Some Good News!

The following report from WHO's report indicates Eritreans now are living much longer than they use in the 1990's:

Eritrea in East Africa increased its average life expectancy during that period by 33 years to 61 for men and by 12 years to 65 for women. On the other side of the continent, in Liberia, the figure for men jumped 29 years to 54, and rose 13 years to 58 for women. Angola, Bangladesh, Maldives, Niger, and East Timor also increased average life expectancies for both sexes by a full 10 years.

Check the report here

The Power of Overconfidence

INFO....

If any one is looking on some background info about ERN economy, the Non-aligned movement news network has some dry facts. It is not an updated and complete, but can serve as a starting point. Here is the link...

Great Cartoons Peter

I found great cartoons by Peter Kahsai in meseley.net. Peter is a graduate of University of Asmara and a great artist. I had a chance to see one of his exibitions in Asmara.


To see more cartoons of Peter, click here

The Value of Education in Traditional ERN Society

I was reading an article in awate.com by Bereketeab Habtemariam and found an interesting story he relates. The story is about how village elders (traditiona leaders of Eritrea) value education. Since the article is not about value of eucation and the story is in the middle of the article, many people may not read the story if they didn't read the entire article. so I decided to give it another visibility here........

About a dozen years ago in Asmara, I remember meeting a former teacher by the name of Ato Gebremikael who told me this beautiful story. It was during the federal administration in Eritrea. At that time he was a fresh graduate of the then Teachers’ Training Institute and, as the rule would have it then, his first assignment was at Keshe’At, a village off the road to Zalambesa. He was the only and the first teacher to be assigned there. On his first day, as was customary, he was ushered into the house of the village chief where he meets the chief and the head village priest. The room, where the chief received his guests, was simply furnished with two locally made armchairs and low lying clay sitting-beds, clad wish sheepskin, extending along the inner walls. One of the armchairs was for the chief and the other for an honoured guest; others sat on the clay sitting-beds even if the guest armchair may have been vacant – village protocol. So, when Ato Gebremikael was received by both gentlemen, the village priest stands up and offers him the armchair he had been sitting on. In total amazement and shock, Ato Gebremikael refuses to sit on the armchair saying that would be an act of disrespect. But the village priest insists and, after the chief strongly expressed his agreement, Ato Gebremikael reluctantly accepts the offer and sits. Then, the priest gives him a piece of advice telling him that it was not because he was a teacher that the armchair was offered to him, it was rather because of the knowledge he carried in his head.


Such was the respect that our parents used to render to education and the educated. Next to a priest’s, himself an educated person, the positions of a teacher and that of a physician were revered in Eritrea. When they spoke, people listened and followed. Now! Who is not willing to listen and follow our elite group had it not compromised and undermine its own position?



To read the entire article, click here.

Question: This story demonstrates how leaders in traditional ERN society value education. How does the current leader value education? ---> "Ezom Temahirna Zblu Cheletat..."

President on Hunger Strike

Hunger strikes are a common means of getting attention and demanding justice by prisoners. But hunger strike by sitting President is worth of news. President Evo Morales of Bolivia went on a hunger strike this week when his country's congress rejected his new proposal. The president went on hunger strike for five days and ended the strike only after Bolivia's congress approved election code changes he had demanded. Read more on the story here

Question: What would PIA do if the Eritrean Parlament refused
to approve his legislation?

Fighting in EU's Court: the Rulling

The opposition camp has lost the fight on EU's 122 million Euro aid plan to Eritrea. EU has decided to give the aid without any precondition despite all the cries from the opposition. I think this can be considered as the opposition's failure to convince EU than a victory by the pro-government efforts.

The Instruction on EastAfro.com

Here is the instruction on eastafro.com.....

ONLY FOR NETWORKING - NO POLITICS, RELIGION, REGIONALISM, or BAD LANGUAGE is allowed. VIOLATORS will be BANNED.

and another one....

