Paper Flowers

The history of the Sahrawi people told through the voices of its women

Paper Flowers is a beautiful tale that gives voice to three generations of Sahrawi women caught in the whirlwind of history. Aisha, Naima, and Leila—granddaughter, mother, and grandmother—embody the wounds of a people who have endured colonialism, exile, and war. The story of Aisha, the protagonist and alter ego of the author, contrasts with that of the women who came before her.

Her grandmother, Leila, is marked by the loss of her nomadic identity. Born and raised in the desert, where her people lived in freedom, she is forced to abandon her home and live in a refugee camp after the occupation of Western Sahara. There, she watches helplessly as her way of life disappears, clinging to the dream of returning home.

Aisha’s mother, Naima, grows up in these camps, where she becomes a nurse and activist working in a hospital. She symbolizes the resilience of Sahrawi women, who fight to preserve their culture amid the diaspora. Yet, she faces a deep personal dilemma—whether to follow her vocation of helping her people
or submit to the expectations of marriage and motherhood in a society where a woman's path is often predetermined.

Carrying this legacy, Aisha experiences displacement firsthand when she is sent to Europe in search of a better future. In Italy, she grows up torn between two irreconcilable worlds: the Western culture that welcomes her and the Sahrawi traditions she tries to hold onto. As the generational bridge, her
identity becomes a battleground—a constant struggle between assimilation and the pull of her roots.

While Leila embodies the nomadic past and Naima represents the fight for survival, Aisha must decide whether her struggle belongs in exile or in the land of her childhood.