Hove metamorphoses into the Arctic

Trainers have been put on hold as Brighton and Hove seafront has temporarily metamorphosed into the Arctic and the promenade is currently an ice-rink... literally. The minor factor of a couple of 5000-word essays due in in a few weeks also weighing in on the brain and time schedule. Go-faster-stripes will be back in force in 2010, meanwhile the hiking boots will be on and mother will have me out tramping the damp hills of Argyll for some endurance training I'm sure. Merry Christmas everyone!!

Early morning madness in Hove

There were two people SWIMMING this morning (in the English Channel, in nothing but a little pair of swimming trunks, mid-December on a Sunday morning at 9am) as I did my little spin along the seafront.. Bonkers... That is far more bonkers than running in the desert if you ask me! Made me feel better anyway.

Yesterday there was a Santa convention on the seafront.. yep, I'm totally serious.. around 100 red and white rotund figures converged on the Hove Lawns in front of Palmeira Square. Some could be seen jogging along the promenade fluffy beards a-flowing, another was to be seen removing his Santa suit on the corner of my street and hopping on board a vespa, several more were spotted marching along the main road towards Brighton.. the bizarre world of Brighton and Hove...

Nina's weekly training update

Have purchased nice slinky pair of black addidas trainers (complete with shiny silver go-faster stripes), which is a good start. Two early morning runs along the Hove seafront with the 7.30am crowd this week (it's like a biking, running, speed-walking motorway out there at that time of the morning.. these southerners are hardcore) were a shock to the system - considering fact that the last time I ran anywhere I think it was a Fettes schools' cross country championship in wild and windy Irvine at some point around the late 1990s...Bring on the desert!!

Had some amazing donations coming in - thank you so much gang: family Hamilton/Parsons/Murray you are stars!! The support is MUCH appreciated!!

The Sussex gang have had some great ideas for fundraising events so we'll be finding some inventive ways to get more cash rolling in, in the Spring term.

Vamos al Sáhara - la historia (versión española!)

Los saharaui, Sahara del Oeste, el Polisario, Tindouf… quizás nunca habéis escuchado mucho sobre estos temas, o quizás sí los escucháis pero no sabéis mucho de la situación de los saharaui en los campamentos dentro de Argelia. ¿Quiénes son, donde está ese Tindouf y en que aventura loca se ha metido Nina ahora? Como me dijo una amiga cuando vio mi estatus en Facebook – “estás loca perdida”. Puede que sí… Admito que hasta hace poco tampoco sabía mucho del tema de los saharaui, a pesar de un interés en la historia colonial de España, en la cultura y los países del norte de África, y el pequeño tema de mi máster en Estudios de Migraciones, fue solo hace poco que un encuentro en Brighton con la fundadora de Sandblast (la ONG con la cual participamos en el maratón) y un joven atleta saharaui, Salah, me hizo parar en el tema y me impresionaron con su historia.

Casi 200.000 refugiados “viven” en un rincón desolado y árido del Sahara inhóspito de Argelia, desde hace unos 30 años – sí, lo leíste bien, son dos cientos mil personas y treinta años – en el lado equivocado de un muro gigante fortificado de unos 2.500km, vigilado por unas 5 millones de minas de tierra y unos 100.000 soldados marroquíes poco amables; sin poder volver a su tierra, pendientes de cooperación internacional para sobrevivir y luchando por mantener su patrimonio cultural, idioma y identidad, desterrados hacia un rincón polvoriento, seco y desolado de un mundo que les tiene olvidados. ¿Os impresiona? Pues a mí sí, y es solo la mitad de la historia. ¿Y los que no decidieron o no pudieron irse en 1975 cuando, al retirarse los poderes coloniales españoles, los soldados marroquíes invadieron la zona en nombre de la soberanía de la región? Superados en número por colonos, prohibidos a hablar tanto su propio idioma como el castellano, prohibidos a expresarse o moverse con libertad, son una minoría oprimida en su propia tierra. Muchas son las ONG y organizaciones internacionales, incluso la ONU, que han denunciado abusos de derechos humanos en la zona ocupada.

Así que, ¿qué vamos a hacer? Pues Sarah, Moera y yo, juntas con un grupo de la ONG británica, Sandblast, y muchos más de todo el mundo, vamos a pasar una semana en los acampamientos de refugiados en aquel rincón perdido de Argelia, a partir del 19 febrero 2010, para vivir nosotros mismos la situación apremiante del pueblo saharaui, manifestar nuestra solidaridad por su causa y sobre todo, ayudar a darles una voz en un mundo que lo encuentra muy fácil pasar del tema con el fin de que se olvide. Pues no lo vamos a olvidar. Correremos un medio maratón (¡¡son 21km!!) en el desierto por los acampamientos, el 23 febrero, como parte del Maratón Internacional del Sahara, organizado anualmente por el gobierno en exilio de los saharaui, a beneficio de los refugiados y con el fin de mejorar sus condiciones de vida.