What did you think about Maere Movie? Did it meet or exceed you expectations? What kind of movies would you like to see from ERI-TV next? Leave your non-political comments for the producers of Maere and ERI-TV below.

The Top Blogs

If you are a fun of the blog sphere and wanted to follow some of the top blogs on earth, check the ranking of blogs by wikio.Among the thousands of blogs, those who make it to the top ranking are mostly political blogs with some technology and sport related blogs. check the ranking here.

Ente Zeyt Nwn'weni Men Mexdefeni!

Another sad news of last week is the death of Eritreans in Sudan by an unknown air strike, possibly by Israel. Assenna.com on Saturday March 28 reported the following:

Nine Eritrean army officers were killed in a surprise air attack on January 12 while traveling to Egypt, leading a convoy of 17 trucks full of arms that was to be smuggled to Hamas, late reports coming from Asmara indicated. The report disclosed that a colonel, Afwerqi Mosazgi, six Majors and two captains…

Hadas Eritra on March 28 denied the killed Eritreans were army officers. instead, it stated the air strike killed human trafic crossing boarder to Egypt and among the killed were Eritreans...(check here page 2 of the news paper).

To me, whether they were army officers on a mission or Eritreans crossing boarder for better life, they are fellow Eritreans.....who have families and friends, mothers and children...it is VERY SAD we lost them forever and for nothing.
as for the government "Ente Zeyt Nwn'weni men mexdefeni" eyu negeru....
....even if these ERitreans were crossing boarders in search of better life, like thousands of others, it is because they couldn't find it in their own home country.

Friday Night is Surprised with an Offer!

I just got this email below and I am thrilled! Thanks my visitors for your frequent visits have attracted the attention. It was fun to see we make it through. But get assured Friday Night will continue Add free. So my response was “Thanks but No Thanks”
…………………………………………………………………………………………

From: "karima.b@wikimetro.org"
Subject: Friday Night, Newark Wikimetro BlogAd Inquiry
Date: Friday, 27 March, 2009 7:54:23
To:XXXXX

Michael,
We want to know if you'll partner with us to accept advertising on your blog Friday Night? We have received 20 page views this week for your blog Friday Night, and our BlogAd total for Newark, Delaware area blogs is 530 this week.

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Fighting in EU’s Court: A further Update on the Controversy of EU’s Aid Plan to Eritrea

Remember the controversy around the EU’s aid plan to Eritrea and how Eritreans are fighting to influence EU decision which will be signed officially on May of this year? The fight is continuing, but it is taking a different strategy. The pro-government website Bdiho.com has taken a petition to support EU’s aid plan (development aid in cash as is the original plan from EU). Given the extreme famine in ER, totally opposing any form of aid is morally and strategically an attractive position for those in the opposition. Pro-government websites such as meskerem.net has already started exploiting the opposition’s stand on the EU aid plan. Now Asmarino.com and Awate.com has come with a new petition….Yes to Food Aid but No to Cash. This looks a smart move…. And it will be interesting to see which camp will collect the highest petition signature.
To sign the petition, click here or on the picture above.

Obama Appoints New Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs

President Obama has a pointed Johnnie Carson as the next US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs to replace Jendayi Frazer. With little interest given to Africa in US foreign policy, this is the most important position where US policies towards Africa are shaped. This is specially true for Ethio-Eritrea issues. I didn't get any information if he has any different position on Ethio/Eritrea than his predecessor. However, his resume shows he has extensive career related to Africa and is more familiar with Ethio-Eritrea issues than two of his predecessors. He was also the principal deputy of Assistant Secretary to Africa during the Ethio-Eritrea border conflict (1997-1999).His resume includes three term Ambassadorship to Kenya (1999–2003), Zimbabwe (1995–1997) and Uganda (1991–1994), Peace Corp Service in Tanzania and many other positions related to Africa. He is currently the national intelligence officer for Africa on the National Intelligence Council. Read more on his background here

PIA Continues his Show-off Defiance to the International Community

Today president Omer Al-Beshir made his first visit outside his country to Eritrea after convicted by the ICC. The New York Times reported

“In a snub of the International Criminal Court, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan traveled on Monday to Eritrea, barely three weeks after the court issued a warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges for atrocities committed in Darfur, news agencies reported.”

