Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Date: 24 Sep 2008
Young Western Saharan refugees build for the future in Cuba
HAVANA, Cuba, September 24 (UNHCR) – The plight of the Sahrawi is one of the most protracted refugee situations in the world, but over the past quarter century a few thousand have been allowed to leave their desert camps in Algeria and study in a Caribbean island paradise.
Hafdala, Mehdi and Hababa are just three of the estimated 3,000 young Sahrawis who have received a secondary and tertiary education in Cuba. Currently, 175 young refugees are studying courses at the Cuban-Sahrawi Friendship School on the Isla de la Juventad (Isle of Youth). A further 358 are at universities or vocational taining centres across the island republic.
The Cuban government covers the cost of their tuition, board and health care, while the refugees study the same curricula as Cuban students. The UN refugee agency helps fund extra items such as soap, toothpaste, sheets and towels. UNHCR also monitors their protection needs and helps some of the students to return to Algeria at the end of their studies.
Although they return to exile, the education that they receive in Cuba will put them in a good position to build new lives once a durable solution has been found for the tens of thousands of Sahrawis living under harsh conditions in five border camps near Algeria's border with the Western Sahara territory.
The Sahrawis began fleeing Western Sahara in 1975 during a conflict over the right to govern the territory when Spain withdrew from the region. UNHCR supports some 90,000 of the most vulnerable refugees. This support includes providing a basic education for the Sahrawi children, most of whom were born in Algeria and have never stepped foot in their homeland.
More:
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EGUA-7JSQH3?OpenDocument
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