Os estamos pidiendo la colaboración con unos cuantos pequeños euros del bolsillo navideño para ayudarnos en nuestro meta de recaudar lo máximo posible para Sandblast y para los refugiados mismos, quienes se benefician muchísimo del trabajo de la ONG dentro de los campamentos. Vuestro dinero ayudará a financiar proyectos culturales y artísticos dentro de los campamentos, promoviendo la colaboración y intercambio entre artistas del mundo y los saharauis, sembrando la libertad de expresión y la preservación del idioma, arte, música y patrimonio cultural único del pueblo saharaui, ayudando a darles de vuelta su voz.
Para colaborar, visita nuestro web: www.justgiving.com/ninakmurray

Para saber más del proyecto, los saharauis y el maratón internacional, podéis entrar en los sitios web siguientes. Fijaos en nuestro blog para manteneros al día con nuestro entrenamiento, preparación, recaudación de fondos y para leer nuestros blogs desde Argelia, para saber más sobre el destino de vuestra colaboración.

www.sandblast-arts.org – web de la ONG Sandblast (inglés)
www.forcedmigration.org/guides/fmo035/ - información sobre los saharauis (inglés)
www.saharaindependiente.org – web del CEAS-SÁHARA (Coordinadora Estatal de Asociaciones de Solidaridad con el Sáhara)
www.saharamarathon.org – web oficial del maratón internacional del Sáhara

Gracias por tomar el tiempo de leer mis palabras y aunque no colaboréis con una donación, solamente hablar de la situación apremiante de los saharauis y no dejar que se olviden hace diferencia, pero esperamos que podríais escavar en los bolsillos a por unos pocos euros para ayudar una buena causa. Por favor reenvíen el link a esta página a todos vuestros amigos y familiares y cualquier persona que pueda estar interesada en colaborar.

Nina

Nina's Story - What's all this about running in the desert?

The "Saharawis", "Western Sahara", the "Polisario", "Tindouf Refugee Camps"... many, especially in the English-speaking world, know very little if anything about any of the above. Who are the Saharawis, where on earth is Tindouf and what daft adventure has Nina got herself into this time, you may ask. Admittedly, despite having studied some Spanish history, professing an active interest in North Africa and the small fact that I'm studying for a Masters in Migration Studies, I too knew very little about the Saharawi refugees and their plight until recently. What I have learnt from Danielle of Sandblast (the charity we are running for) and Salah, a Saharawi athlete who I had the honour of meeting a couple of times in Brighton earlier this year, as well as some of my own reading for my course, has had a profound impact on me.

Close to 200,000 refugees "living" in a barren and desolate corner of the inhospitable Sahara Desert in Algeria for over 30 years - yes, you read correctly, two hundred thousand people and thirty years - on the wrong side of a 2,500km fortified wall, guarded by some 5 million land mines and 100,000 less-than-friendly Moroccan soldiers; unable to return to their homeland, dependent upon aid for survival and struggling to maintain their rich cultural heritage, language and identity, banished to a dusty, dry and desolate corner of a world that has forgotten them. Caught your attention? It certainly caught mine, and that is only half the story. What about those who didn't or couldn't flee in 1975 when, following the Spanish withdrawal from their colonial occupation, the Moroccan soldiers came marching into Western Sahara to assert their "sovereignty" over the region? Outnumbered by settlers, forbidden from manifesting their identity or freely expressing themselves either in their own language or in Spanish, or freely expressing themselves at all for that matter, and with little freedom of movement, they are the oppressed minority in their own territory. Many NGOs and international organizations, including the UN and Amnesty International amongst others, have expressed concern over human rights abuses in the occupied Western Sahara, including frequent "disappearances", cases of torture, arbitrary imprisonment and lack of freedom of expression.

So what are we doing about it? Sarah, Moera and I, along with a group from Sandblast and many other participants from all over the world, are going to spend a week in the refugee camps in that forgotten corner of Algeria from the 19th February 2010, to experience for ourselves the plight of the Saharawi people, manifest our solidarity for their cause and most importantly, to help give them a voice in a world that finds it all too easy to push this situation under the carpet and hope that by doing so it will go away. We are going to be running a half marathon (that's 21km!!) in the desert around the camps on the 23rd Feb, as part of the International Sahara Marathon, organized annually by the Saharawi government-in-exile in the camps, in aid of the Saharawi refugees and with the purpose of improving conditions for the people who are struggling to make some kind of life for themselves in the camps.

We are asking you to set aside even the smallest amount of all that Christmas and January Sales cash to help us raise as much money as possible for Sandblast and for the refugees themselves, who benefit immensely from the fantastic work carried out by Danielle and her team. Your money will help fund artistic and cultural projects in the camps, promoting collaboration and exchange between the Saharawis and artists worldwide, promoting freedom of expression and preservation of the unique Saharawi language, artistic and musical heritage, giving these forgotten people back their voice. To donate, please go to www.justgiving.com/ninakmurray

To learn more about the Saharawis, Sandblast and the International Sahara Marathon, you might like to take a look at some of the following links. Stay tuned to our blog to keep up to date with our training efforts, preparation, fundraising and to read our diary entries from Algeria when we get there!

www.sandblast-arts.org - Sandblast Home Page

www.forcedmigration.org/guides/fmo035/ - Forced Migration Online Research on Western Sahara

www.saharamarathon.org - Official Webpage of the Int'l Sahara Marathon

I'd like to give a special mention to Gap Adventures (www.gapadventures.com) and Planeterra (www.planeterra.org) who have promised us their support and some help with fundraising; and to the MA Migration Studies class of 2009-10 at Sussex University for their support as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, even if you don't make a donation, just through raising awareness of the plight of the Saharawis we are making a difference, but I do hope you will dig into your pockets for even a few pounds to put towards a very worthy cause. Please feel free to forward the link to our donation page to all your friends and family and anyone you think might be interested in contributing.

M'aa el-salama!

Nina