good class.”, smiled at me and went on her way. In that brief moment, all my worries and doubts seemed to fade away.

I felt as if God truly had been watching me worry and listening to the pangs in my heart these past few days. He might as well have put His arm around my shoulders and said, “Well done, my good and faithful daughter. In you I am well pleased”. Sometimes, I forget who I am and who my Father is. Silly me, thinking God doesn’t hear me way out here in the middle of the desert. But with those few words He reminded me that He always watches over us, His Spirit is alive and does indeed speak to His children……even in the middle of a hot dusty classroom in the Sahara desert.

Essalam students