France/Lanester. Families welcome young Sahrawis

On Saturday, July 23, 2022, six young Sahrawis living in camps, aged 8 to 10, were welcomed by the Association Lanestérienne de coopération culturelle pour la jeunesse sahraouie (Alccjs), for a stay in Lanester (Morbihan). After visiting Saint-Niau and Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez, they returned to Lanester to live with their host family until the end of August.

Some of these Sahrawi families live in camps located in an arid desert environment called hamada. Living conditions are difficult, housing is precarious, and the camps are exposed to climatic crises such as violent floods and sandstorms.

These camps were set up in 1976, following conflicts that arose during the decolonization of the Spanish Sahara in 1975. The young children welcomed in Lanester (Morbihan) this summer, as well as their parents, have not known other environments.

A support association, set up in 2016

Since 2013, the city of Lanester has been hosting young Sahrawis and their carers at the Saint-Niau site, in partnership with the association Enfants réfugiés du monde. In 2016, the organizers wanted to extend this link by creating the Alccjs association (Lanester Association of Cultural Cooperation for Sahrawi Youth). Our goal is to promote, through playful activities, the influence of the French language, with children in the camps, note Carlyne Chillou and Emilie Guiffant, who initiated the project. We went to the camps before the health crisis, with many donations, and we are very happy to resume these exchanges after a two-year interruption.

A week to live independently with a family

The six young people, aged 8 to 10, accompanied by Mohamed Alien, arrived in Lanester on Saturday, July 23, 2022, after 24 hours of travel. We took a flight from Tindouf to Algiers, then another one from Algiers to Paris, and the TGV to Lorient ," said Mohamed Alien. We spent a week in Saint-Niau, then two weeks in Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez, and today the children are going back to Lanester with their host families.

Five host families

The people in charge of the Alccjs are satisfied with the feedback from the families. One of them will welcome two children and the others, only one. They will live like the children of the family, and will leave by bus to Paris, for a return on Thursday August 25, 2022. We are delighted to have attracted the attention of three new families through social networks, and we will continue our actions throughout the year," said Carlyne Chillou and Emilie Guiffant.

Source: www.ouest-france.fr