Thursday, November 15, 2007

The Lights of Smara

A clear night in the liberated zone and the stars as numberless as the grains of sand on the ground.
Staring out into the night I see the lights of Smara glowing in the darkness far away with the luminescence of life of the people that live there.

Families, eating together or sleeping, talking and reading.
I Imagine them, so near to me and yet so far away.
For between us is the Wall that has split our families for 30 years.
The stone and sand, the mines and barbed wire, the soldiers and guns – all reminders of what we’ve lost and how far we are from where we should be.
On nights like this it is the most painful time when you could almost believe that you could walk home out of the desert towards those lights and to the families you’ve left behind.

But it might as well be another world – for all its seeming tangibility it is occupied – waiting to be free.
And so we wait as well, in the liberated zone, in the camps for our return – for our freedom.
We wait to see our families again but all we can see of them now are the lights of Smara.

About the Author

Fred is a Law student at Nottingham University in the UK and he is studying Human Rights. He likes to use poetry to express his feelings about different situations in the world and Western Sahara is one of them. He believes and supports the Saharawi people right to self-determination. He also think that the Saharawi culture should be celebrated and affirmed.

9 comments:

jaimemaryame said...

well , i saw that there's no one who wrote a message or let a comment that's why i wanna say hi to you sister from the occupied territories to you and your camarade

jaimemaryame said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ZEINA said...

Thank you so much...

Mahfud Chaaban said...

.
Hello Zeina!
It's so nice to read this blog about our country and in English!
Thank you very much for writting this blog.
Like you and many people in the world, we hope the freedom of our country.
I'm also saharaui, I have lived for 12 years in Spain and now I'm studing for one year in Sweden as exchange student, always, when I get the opportunity, I tell my friends, teachers and everyone the problem of our country and the hard life in the refuges camps because we have food, we are very happy but the situation is quite hard because now the Union .
United Nations gives us less food and many gobernement leave us as a thing without value
But also, many people in the wourld help us and they are also waiting for that day when we get the freedom and the independence!
Ok, nice to meet you and I hope you understand my English hahaha!
¡Freedom for Western Sahara!

Marcello Di Cintio said...

Greetings Zeina.

My name is Marcello Di Cintio. I am a writer based in Calgary, Canada. My newest book project is about the 'walls' of the world and the people who live in their shadows. My first stop will be in Algeria to meet with the Saharawis in the refugee camps on the eastern side of the Western Saharan berm.

Can you connect me with some Saharawi individuals, preferably someone English-speaking, who might be willing to 'tour' me through the refugee camps and talk with me about their lives within them? Would you be willing to do this, perhaps? I am looking for some authentic voices for this project, and I've enjoyed what I've read on your blog.

If you have any questions about me, my credentials, or my intentions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I'm at harmattan/at/telus.com

Best regards,
Marcello

alal said...

salam alaikum.ziena thank you for your great task i am saharawi student in ALGERIA I think that everyone in everwhere must do best for unveiling the crimes in the occupied territory to the public opinion .you are the voice of saharawis wamen as sultan and AMINATOU HAIDAR .this is our path .we have to continue to the independence all homeland and martyrdom

Mohamedsalem said...

thank you so much for writing something about saharawi women even though I disagree that a lot of things writen here does not represent saharawi women at least the ones whom live in the refugee camps ,I am saharawi

sahara love said...

salam aleikum thanks for your blog Zeina

Budbuda said...

The best for you go ahead