To ERNs, the question should be what do we gain by showing such defiance to the entire international community? Is it to our benefit? It should be remembered that the good diplomatic relation between Eritrea and the west, especially with U.S.A, started to deteriorate after PIA disobeyed the ban on Libya and visited Gadafi on summer 1997….and today’s defiance may also vanish any hopes that PIA will improve his diplomatic approach with new USA administration.

The Coolest Couple!

Here are cool and funny couple....I enjoy the clip....I hope u will do. Kudos to Mabel and Tsige as well as to Iseyas and Roma...I wish you Happy and Joyful life!

Welcome Back Asmarino

Just an info for those who love Asmarino. The web site is now up and running again with all its sharp Blogers. Watch out for a series of articles coming from Yosief Gebrihwet. The guy is exceptionally articulate in his writing, but very controversial at the same time. His series of articles last year on “Romanticizing Ghedli” was the most controversial one stirring a wave of response and discussion among Eritreans. I hope this series will also do the same.
Asmarino has also kept its old plat form of allowing comments from readers. Because of the sensitive of Eritrean politics, most ERN websites don’t allow readers to comment on posted articles…Asmarino is the exception. I have a mixed feeling towards that policy… Most of the comments are trash (although there are some good) …people deliberately posting divisive and degrading comments….and my initial reactions was what is the point of allowing such trash? But now I am leaning in favor of allowing the comments….why would any one decide what trash is and what is good to the readers? Let the choice be there and readers will decide whether they want to read the comment section or not.

Fighting in EU’s Court: an Update on the Controversy of EU’s Aid Plan to Eritrea

In my previous post, I have indicated how the news about EU’s aid plan to Eritrea has generated so much controversy among Eritreans. This post is an update on those controversies. So far, over 290 comments are posted on the website. These comments are both from supporters and opponents of the government. But the comment section on the news website was not the only place the contriversy surfaced. Eritrean websites from both camps have also joined into the fight, with blogers from either side calling for EU' attention. The following is a partial list of the inventory of articles produced by the controversy over EU’s aid plan to Eritrea.
On the Opposition side:
1. Awate.com editorial
2. Daniel Rezene
3. Seyom Tesfay
4. Tesfay Degiga
5. Michael Abraha
6. Selam Kidane
7. Berhane Neguse

On the supporters side:

1.Tesfay Aradom
2. Amanuel Bidenemariam
3. Daniel S
4. Berhane Alazar
5. Samsom Negasi
6. YPFDJ Europe
7. Dawit Ghebre-medhin
8. Meskerem.net

Now, the fighting has once more escalated from articles into pettition. Right now, two competing petitions are running to be submitted to EU. The first one is by Amnesty International on behave of Eritrean prisoners of conscience and the other is by Bidho.com, a pro-government website.
In face of all these controversies and pleas, it has to be seen on how EU will respond. The controversy is not over whether the aid should be given to Eritrea or not: rather it is on what conditions should be placed on the aid. Opponents are calling for EU to put strict condition of human right improvement on the aid plan. Supporters of the government are fighting to avoid any preconditions.

Why Did a President Keep 20 Cats?

The buzz words around the opposition websites this week is coming from the words of former Iseyas Security chif Mr. Girmatsiona Baire Zere. The guy throws every mud on Iseyas. (listen to his interviews here). Even though I agree Iseyas has to go for the problems in Eritrea to end, throwing every evil you can think of on him will reduce the credibility of real stories.

From the list of evil things Mr. Ghirmazion blamed Iseyas include, the death of Abraham Afewerki, death of Yemane Barya, death of Ali Said Abdela, death of OMO factory owner, assasination attempts on Colonel Simon, etc...

