The dialogue begins

Hello Friends and Family,
Day 2 of the trip was off to a rough start. We woke up 4 minutes before we were supposed to leave, but luckily we are on Saharawi time! This day was the first day of the Peace Dialogues and we had no idea what to expect, but we were excited to see what the Father had in store. The day started with an appearance from the President of Western Sahara at the conference. A woman who lives in occupied Western Sahara was also there and spoke of her story and struggles she delt with in the past. We also heard from a young woman who came up with the idea to start a pizzeria within the camp which paved the way for other women to contribute to society outside of the home.  It was also amazing to see the feedback and affirmation she received from the men in the audience.  We expected more opposition from the men, but were surprised to hear them encouraging her and bragging about the things she had done that she was too humble to mention. After these sessions, the group split into pairs and we were dispersed among local families in the camp and they graciously provided lunch for us. In this culture lunch is very slow paced and involves drinking tea and talking with the families for at least 3 hours.  After lunch, us girls led a breakout session for the women (Shayna, Ellen, Olivia, Sarah), and at first nobody came. After 20 minutes, women started pouring into the tiny room. There were probably around 30 people, which is much more than we expected.  After not having an exact plan, we were amazed to see the results of the session. Shayna and I (Liv) shared our stories and were so encouraged by the response of the women and how uplifting they were despite their difficult situation. Then we showed them how to make friendship bracelets to represent all of our stories coming together to make something beautiful. I (Ellen) had the opportunity to talk one-on-one with the women  from occupied Western Sahara.  After hearing her story, I was in awe of how her positive attitude despite her horrible experiences. After hearing my (Liv) story, she approached her after the session and encouraged her to live with hope and a smile.  We went back to Raiis's house, debriefed, and ate dinner Raiis and his family. Dinner included goat liver, intestines, and heart. Ellen and I (Liv) boldly ate a sliver of each.  After dinner we the ladies and gents parted their ways and went to sleep. Thank you again for keeping us in your thoughts! Over and out.

Liv and Ellen