Start of the project
In December 2018 we started living and working in a 200 year old ruin: an old house that Said's ancestors built on a 1.2-hectare land. The family has long traveled as nomads through the Sahara desert. When - about 200 years ago - it became more difficult for the oldest members of the tribe to continue moving around, they left for one of the nearby villages, Bani Hayoune. Here they built a simple residence and spend their last years here. The rest of the tribe continued living as nomads in the Sahara, but due to climate changes this became more and more difficult. Water is increasingly scarce, plants are dying and wells are drying up. Temperatures rise and can reach 60 degrees Celsius in the summer. Finding food for the animals, on which the Saharan nomads depend, becomes almost impossible. Around the year 2010, Said and his parents, sisters and brothers also stopped the nomadic life and started looking for possible ways to live in the villages or towns.
The old ruin has been abandoned since many years - although Saids father kept using the gardens to harvest grass for his animals each day - and in December 2018, Said moved permanently into the house.
![Said and his father Mohamed]()
![A rooted offshoot will grow into a new palm]()
![The land]()
Said & Linde
In the summer of 2017, Said met Linde, a visual artist from the Netherlands who was doing artistic research on a trip through Morocco. Linde and Said stayed in touch throughout the year. In December 2018 Linde returned again to Morocco and in January 2019 we stood at the beginning of a new project: rebuilding and restoring an old family home and and the complicated task of making the oasis green again. In January 2019 we started receiving the first volunteers who came this way from allover the world via Workaway to help recovering the ruin and land. But the goal is much bigger than just reviving this property: almost all his life, Said has felt the urgence of contributing to his community and the natural environment.
Animals have always been an important part of our project and home. Khanaffi, an 8-year old donkey has been in the family all his life. Moving alongside Saids father Mohamed - who has been a continuous presence in this project - Khanaffi moved permanently into our gardens in 2019. A year later our dog Sou Sen was introduced. Many cats have repeatedly lived here and they have become an indispensable factor in our house. Once we have enough water to grow food for the animals, we plan to have goats, sheep and chickens in the gardens.
In December 2018 we started living and working in a 200 year old ruin: an old house that Said's ancestors built on a 1.2-hectare land. The family has long traveled as nomads through the Sahara desert. When - about 200 years ago - it became more difficult for the oldest members of the tribe to continue moving around, they left for one of the nearby villages, Bani Hayoune. Here they built a simple residence and spend their last years here. The rest of the tribe continued living as nomads in the Sahara, but due to climate changes this became more and more difficult. Water is increasingly scarce, plants are dying and wells are drying up. Temperatures rise and can reach 60 degrees Celsius in the summer. Finding food for the animals, on which the Saharan nomads depend, becomes almost impossible. Around the year 2010, Said and his parents, sisters and brothers also stopped the nomadic life and started looking for possible ways to live in the villages or towns.
The old ruin has been abandoned since many years - although Saids father kept using the gardens to harvest grass for his animals each day - and in December 2018, Said moved permanently into the house.
Said & Linde
In the summer of 2017, Said met Linde, a visual artist from the Netherlands who was doing artistic research on a trip through Morocco. Linde and Said stayed in touch throughout the year. In December 2018 Linde returned again to Morocco and in January 2019 we stood at the beginning of a new project: rebuilding and restoring an old family home and and the complicated task of making the oasis green again. In January 2019 we started receiving the first volunteers who came this way from allover the world via Workaway to help recovering the ruin and land. But the goal is much bigger than just reviving this property: almost all his life, Said has felt the urgence of contributing to his community and the natural environment.
Animals have always been an important part of our project and home. Khanaffi, an 8-year old donkey has been in the family all his life. Moving alongside Saids father Mohamed - who has been a continuous presence in this project - Khanaffi moved permanently into our gardens in 2019. A year later our dog Sou Sen was introduced. Many cats have repeatedly lived here and they have become an indispensable factor in our house. Once we have enough water to grow food for the animals, we plan to have goats, sheep and chickens in the gardens.
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Meet the team: Said & Linde
