In the Land of a Thousand and one Night
TINDOUF, refugee camp in Algeria was our destination. Not Morocco. With ‘Sol y Luna’ ONG we were supposed to cross this North Mediterranean country with a full load of 80 000 rations of milk powder, clothes, shoes, toys and school supplies. But for security reasons, we had to change our destination.We had no choice: so our 5-jeep convoy headed for Morocco. A new challenge without programming. We unloaded good part of the aid to a voluntary association of Seville, they, in turn they would deliver it two weeks later to Algeria and we carried the rest of the aid with us.
Now we are in the country of the Arabian Nights. Breathtaking starry skies. Millions of lights that seem to be falling from the sky. Hot days and below zero at night. A peace broke only by the roar of the engines. But the beauty of places is not enough to appease the spirits. We got stuck for 8 hours in a military area in the desert. In a police station in the village of Semara (Sahara Occidental) many hours of conversation, the military understood the reasons for our journey and released us. We finally reached the villages in the Atlas Mountains. Our children were not expecting us, but they were there before us, in their simple world: playful, curious and beautiful as the African night. Those trivial small objects we gave were precious jewels for them. Amongst them, we distributed pencils, exercise books, toys, shoes, and powdered milk. It felt so good that I wanted to treasure those moments forever. It was my first trip, the most intense, the most difficult but the most memorable.
