Day 4 Cultural visits
Monday 24th
Back on the bus and finally to the Growing Hope project where Kate,Andy and Fatumatu had been patiently waiting. The Sarawi men bigwigs then proceeded to take over and insisted on planting 25 trees to celebrate 25 years of the marathon - but in holes dug for something else and without consulting Fatumatu! It all got a bit chaotic but people did get to see everything and bought some vegetables to take back to their host families. Everyone was really impressed by the scale of the project and it is incredible to see, photos and even videos don't do it justice.
. The bigwigs and Fatumatu
Back in Samara we went to Fatumatu’s for a very late lunch of delicious bean soup and local flatbread before heading back to the cultural centre for a race briefing and worthy speeches.
Dinner that night was around 10.30, which as Andy pointed out was not ideal preparation for running a marathon!!
Slept like a log and got up 7.30, for guess what!?
Breakfast and then walk over to cultural centre for 9.30 as instructed - no sign of buses but gradually people started gathering. Had some good conversations with people whilst we waited. Eventually I small bus turned up so we got on and waited and waited, then men in suits came out of the “protocol” , presumably having had a meeting and we waited some more. 3 more buses arrived plus a couple of police jeeps and then we were off!
The road is tarmacced and in very good condition and once away from the rubbish strewn camps quickly becomes fairly flat desert. Not a tree, plant or animal in site. Our little convoy, led by the police jeep for security, passed near to the route for tomorrow's race and passed through Auserd camp. Lots of little shops, auto repairs, tires, goats, camels.
Eventually arrived at El Aaiún camp where we got to see a school for women, donated by Sweden, where they learn sewing, weaving, computer skills - sadly there are no jobs for them afterwards. There was also a small ceramics workshop where we could buy some little bowls etc.
Mel selling some produce at "tourist prices"!
Back at our house we were presented with “melfas” which they showed us how to weàr and then suggested music and dancing! They produced a little speaker/ disco lights which were hot wired into a socket so we could listen to Sarawi music. Andy and Alex stayed next door while the women got down and funky with amazingly elegant hand movements. Ann Wilson and I gave it a go, to much amusement and then Alex came in wearing his blue plastic shalwar kameez and joined in!!