The most difficult thing to believe is Iseyas has over 20 cats!

“Sefera” on the Air

Assenna.com reported this week(Feb 23) that residents of Segeneiti are officially informed that they will be reallocated to Barka. Assenna compared this with sefera campaign of the Derge regime. This is a disturbing news….and I just hoped the news is false! But Hadas Ertra confirmed the news(albet, in its second page and not reported in shabait.com). In today’s edition (Feb 27), the paper reported “Residents of Zban Soyra (Senafe sub zone) have expressed their readiness to reallocate to a more fertile and productive areas of eastern and western lowland”. Check page 2 of the paper here …..Even though the residents reported in Hadas Eritra are different from those reported in assenna.com, the disturbing fact remains that the government may have plan to reallocate people from selected areas of highland to lowland. This could have a damaging long term effect on the country. How will the lowlanders react to the new comers? The following carton from awate.com can give what the reaction would be……





Source: Awate.com cartons

Funny Commedian

EU Plans to Give €122 Million in Development Aid to Eritrea

The European Commission is planning to give €122 million in development aid to ER. The news has created a mixed response from ERNs. Opponents of the government are crying that the aid will send a wrong message to DIA. EU’s plan to provide the money despite the grave human right records of the government is what makes it controversial. EU says engagement with the government is the best way to improve Human Right situation in ER. The aid plan will be reviewed by the advisory committee of the European Development Fund before it gets released. Comments from both supporters and opponents of PIA are flooding the website in an effort to influence the commissions’ decision. Check the comments here.

Eritrea: Least Appealing Country for Investors

A recent index about investment prospects in Africa puts ER as one of the least appealing countries in Africa...just a head of Somalia and chad. However this is not a surprising news to any ERN who follows the government's practice and attitude towards business. Almost all ERN business men are now outside the country operating in other African countrone, as so many restrictions by the government wouldn't allow them to work in their country.

Assenna Radio Went on Air

The Assenna Team have upgraded their radio program from online to on air starting this week. This means their program will directly broadcast to Eritrea, to those who have no access to internet and computer. It will add momentum to their struggle against DIA. If there is real movement in the army, as is reported in Assenna.com, this radio program will give them a means to bring their message directly to the people and the army. The program airs three days a week for half an hour a day. The program also broadcast in Tigrigna and Arabic. check their website here.

An ERN Mother is Blessed with Four Babies

The news that dominated the U.S. media for the last two week or so was the the octuplet mom story...the mother who delivered 8 babies at one time. But that was a medically implanted embryos. How about natural? An Eritrean mother has delivered 4 identical boys Yesterday! The mother, Ms. Saedia Mohammednur, was her self a twin and had already seven children before. May God help her in raising them. Read more.........

Can Gadafi Help Settle the EThio-Eritrea Stand Off?

Gadafi assumed the AU chairmanship for next year in the AU conference held in Addiss last week. Immediately after his election to the chairmanship, he flew to Massawa to visit PIA. After the visit, Ghadafi told reporters in Massawa that he has discussed the issue with both Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and President Iseyas Afewerki (PIA) and vowed to settle the long stand off. Can he do it?
I am very optimistic! Gadafi is a very ambitious and egotist leader. Currently he is working hard to transfer the AU into the United States of Africa and has resistance from other skeptic leaders who doesn’t like his ambition. There is a good incentive for him to try to solve the Ethio-Eritrea stand off. The Ethio-Eritrea stand off is one of the most difficult problems in Africa and it will be a great diplomatic victory to add to his resume, if he can do it. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if he takes this as one of his top priority in his chairmanship.
He has also the leverage and timing on his side. The main problem on this issue is Ethiopia’s insistence on dialogue before implementing the court decision and Eritrea’s rejection of any dialogue regarding implementing the court issue. So, by definition, if Gadafi started to negotiate between the two countries, there is no problem for Ethiopia (of course, Ethiopia may prefer another negotiator for sure, but they know they will not get it- he is their best shot). Also, Ethiopia doesn’t seem to have the same degree of backing from Washington as it did under Bush. The problem will be for PIA, who refused any sort of dialogue on the issue. At the same time, it will be difficult for PIA to say “NO” to Gadafi – who has been his best friend and ally for the last 11 years. Another last point is that people in both countries are sick and tired off this conflict and the leaders know it. They may bend they stand and reach some compromise! May God solve this problem for our people!

