1st November 1975
Dad, Mum:
Firstly, I would like to report to you both some great news, José and myself have met up again today at five o’clock in the afternoon. I left the Sahara on 22nd October but José was in a most dangerous situation, he managed to leave on a warship and he did it under almost impossible circumstances.
My anxiety has now finally been completely released after having ten days of sleeplessness and not eating.
In those last ten days, I hadn’t heard any news from José and I made nearly twenty phone calls, but the calls couldn’t connect to the desert, neither had I received any letters from him; I went to the airport and waited there but he didn’t turn up; I asked everyone who got off the planes about José but no one knew anything, plus the telegram I sent received no response, I was close to break down.
In the end, he arrived one afternoon after all that.
Dad, Mum, your son in law is the most greatest young man in the world, he did not merely arrive on his own but also he brought along our car, even my bird, flower, chopsticks, books, your letters (I had saved them in a big cardboard box), knives, forks, bowls, wiping cloth, shampoo, medicines, leather bags, vase, television, photographs……along with the camel skull, fossils, pork floss, seaweed, Chinese mushroom….all were carried out by him, I didn’t lose anything not even a bed sheet; he unexpectedly sold the furniture and got ESP 102000 (the small fridge, bed, rugs, washing machine), so he brought back not only himself but also a lot of money with him; In AAIUN, it’s a dog-eat-dog world, so packed with people there (it has already been 15 days without water, no vehicles, no food, no petrol and no medicines), in such a situation people were scrambling to escape on the aeroplanes, he eventually escaped to the seaside by himself, slept two nights in the open with no shelter waiting for any ship to come. When the warships arrived, he wasn’t allowed onboard but it just so happened that one of their ships grounded on the seabed, they urgently needed a diver to help or they simply couldn’t leave. José said to them: ‘I can dive into the water and sort it out but you have to take me with you along with my fully loaded car.’
In the end, he miraculously turned up in front of my eyes, we embraced in each other arms and broke into tears, I was crying from happiness and when he saw me, he immediately took out of his pocket the large pile of money and showed me straight away.
José came back at 5 o’clock and by 6 o’clock, we had already rented a beautiful apartment on the seafront (José can’t live without being near the sea), with the contract signed. We didn’t spend a single penny for a hotel, instead we settled into our apartment like a dream, all the furniture was included there was even a painting already hung on the wall.
The apartment has a large sitting room, one main bedroom, one small spare bedroom, a little bathroom and a big window that faces towards the sea, it has all the household items and everything you expect to find, plus one small garden. This is a seaside community that’s located outside the city, hundreds of small bungalows built along the top of the hill with residents of 40 different nationalities living here. There is no one to be seen on the street during the day, it’s very quiet with exquisite taste, the environment is not bad at all and the people are also elegant, it’s a paradise, public order is good enough without having to have policemen, many old people (from Northern Europe) retire here, this island has a four season climate just like Spring and I had been living in a friend’s house in this area for ten days before José came.
I rented this apartment from a Sweden couple (I spoke German), it costs ESP 10,000 for a month, utility bills included (about 7000 Taiwan dollars), the food here is half of the price compared with in the desert, my kitchen has everything I need, it is all overwhelming.
José has hardly slept, in those ten days, he went to work during the day time and was moving home in the evening, he has just applied for Las Palmas medical insurance here, he is such a great man, I love him very much, when I first married him, I didn’t think that much, our relationship has grown, that’s because José worked hard on it, I have such a good husband, my life has no regrets and can now die of contentment (to say worlds such like these from Echo, it’s like the sun rises from the west). If I make a comparison between José and myself, I am higher than him in the point of an ideal personality but in capability I am not half as good as him, only Dad can match such comparison with him but Dad is an introverted person with a poor health and always self-suffering, in contrast José hasn’t got this character to make him suffer pain like Dad.
The Chen family should have pride to have such a good son in law. You both must love him as a son.
Dad, Mum, you both sure will love José ; I have a great respect from him after what happened in the test of our lives. Other husbands escaped from the desert with empty pockets, only taking a handbag with them, white faced and bad tempered, José is much stronger than them. We Chen family adhere to moral principles but all have introverted characters (included Mum, she holds it in her heart) and too honest, but José is such a straight line person, he isn’t self suffering and not sentimental either; I very much admire him, he is somewhat refined in his rough way although relaxed in most ways but when thing’s happen, he would deal it unambiguously.
Talking about Sahara again, Morocco has sent three hundred thousand civilians across the border on the 18th of this month, after that it is rising to two million (human tactics), the Spanish scared to paralysis. AAIUN only has forty thousand people that’s including soldiers and the whole Spanish Sahara merely seventy-five thousand people (two hundred and eighty thousand square miles), Southern Mauritania also sent civilians to come to the border from the south (I had already escaped and without a ticket on board a flight), the end result of the days of urgent meetings over and over again was that Spain lost without a fight and has already signed a secret agreement; Morocco and Mauritania divided the Sahara between them, most pitiful is the Sahrawi, they fought hard and with their blood for independence and now the bubble has burst, all the Sahrawi have completely lost their jobs in AAIUN, the military has disbanded (the Spanish military also employed Sahrawi), they have become stateless like a miserable worm, they very much hate the Spanish people to death now.
