For 45 years, the Sahrawi people of Western Sahara have lived in a sprawling settlement in the Algerian desert. In 1975, they fled Morocco during the Western Sahara War, in which the Polisario Front, a Sahrawi military organization, fought for independence from that country.

The conflict remains unresolved today. Home to more than 150,000 people, the settlement has seen generations of Sahrawi raised on humanitarian relief as they wait for a permanent homeland. Theirs is one of the longest-running refugee crises in the world.

In 2018, the women of the Sahrawi Trade Union reached out to Italian nongovernmental organizations Africa ’70 and Nexus about organizing a baking workshop. Those groups in turn contacted Maddalena Borsato, a pastry chef and researcher at the University of Gastronomic Sciences, in Pollenzo, Italy.

Over one week, Borsato helped 30 women learn to bake not only for their households but also for income. “After a very short time,” she said, “the language of our hands and of our tools, this kind of tacit communication between us, arose, and we did not need any linguistic translation because we were speaking through our gestures.”

Sara Di Lello, project manager for Africa ’70, said holding the workshops in the women’s homes reinforced “the sense of community and solidarity typical of the Sahrawis.”

Sahrawis are huge consumers of sugar. An average family uses about 88 pounds a month, which has made Type 2 diabetes a concern. Before they came to the settlement, the Sahrawis were a nomadic community — often spending weeks in the desert — and needed large amounts of calories to walk long distances. The refugees also believe that sugar has health benefits. As one woman, Fatimatou, put it, “The Sahrawis have always regarded sugar as healing for every disease: for example, hot water with sugar is good for stomach and intestines. A barbecue of camel topped with sugar is recommended for the liver.”

But it is not easy to make high-quality pastries with the few ingredients available in the camps — such as peanuts, dates, beetroots, margarine, flour and eggs — and without refined sugar. Borsato focused on using natural ingredients available, like roselle flowers, a type of hibiscus, which lend their vivid red to the pastries. Dates of the desert are large and particularly sweet, so the women learned to make a date paste for cookies.

The two Italian groups have also started a program in the settlement to cultivate the moringa tree, a fast-growing, drought-resistant variety rich in vitamins, protein, calcium and iron. The leaves of the tree are milled into a greenish flour that can be used to make pastries and other foods. Moringa flour is also thought to mitigate the effects of Type 2 diabetes.

In September 2019, Africa ’70 and Nexus helped plant more than 4,400 of the trees, to build a renewable food source for the settlement.

Despite all the difficulties and the unexpected arrival of the coronavirus pandemic — which has so far mostly spared the settlement — the “Food and Work” project, which includes the pastry workshop, is continuing. The Italian groups recently bought a number of refrigerators for the women, who have asked for a longer, more advanced pastry workshop so they can learn to make wedding cakes. Borsato is planning to return to the settlement soon.

“The confectionery made to contribute to the life of women — beyond the recipes learned — gives even more value to the important moments for which they are made,” she said, “namely the celebrations and feasts, which are fundamental moments for a community so strong and at the same time so tested by the events of history.”