Coronavirus crisis forces cancellation of ‘Holidays in peace’ for Saharan children in Spain’s Mallorca

CHILDREN from the Spanish Sahara will be not be escaping the searing desert heat to spend the summer months in Mallorca this year due to the coronavirus crisis.
The AAPSIB Balearic Friends of the Saharan People Association described the decision to cancel plans for this year’s ‘Holidays in peace’ programme because of the pandemic as “responsible and painful.”
The initiative, under which Saharan children stay with families across Spain has been going for 40 years, but the Covid-19 global health emergency has got in the way this summer.
AAPSIB president Catalina Rossello told Spanish press they had put the health of the children before anything, and the decision to call off the holidays had been based on careful analysis and consideration of the situation in Spain and the rest of the world.
She said AAPSIB would continue to support the Saharan cause, but said the repercussions of cancelling the children’s stays could be dramatic given the intense desert heat in the summer months and the fact the children would not be getting medical check-ups.