Tes Sidi He was born in a Saharan refugee camp. He set foot for the first time in 1994 at the age of seven. Mariola Benyeres, a municipality in the interior of the state of Alicante thanks to the Peace Summers programs still in effect today. Since then, her family, with whom she has lived every summer, took her with her permanently, and when she started high school she went to Spain to study.
At the founding session of the Cortes Generales last Thursday, Sidi lived her life. as a deputy on the first day and as an unknown deputy on the last day by starring in a well-known anecdote. All MPs other than himself were appointed before Congress began voting to elect its president.
Error in the minutes, which was immediately corrected and left the representative in a difficult position To add -It is in the lists as the share of Más Madrid- in the media focus. As if that wasn’t enough, Sidi He is the first Sahrawi MP in Congress. and he is leading the fight for the decolonization of Western Sahara with the flag – and the shirt he wore on his debut in the Lower House.
He studied computer engineering at the Polytechnic University of Alicante and has spent his life there, in Sidi, ever since he went to Madrid to pursue a master’s degree. Maintains very close ties with the community. His foster family continues to live in Benyeres de Mariola, and for a little over a year his biological parents have been living in Valencia. He also does not lose the opportunity to speak Valencian in the capital. mother tongue in foster family– When you encounter a Catalan, Balearic or Valencian.
Identity crisis
His memories of the months he left behind the refugee camp he lived in are mostly happy.everything was exciting and fun“, he recalls. However, it is very difficult and complex to step up and keep working. I had an identity crisis during adolescence.The adventure and legal revocation that thus defined the treatment of the MP Sahrawis in Spain made him want to renounce his origins.
Today, after a long process, all is well and, having a seat in the legislature, she defends the struggle of the Saharan people “from a feminist perspective” and is committed to an Africa with a future.
As he himself stated, his start in Alicante was not easy, especially due to the language barrier. Despite She is grateful for the empathy and understanding her teachers and classmates have. from the subsidized institute where he worked from age twelve to age 18.
“I learned to speak Valencian before SpanishThis is because Benyeres de Mariola is a mostly Valencian-speaking town, and “I absorbed what I heard in the classroom, at the pool, at home like a sponge…”. He decided to continue his way in the congregation to study at university in Valencia.
Saharawi, Alicante and Madrid
Regarding learning Spanish, the first words he knew were “cuts, crisis and corruptionSidi settled permanently in Spain in 2007, coinciding with the onset of almost a decade of economic crisis, although she returns to the refugee camps to visit her biological family in the summers.
The toughest years caught up with him in college, and he remembers how hard it was for him to be independent and find a precarious job. Although he loved Alicante and did not mind returning in the future, the lack of opportunities for the youth of his generation was what drove him to go to Madrid. Many of his colleagues chose to go abroad, but due to the complicated legal situation at the time, could not take the risk of leaving the country.
Sidi, who is third on the list led by Yolanda Díaz in Madrid,Saharawi, Alicante and Madrid“, in that order. And she applauds the new president Francina Armengol’s commitment to the use of co-official languages in Congress: To be honest, she asked me how this hasn’t been done since the democratic transition.”Multilingualism is a beauty that Spain has.“Deputy says.