Update: Gadafi made the interview in Massawa. I have looked the government media out let for the last two days and they have escaped that part of the report. This is a good indication of the government's satnd on the issue. .....no dialogue

PIA and Muammer Al-Gadafi on Hunting Trip

photo: courtesy of shabait.com

Photo: courtesy of shabait.com

The Competition b/n Awate.com and Assenna.com

Starting from the end of 2008, assenna.com has appeared as the main source of news for those looking a change in ER. The news reported are daily and one wonders the reliability of their reports. Most of the news reported is also big events that most readers found hard to believe, giving the political reality in ER. Nevertheless, they have managed to attract the attention of the public. Unfortunately, this seems to have created unexpected reaction from a would-be-friend of assenna.com
In a series of news/articles, awate.com has reported to the effect of “These news in assenna.com are false.” Check the following two news reports by awate.com and a third article from one of their regular contributors.
1. The Case Of The Commando Units In Segeneity
2. The Iranian-Eritrean Relations
3. When The Hand Stretches, The Back Bends
The two news are not actually news….they seem an implicit effort to disprove assenna.com. The article, whose author claims to be inside ER, explicitly warns us not to believe the news and asks those who are reporting such news (assenna.com) to stop from fooling the public.
When I read these articles in awate.com, I wondered why awate.com went all the way to question assena.com? I am not saying the reports in assenna.com are true. Frankly, I don’t believe them. But, what I am questioning is why is awate.com doing this? Are they really trying to save us from fabricated drams? If so, they haven’t done it before for other websites. Asmarino.com used to report sometimes false news, but I haven’t seen awate.com stretching their hand to disprove it. In fact, after reading their continuous effort to disprove assenna.com, my impression was that awate.com felt treated by the attention assenna.com is getting or may be awate.com were looking for the change to come from different direction than those implied by assenna.com. Well, anyways, that is my weired way of questioning though!!

Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe

As the economic tragedy of Zimbabwe continues with Mogabe's refusal to step down, the country's hyperiflation is now breaking all records. The inflation rate as of last july was 231 million percent. Or a better figure may be that one U.S. dollar is trading above 300 trillion Zimbabwe dollars. If you want to understand what that means, write the zeros on paper and think what it means. Because of this high iflation, the value of the currency have literally become useless.The highest bill they have so far is 100 trillion dollars and is not enough to buy a loaf of bread! To read more about the story check here.

Solomon Abera is Back to Radio

The former sport news reporter for Dimtsi Hafash and later for ERI-TV is now with an opposition online radio assenna.com. Solomon was also the director of radio Zara, the FM radio of the MOI, before he left Asmara. Solomon brings experience and familiarity to the new radio. He has also excellent narrating ability. Both Solomon and Amanuel, founder of assenna, were working for the Ministry of Information. Assenna.com is a new online news service creating a lot of buzz with controversial news which yet has to be proved. They seem also likely to go on air from online. Check their radio here.

Angesom Isaac and His Team working on Tigrigna Folklore

This is a nice collection and well researched original work of Tigrigna folklore. The peice combines the folklore behind the tigrigna music we normally know as traditional songs.
Great work Angeson and your team....I hope more work will document and revive our culture.

Great Instrumental Music

This youtube clip contains great instrumental music composition. The first is Yemane Barya's "sdetegna gerkani" ...and it goes right into my heart. ....Thanks Girls for getting Barya Back. The second is Wedi Duraf's hidarb song...nice music. I can't wait to get the entire CD.

