After breakfast, I was taken to the Ministry of Information, where they were working on the publicity for an international film festival, soon to be held in the camps.
After lunch, Mehdi, the eldest son of the family I was to be staying with came and found me so that we could go back to the camp together. We got a taxi across the desolate, vast plain between Rabuni and Smara camp.
There are 5 camps in total, all of which are systematically organised into 7 dairas (municipalities), which in turn are split into 4 suburbs. The camps are named after actual cities in the Occupied Western Sahara, just as the municipalities of the camps are named after their actual, occupied counterparts.
We arrived in darkness. It was very quiet, apart from the sandy wind sweeping through the streets. Maimona and Khalifa, the oldest sisters of the family, were there to meet us at the door of the house. Everyone was very warm and welcoming, and those who spoke Spanish (mostly the younger siblings apart from Mehdi) translated for me.
The house consists of a walled courtyard surrounded by two living/sleeping adobe rooms, a jaima (large traditional tent), a kitchen, bathroom and small store room. They have solar panels to power a television and electric light.
 |  | Western Sahara: 30 Years is Enough:
For 30 years the Saharawi people of Western Sahara have lived in refugee camps in some of the harshest conditions on earth, while their country remains under occupation by Morocco. |
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