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From Ministry of Information, Eritrea Commentary
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. ***
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 […] © Copyright 2003 by Ministry of Information, Eritrea |