Happy Holidays

Is Something Cooking in Eritrea?

In the last couple of weeks, asena-online.com has been reporting what it seems a growing confrontation and upraising by the Eritrean Defense Forces against the government. However, these reports are not confirmed by other opposition websites or opposition news sites. Since asena-online.com is relatively new, the credibility of its reports has yet to be established (unlike websites like awate.com, which have relatively established credibility among their readers). But it is also possible that asena-online.com may have access to high powered insiders in the army.
Another aspect of this website’s reports is that, it is not only reporting an incident in the army. Before these reports come, there was a continuous article (and is still continuing). This article seems a conspiracy theory in nature and accuses PIA all sort of dirt work. The article cites a couple of other development such as NATO’s movement into the gulf of Red Sea, Iranian movement into the port city of Asseb, and claims a cloud of change is hanging around Eritrea. It then asks Eritreans (in an editorial page) to prepare for it.
This article is now followed by continuous reports of incidences of confrontation between the army and the government. All this makes the website’s recent move like a more coordinated and organized campaign rather than reports of incidences.
The fact that these reports are only coming from asena-online.com and have the nature of coordinated campaign raises special curiosity. May be some organized groups in the army are behind all these reports. Also to note here is the background of the founder of the website. He is a veteran of Betmhrti sewra and is possible that he can have special connection to some groups in the army than other websites. All this makes one to wonder if some thing is cooking in Eritrea.
Check the website for all of the recent reports on the website: asena-online.com

Why Do We Love Advising Presidents-Elect?

Freakonomics, asked the question on the title to its readers. The question was put as follows:
“Everyone seems to have advice for President-elect Obama these days: physicists, economists, Willie Nelson — even Freakonomics commenters are getting in on the act.
Why are we always so eager to advise new presidents? Rarely do new congressmen, major league sports coaches, and corporate executives generate the same flood of unsolicited advice. So why are we so eager to share our ideas about how the president should govern?”

And so many people suggested a possible answer. One of these answers was so appealing that I decided to use it for Friday Night. Here is his/her answer:

“ I’m so glad you asked, for I know the answer.
Very simply, we all feel we have great ideas that, for one reason or another, never get a hearing outside the barber shop or coffee shop.
……..I have ideas all the time (as does everyone, I imagine). Yet there is often no real place to get them heard–or at least no where that can actually put those ideas in motion…….”

Questions: We all will agree that many Eritreans have great ideas about how to tackle the problems their country is facing. What do they do to share their ideas? And who advices the president?

Nominate an ERN hero of the Year 2008

Last night I was watching CNN’s Hero of the Year program where they recognize the works of exemplary humanitarian activists from through out the world.
As I watch the program, I raised the same question that always comes to my mind. Why don’t we have such an award system where we recognize exceptional achievements and deeds of Eritreans?
I don’t think any one would doubt the relevance of such recognition for wellbeing of a society – It is such a common sense concept. Recognition is an incentive system and people respond to incentives. This not to say those who do exemplary works will do it to get recognition….No! But recognizing their work and cause will boost their effort and encourage others to follow their steps. And there are many Eritrean individuals doing extraordinary things who deserve recognition from their society. But often, we don’t even know them, let alone to award them…..simply because we don’t have a mechanism to recognize their achievements and causes. The only such annual recognition (award) system that I am aware of is the RaymaK award given to artist. But don’t we need Raymoks in academy? In Business?, in humanitarian activities? Yes we do! We need more RymoKs...in many other fields. We have Eritrean individuals doing commendable work helping Eritrean refugees who deserve recognition. We have exceptionally successful Eritreans in academy and business who could serve as role model to Young Eritreans. By recognizing the achievement of those individuals, we as a society will benefit a lot.
I hope to see some sort of organizations that would organize these wards in different fields ….and I hope it will not be late.
Till then, let’s assume here such a hypothetical organization exists and it is going to award an ERN hero of the year 2008 at the end of this year. The award, according to the criteria of this hypothetical organization, will be given to any Eritrean who have:
1. Done exceptional works in humanitarian activities helping Eritreans, or
2. Have achieved exceptional success in any field and can serve as role model to young Eritreans.

