When the dream is ours

[Marlou]

The sound of silence in the room is sharp. You can hear it on your skin.

What does it mean for you to look at Béjaïa in 2037?

“This is about me” (‘je me sens concernée”)

“It is so beautiful, I want to cry”

“If this will be it, I will stay”

 

The evening before

The views are breathtaking. The sea is deep blue, the mountains are green, the fishermen on the quay don't have to make much effort to get a good catch. One might think: heaven on earth. One might be wrong.

SALT goes on after the hours of the training. SALT is better, more sincere, outside the meeting room. I am grateful for the young participants who take me on a long walk in the early evening. They have a mission: during their walks they want to break taboos.“You asked me my dream. My dream is to travel, to discover, to cross borders. But the world does not want us. And I don’t want to stay. Truly, I will jump on a boat knowing I may not survive. I would take the risk, so much I want to chase that dream”.

A few hours before

Stimulated to dream together, the individual dreams transform. Through the sharings about what really matters to us, Béjaïa becomes a clean place, where people in need receive care, where each house has one person that can deliver medical care, where children play and learn about health accros generations. There is work for all, there is no discrimination and the sun is smiling.

Lamia captured the common dream beautifully in a colourful drawing with several scenes. In the right corner, the picture still has a boat with unhappy people ready to go.

He grasps the pen.

He waits.

With upper concentration he chooses a red pen.

Then draws a cross through the boat.

Slowly, slowly, with a firm hand.

 

The sound of silence in the room is sharp. You can hear it on your skin.

  

PS

The day after

When I enter the meeting room early morning, the joint dream has another look. Again! Some-one added a scene, with a dream for secure recreative places and a zoo. Who has been in the room before me? The additional scene is signed by Sofiane, the hotel staff who has been taking care of us all 24/7.

“Madam, I was cleaning the room last night and I watched this picture for more than an hour. I have been following what you have been doing here. And I thought: I am also allowed to dream. So here it is. It thought this was still missing!” 

Thank you to all beautiful people I met at the start of another SALT journey this week. I sincerely wish their dreams will exceed.

 

Marlou

 Pictures by Yasmine and Fadia

[Marie Lamboray]

what a moving blog post!

the silence that you can feel on your skin, slowly crossing out the boat, and the mystery of the added dreams

will never forget it

[Marlou]