by Juliette Murekeysoni

19 June 2007

Tindouf, Southern Algeria: I started working as a UNV volunteer with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) over one and a half years ago in the Confidence Building Measures (CBM) project.  This project was started in 2004 to reunite refugees living in Algeria with their relatives who are still living in Western Sahara.

I am stationed in Tindouf, Southern Algeria, together with two other UNV volunteers, while three other UNV volunteers are stationed in Laayoune, Western Sahara.  The first day I arrived at my duty station, I was given an orientation and an introduction to my tasks; on the second day I was heading to the camps to get started.  As a person who was born and lived as a refugee, I could understand the refugee situation and their suffering and relate to it very well.

Language was not an issue for me, because most of the people speak French.  However, since I am a fast learner, I immediately started learning Arabic so I could communicate with refugees and our staff.  I try to spend as much time as I can with refugees, so I can even learn their dialect.  Today I can communicate and understand most of our conversations.

Families have been split over the border between Western Sahara and Algeria for decades, with no opportunity to meet, let alone re-unite.  I work on a daily basis with families to help reunite them through activities ranging from the selection of beneficiaries of family visits, maintenance of statistical data and public information activities about the CBM project.

It is very rewarding when I am in a position to inform a family that they will receive a relative they haven’t seen for over 30 years.  On the other hand, it is quite frustrating to have to inform a family that they will not be able to receive or visit their relatives, and sometimes this happens at the last minute.

The morning of 22 February 2007 was a day that I will never forget in my life, and is one I will share with my children when I have them (inshalla).  That morning, my colleague and I went to inform Nafisa¹ that she was finally going to receive her son, who she hadn’t seen since he was one year old, along with her daughter-in-law and grandson.

Nafisa started speaking to me in Arabic, hugging and holding me tightly. At that moment her eyes were full of tears; I consider myself a strong woman yet I could not hold my tears back either and they were the tears of joy.  I always thank God for giving me the privilege and opportunity to serve and bring happiness to the people who need it. 

Western Sahara, a Territory on the north-west coast of Africa, bordered by Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria, was administered by Spain until 1976.  Both Morocco and Mauritania affirmed their claim to the territory, a claim opposed by the Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguia el-Hamra y de Río de Oro (Frente POLISARIO).

The United Nations has been seeking a settlement in Western Sahara since the withdrawal of Spain in 1976 and the ensuing fighting between Morocco, which had “reintegrated” the Territory, and the Frente POLISARIO, supported by Algeria.  Mauritania renounced all claims to Western Sahara in 1979.
 
Juliette Murekeysoni is a UNV volunteer Field Officer in Tindouf, Southern Algeria.  She has a Master’s Degree in Diplomacy and International Relations from Seton Hall University, USA.

¹name changed