The Mayor José Miguel Luengo and the Councillor for Social Rights, María del Mar Pérez received on Tuesday the two Sahrawi girls who will spend the summer in San Javier, accompanied by their host families and representatives of the Association of Friendship and Solidarity with the Sahrawi People. With them was also a third child hosted by a family from San Pedro del Pinatar. The three foster children in the Mar Menor are part of the group of 30 children who will spend the summer in the Region of Murcia.
The number of children taken in during the summer in the Region has fallen in recent years, due to the decrease in aid, as well as the various economic crises, changes in laws and regulations and sociological changes that make it difficult to take in a child at home for the whole summer, said Fuensanta Postigo, president of the Association.
The children arrived last Sunday and are expected to stay in San Javier until 27 August. During their stay here, as well as enjoying bathing on the beach and in the swimming pool, an activity which, according to the host families, is their favourite, the children are able to avoid the extreme temperatures of the desert, improve their diet and their medical check-ups, as well as learning the language which they have not yet mastered.
Mayor José Miguel Luengo welcomed them and wished them a good summer, as well as appreciating the activity of the association and the families who decide to take in the children. Luengo recalled San Javier’s long tradition of welcoming children through the “Holidays in Peace” programme, which has been running in the municipality for 20 years.
