An Eritrean Summer: (I) Asmara Days
By Huriy Ghirmai on Aug 13, 2004, 18:49
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My Old School – After Eighteen Years
The gates are
still the same colour but Aboi Embaye - the caretaker - is not here anymore. My
class at first grade used to stand next to the chapel. I go in and it waits for
me unlocked and I enter with such excitement. The room looks small and the
benches so tiny. How things change! I sit on where I imagined I used to sit.
Scattered memories surface on my mind like falling globules that settle on a
flat surface – undisturbed. Eventually, the memories merge together to bring me
some vague recollection of my childhood at school.
Memories of times
gone become intoxicating when they flood back without control. You see, apart
from learning how to read and write it was then that we discovered hierarchy
without which the world would be nothing. It was then that we came to perceive
our world and each other in terms of who was the strongest of all, the
brightest, the skinniest, had the biggest ears, the fattest, the shrewdest, the
most adept in vice, the tallest and etcetera, etcetera. And to date, as I bump
into old school friends and we reminisce; as we then remember other old school
mates and describe them to each other, the terms of reference go back to the
school milieu: Macheste, Debtera, Stecchini, Azan, Big-daddy, Mussolini, and so
on.
***
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Eritrean Airlines – Sweet Chariot
Swing low, sweet
chariot,
Comin' for to carry me
home
[…]
As I took up my
seat by the window, only nine hours away from the country of my birth, the roar
of Eritrean Airlines’ very own 767 engines sounded so reassuring and pleasant.
Then I basked in the heavenly notion of my destination, and sat back and took
pleasure in the lift-off. When the airplane engaged in its ascent, I was filled
with an intermittent bittersweet sense of tension that lasted all the way to
Asmara.
Schiphol
Amsterdam Airport was playing host to Eritreans across the world waiting for a
connection flight home aboard Eritrean Airlines. For some, it was the first time
experience and the excitement was as concrete as the terminal gate. An hour
earlier, I had landed at Schiphol from London and was very eager to get on board
Queen Bee of which I had been told plenty. In the short time it has been
operating, Eritrean Airlines has acquired a brilliant reputation for the level
of service it provides.
Back in 1988, I
had entered the guardhouse a few hundred yards in front of the terminal at
Asmara Airport for the routine pat down. Inside, an Ethiopian soldier searched
me and found a 500-lira note in my real-leather wallet. It shook me a bit but it
made his day as he clutched the note in his hand and gave me a stern talking-to.
He said I was lucky he was only going to confiscate “this piece of imperialist
influence”. Little did he know that 500 lira would barely buy you a coffee in
Italy. I nodded and headed towards the terminal.
As I did so, I
left behind me a gleeful Ethiopian soldier, an Eritrea under the Dergue, family
and friends. At the time, I never knew when I would be back. They were the worst
of times because then, Eritreans were downtrodden and seemingly kneeling down.
But then Nadew happened! Never kneel down!
Upon my return
twelve years later, as I flew across an ocean, a sea, and many mountains
homeward-bound, my memory was still that of Ethiopian colonialism and the
reality of the Eritrean spirit. I could not wait to land on the free state of
Eritrea. That was in 2001 and I had flown in with Egypt Airways.
Two years on, on
Friday morning, just past midnight, amidst an enveloping applause and ululation
aboard, Queen Bee landed at Asmara International Airport just past midnight. In
this instant, I was an Eritrean aboard Eritrean Airlines – our very own Carrier.
As I walked out of the plane a breeze so cool caressed my face as if to say
welcome home. I descended and stood at the bottom of the steps […]
The airport
building looked like a ship, the tarmac like sea and upon the prow of the
terminal, from within the dimness where they stood, I could make out the
silhouettes of my fellow Eritreans.
When I reached
the terminal, smiling faces greeted me. “InQuaE DeHan MetSaEka” Passport control
was perfect. “InQuaE DeHan MetSaEka”; “YeQenyeley!” Customs was the same. “DO
you have any electronic equipments in your luggage?” “No”. “Merhaba, InQuaE
DeHan MetSaEka. You may go through.”
***
There is
something about Asmara in the early hours of the morning that makes it so
peaceful. The calmness is hypnotic and infuses genuine relaxation in you. The
ride from the airport introduces you to the new Eritrea. The avenue itself,
perfectly dissected in perfect symmetry by a column of street lamps, is now so
much wider than ever before. The magnificent presence of Intercontinental hotel
occupies the left side while a few minutes ride down, Inda Korea, gleams to the
right in the distance.
By the
roundabout, to the right, Expo is thick with Eucalyptus trees, now regenerated
with caring native hands. Here and there, you see people trekking down about
their business. Pavements are free of cordons and trip wires.
Asmara has
changed a lot – the people too have changed a lot. Everywhere you go, you see
freedom passing by, standing in street corners, sitting in the cafes – you see
it everywhere. Asmara is definitely the safest, the cleanest and the most
orderly city in Africa if not in the world.
These days, we
Eritreans in the Diaspora, as we try to keep up with life and events in our
country from afar, have to sift through so much hogwash said and written about
our own country. Sometimes, we may get confused.
So much has
happened since the last time I was in Eritrea just under two years ago and with
that, a lot of claptrap has been said. They – the detractors of Eritrea,
assuming many shapes and forms – have tried to convince us that Eritrea is
hopeless; we are constantly bombarded with news that portray our country as one
of the worst in the world. We are told Eritrea is a write-off.
A handful of
journalists have gone as far as fabricating fallacious stories in order to
construct a distorted image of Eritrea. They say that Eritrea is now typified by
a pervasive atmosphere of fear and that people are afraid to speak in public and
that repression abounds.
During the first
week of my stay, I went out to the city centre in Asmara a few times. Godena
Harnet as usual buzzes with evening-strollers as well as bar-frequenters. The
walls in Asmara bear witness to the recent regional assembly elections with
posters of candidates pasted everywhere. The Café culture is still going strong
in Asmara and Cafés/Bars are the appropriate public places to go if you want to
gauge the popular sentiment – and taxis too.
The most
significant aspect of strolling down the streets and avenues of Asmara is the
relaxation that you feel; in the cafés, people sit and discuss loudly topics
ranging from the latest fashion to yesterday’s EriTV editorial. They air their
reservations/approvals about any given topic – from bureaucracy in certain
offices to the new declaration regarding rental of private housing. People speak
and they are not afraid – cafés are in fact too noisy and that fearful silence
that we have been told by the detractors of Eritrea exists not.
Raise any topic
in a taxi – say anything and you can easily provoke a discussion – a free
discussion. There is always mature and constructive criticism of the local as
well as the national government itself. Matters of consequence, like the price
of foodstuff or education system and so on are discussed freely.
What sets apart
the discussions inside Eritrea from that amongst Eritreans in the Diaspora is
the quality and content; here in Eritrea people seem to be more concerned with
the most fundamental rights – like the right to being well. While they discuss
their basic rights such as equal access to education, health, shelter and so on
they exercise with majestic maturity their freedom to assess the real situation
and then criticise accordingly – to say it like it is – their freedom to
speak.
What is so
encouraging more than anything else is however, the vast majority of Eritreans
recognise the gravity of the challenges ahead and understand the choices the
government is opting for. They appreciate the priorities set forth and that, no
doubt, is what matters most.
***
But should one
wish to appreciate the Eritrean reality really well, one need to venture outside
Asmara and see […]
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