October was marked by strong statements in support of Braille, numerous pictures, exciting stories, and a broad focus on music. However, the most significant contribution came from Samira in the refugee camps of Western Sahara in Algeria—a message that expressed a concern that our team not only wanted to support, but also unanimously voted as the winner for the month of October.
November 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Moroccan military invasion of Western Sahara.
Following Spain’s withdrawal, after having administered the region as a colony and as a Spanish province, the former colonial powers handed over the territory to Morocco and Mauritania without a formal process of decolonization.
Since then, many Sahrawis have lived in exile or in refugee camps in the Algerian desert. To this day, Western Sahara remains illegally occupied by Morocco and is considered the “last colony in Africa.”
We got the contact to Samira via our colleague Eva Cambeiro Andrade who was guest as a volunteer in one of the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria. Eva experienced the situation of refugees in the camp. In terms of education, children with disabilities do not receive enough support for learning and personal development. So Samira’s commitment to the education of blind children cannot be praised highly enough.
We are currently considering how we can support Samira with materials for her work.
Further information can be found here
You can watch Samira’s story and her statement about Braille again here
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