It is rare to get a positive article (by positive I mean non-political article) about Eritrea in the big media these days. If any thing the name Eritrea pop-up in the news, it is most likely related to the conflict with Ethiopia, or with the problem in Somalia, or the human right abuses by PIA. ….it is a depressing picture always….and I hate it. I hate it because I know what picture these reports create here. I hate it because it is always skewed…only the bad things are worth of news! I hate it because the good sides never show up to the front page. I am not trying to deny the reality…. but when all you see is these news, you get fed up….It makes it seem as if there is nothing more than conflict down there…. I always hope, at least some times, they show also there is normal life down there…..it is not only war and conflict…it is not only aid and drought….it is not only refugee and camps. We have normal life too…we have hospitable society, we have hardworking society, we have peace loving society…we have harmony…we have a beauty to offer to the rest of the world too…. But these good qualities never make it to the front page, and if some how they make it…they soon will be overwhelmed and covered by the depressing reports.
It is only with such thirsty for these few moments, that you can understand why 5 of my friends forwarded me the recent article by Jeffery Jenttleman of the New York Times in one day….it seems they were running to capture that moment and capitalize the opportunity…The article, which appeared in the travel section of the paper, is one of the rare opportunities which account the other life and beauty in Eritrea.
It was also an opportunity for most of us to forward it to our friends from other countries. You can tell your friends all the good thing in the world about your country, but when the only thing they can find when they google Eritrea is war and conflict, it is not a convincing effort. It is more credible when a third party reports and shows the things you wanted to show the world that would have the credibility. In that case, the New York Times report was a rare opportunity…and like many of you, I forwarded it to my friends from other countries and my advisor. …Even though it doesn’t tell all the good things I would tell about Eritrea, it was the best report I can find to introduce him with my country.
So if some of you missed the article, or if you wanted to show your friends the other life in Eritrea, here is a link to the article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/travel/05journeys.html?_r=1&oref=sloginAnd there was also a similar article in Reuters earlier this year. Here is the link.
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSLD39903620080822
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