Thanks for visiting. I am running a half-marathon in the Saharawi refugee camps in the Algerian desert, and asking for donations to Stave House in Sahara, a charity that does an amazing work organizing English and music education for children in the camps.

Ten years ago my family fostered Sidahmed, a child from the camps. He later returned to the camps where he is now studying Nursing, and we met again in 2016 when I went to this same
marathon with my 3 sons (photo). This year we look forward to
spending time with his family again.

The Marathon is held every year since 2001 (www.saharamarathon.org), and is meant to raise awareness of a refugee crisis we don’t hear much about. In a few words, Western Sahara was a Spanish colony until Spain abandoned it in 1975, and it was then occupied by Morocco. The Sahrawis fought a long war against Morocco that ended in a UN-sponsored truce that promised to lead to a referendum that never happened. 150,000 Sahrawis were left stranded in refugee camps in the Algerian desert for more than 40 years now. Since then Morocco has been accused of continued human rights abuses in the occupied part. Sahrawis have been peacefully hoping that the international community steps in to find a solution.