PRESS RELEASE (7/08/2015)
Yesterday morning the Mayor of Loano, Luigi Pignocca, met nine SAHRAWI children from refugee camps in Tindouf, a city in southwestern Algeria.
The children are guests of the Little Opera (Villa Maria), where they were welcomed by sister Rosetta.
L’association Fadel Ismail, who is in charge of hosting the group of children for two months in Italy, stressed the difficult living conditions in the Sahrawi refugee camps at the meeting with the first citizen.
Women along with children and the elderly, make up the majority of the camps' population since many men are engaged in military defense or abroad. Yes since the beginning of the exile, women have been the soul, the energy, the guide of life in the Sahrawi tent camps.
Precisely in order to tell and raise awareness of daily life of Sahrawis in the Sahara Desert, the’Fadel Ismail Association set up, in Doria Palace, the photo exhibition of Claudio Compagni.
The Sahrawi population gathered in the refugee camps is about 200,000.
On February 27, 1976, the R.A.S.D, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, was proclaimed in exile. Four provinces were organized and named after Western Saharan towns that had to be abandoned due to Moroccan occupation: Ausserd, Dakla, Smara, El Ayoun.
The camps consist of tents and small buildings where families live and public facilities (hospitals, schools) made of masonry.
All food, logistics and health supplies come from the UN, EU and International Humanitarian Aid Organizations.
The climatic and environmental characteristics of the area do not allow for the development of independent productive activities sufficient for the needs of the population. The temperature exceeds 50° in summer and can drop below zero in winter, with a large temperature range.
In some areas, water can be found even at shallow depths but has a high salinity level that makes it unsuitable for irrigation and unfit for animal husbandry.
The summer hosting project for Sahrawi children started in Mantua 13 years ago and has for objectives:
- health-related, to perform laboratory tests and specialist examinations as needed;
- of the food type, for a more varied diet rich in fresh foods (it should not be forgotten that the desert makes it difficult or impossible to grow crops and raise animals, and that the Sahrawis live almost exclusively on humanitarian aid );
- climate type, to get them away from the scorching heat of summer in the desert;
- educational in nature, to offer children experiencing the isolation of exile, the experience of encountering a culture different from their own;-
- and to promote greater awareness in the world of the culture, traditions and history of the Sahrawi People and their right to self-determination.