Our good friend Honde is also being disbanded after thirty two years service for the Spanish military, he got ignored completely and lost his Spanish nationality; AAIUN is under the wing of army protection, the Spanish civilians evacuated to the barracks, they live under the same roof and are eating at the same table with them, but the areas where the Sahrawi live are completely enclosed and monitored by all the tanks surrounding them, they have been betrayed by the Spanish. The Spanish have no plan for their lives or death, there is no water and no food there now, children are going to starve to death; the Red Cross has already come to try to rescue them. Although I hate bitterly the Sahrawi their coming future is pitiful, they are just like the twentieth century Jewish people, seventy-five thousand people without nationality. José gave eight thousand ESP to Honde before he left, he received the money in tears without a word, he has nine children, what can they eat now? Eat the sandy soil? Food is completely running out there.
Let’s talk about José ’s job, we will properly have only two more months of work, after that we become unemployed. Spain might leave the mine and cooperate it’s running together with Morocco, but it may possibly give it up (in exchange for letting Spain fish in Moroccan waters) the company said that we can either be assigned to work domestically in Spain or take the salary increase of 100% and go back (the reason bring because there are Sahrawi’s gorillas wanting to kill all the Spanish, that’s the reason); the good thing is that José has a whole month of holiday leave (that’s we are staying), better to live here for a month than go back to the job and wait for the company to allocate other work in the future.
During the time waiting at home to leave by aeroplane I gave a girl her last lesson in my ‘desert’s school’, she dropped down in tears holding my hand (Guccka), we were faced each other in silence.
The airport becomes a state of hell and that was ten days ago, now it’s difficult to even imagine what AAIUN looks like. Today I heard about the situation about with the Sahrawi from José , I had to leave my steak on the plate as I shed tears, the Sahara is like a second Vietnam, it’s all because of the Spanish betraying them.
I want to write a medium length story that’s about ten thousand words, ‘The last tango in Sahara’ (Tango is a sort of dance), this is Sanma’s witness of the history in blood and tears; I also want to write ‘The last lesson’ and ‘Great escape’ (José ).
The most pitiful thing is my good friend Paloma’s husband (‘know everything’ - that is his nick name) has to go back to the desert (because of work), the whole family are crying together; he has to go back to make some money because they have children and they don’t have any savings at all. I have lent Paloma some money for rent for ten days accommodation and I insist there is no need for her to pay me back, we meet by chance like piles of drifting leaves, that she sheltered me for the last ten days is a matter of one’s highly morality, we have now become neighbours and we share the hard times with each other; even my dinner today was sent by Paloma.
We made an international phone call to my mother in law, she was crying all day but now she can smile, my brother in law will come to stay with us for three days next week (he is a manager in a travel agent company).
Of the several letters that José sent me from Sahara after we were parted, not even one have I received, that’s because Spain has sealed off the news, only saying that Morocco won’t invade again and it doesn’t mention about the secret agreement, but the people in AAIUN know all about it, therefore all letters have to be sealed off, transport is all occupied by the military, civilians have been cut off, the women haven’t been evacuated and are all staying at the barracks and waiting for ships to leave, ZBERIA airline said that because there is there strong gales around they are no longer flying to AAUIN again; José enabled to escape out from there was because of his wisdom. We only have a red pen left so we use it to write.
Dad, Mum, we are safe, healthy and well content and the apartment is beautiful, all this thanks to toJosé ; I am very grateful to God for giving me such a good husband.
Read this letter together with my sister so that I won’t need to write again, I am very happy that my little bird ‘Yun-Yun’ also got out, (bird food was also brought along), he is sleeping now, he is so thin, he needs to have a good rest. It all made possible by José.
Once again, José had a big car accident back in the desert, the other guy died but José is entirely alright and in one piece, it was the mistake by the other guy that caused it.
José will have to go back to the desert again in December, we haven’t received our wages yet, but have asked a good friend to get our wages (the very best good friend, such a good guy if I had a sister she must marry this young man), he will bring the money for us this weekend, a good friend is a treasure when you are in a foreign land, a friend in need is a friend indeed at this difficult time, this warm kindness in human beings won’t disappear.
There is no postmen in this quiet area and the little post office only opens half of an hour everyday, I get the post by myself; if you have an urgent matter and want to send a telegraph to us, you can send it to our home, we don’t have a telephone (don’t need it), it takes ten minutes to go down to the hill on the path to the seaside, it’s empty there with nobody around.
Among the area we live are Swedish, Dutch, French and English people, there is a small supermarket just opposite us which has gas, milk and bread delivery to our door everyday and we pay the bill once a week. This a quiet neighbourhood and people do not really communicate to each other, but on the street everyone you see would say ‘Good morning, good afternoon and good night’, there is no need for chatting and can’t really make conversation. I stayed in a friend’s home for ten days, the whole family went out leaving their door wide open, neighbours don’t hang out with each other but they are friendly and educated, so different than the Spanish way, José likes it and me too, there is a little town nearby and all are Spanish, it’s so polite and friendly, manners like in heaven, such genital fellows as sweet as sugar.
Dad’s eyes are not too good or I would write more, I will send photos to show you our beautiful new home soon. We live in happiness but have an unknown future, José can’t to starve to death because he is such a handy man, his hands can make a living out of anything, not worry at all.
Mei mei (Echo)
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