Speaking and Working for the Sahrawi People
As a representative of the Sahrawi, the displaced people of Western Sahara, Senia Bachir-Abderahman (Western Sahara, UWC Red Cross Nordic, Mt Holyoke ’10) never takes her work lightly.
“It is very hard for me to enjoy the most basic life luxuries like running water and easily accessible food and comfortable bed when my whole family struggles with accessing water during the summer, with temperatures exceeding 120 degrees,” she observes.
Senia grew up in a Sahrawi refugee camp in southern Algeria; she has never seen her home nation, most of which has been occupied by Morocco since 1979. In 2022 she was appointed by the Polisario Front, the National Liberation Movement of Western Sahara, as its official representative in Sweden.
“My primary work is to represent the people of Western Sahara, and inform relevant stakeholders about our plight for freedom and liberation as the last colony in Africa,” she writes. “Ever since receiving the UWC scholarship and seeing the world from a new perspective, I realized just how little is known about my people, their story and struggle I took it upon myself to be their voice and share their stories and histories with the world.
“My source of inspiration and the reason I continue to advocate for my people and cause is most certainly my family, and all my people who continue to resist and survive in the refugee camps and in the occupied territories of Western Sahara. If they are able to wake up every day committed and determined, I have no choice but to keep going for them and for our just cause.”
This profile is part of the “Graduates in Action” series from the 2024 Annual Report.