To that extent, if you were asked to nominate your ERN hero of the year 2008, who would he/she be?

Happy Thanks Giving From Friday Night

Dear Visitors- today is thanks giving: an American tradition of expressing gratitude for all the good things one have over the year (and for the harvest in the old days). And on this occasion, I would like to express my gratitude for where I am now and what I have been able to do on my life. I would assume, every visitor of my blog have also a good reason to be thankful…..for many of our friends and classmates are not yet lucky enough to have access to read blogs let alone to own their own blog and have the freedom of expressing their views.
So please take a moment to take a deep breath and be thankful for what you already have…and HAPPY THANKS GIVING for all of you.

The Article I Forwarded to my Friends

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

PIRATES VERSUS WEAPONS DEALERS

There is an interesting development that comes from the coast of somalia. agroup of pirates highjaked a ship----a routine exercise in the coasts of somalia for years now. But this time, it drew the attention of world supper powers, unlike other pirates....an attention the death of hundreds of Somalis didn't get. Th estory also reveals a dirt work of international diplomacy. The story below details all the ins of that in an interesting way. Below is the link to the full story.
The pirates that captured the freighter Faina didn't know the ship was full of tanks. They also were unaware that by hijacking the vessel, they had ruined an international weapons deal that may have been illegally sending arms to Sudan

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,582513,00.html

also look the link below for a similar story from BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7656662.stm

Reading Dr. Russom

I am a big fun of Dr. Russom’s poems….I love them. But I didn’t get a chance to own his books until recently. I would get one poem from here and one from there. Finally, I got one of his books from Amazon (I wonder why I didn’t search in Amazon till now). Anyways, I got the book “we have our voices”…a selected Poems of Reesom Haile. The book has 56 poems along with their English translation by Professor Charles Cantalupo of Pen State University. For any one who has some interest in art/poetry, it is a great book to have it on your shelf. I didn't get his other books, and I hope I will get them, especially the one with the audio (and if you know how to get it, pls tell me).

Why I love Dr. Russom’s work:
I love them, because they are full of art; they have beauty in them, there is creativity in them. They have full of humor. They are not a full page essay like other….they are short and precise. Unlike other Tigrigna poets which are usually loaded with heavy words, Dr. Russom’s poems are constructed from the words of the ordinary guy. They are simple, yet they always have powerful message. They are original and you wonder how he used them to tell his message.
Well, I may not be good enough to explain the power of his work. You have to read them for your self to appreciate them. So, I encourage you to get the book. But for now get some flavor from the following two of my favorite (from among many in the book).

Quan-qua-na
E’zi quan-qua-na
E’zi Tigrigna
K-t-ea-m
Chew a’lewo!
K-lm-lm
Te-s-mi a’lewo!
K-qe-m-m
Ber-bere a’lewo!
K-f-g-m
A’xmi a’lewo!
Q-re-bwo qu-re-b’wo
Ae-s-te-ma-q-r’wo!
The message here is clear. The beauty is on how he creatively constructed the lines to express the message. It looks he is responding to those who claim ‘Tigrigna dereq eyu, n’fkri kgelx ayk’aln eyu…can’t be used to express …this and that”. Here, he is not only telling us that their claim is not true, that Tigrigna has all the qualities, but is also showing us it has the qualities through this poet and his choice of words.
The Second of my favorite is Desta. Here is a PDF version of it.

Here, besides the beauty of the poet, there is a hidden message. But, it depends on how you wanted to interpret it. And different people may see it differently…only him self knows what he wanted to say. To me, the message is in the last lines of the poem, as is in most of his work. What did he want to say by the last lines? You can stretch your imagination
Finally, to fully appreciate his work; you have to listen to and see his performance…his dress, his art of his performance makes him the legend poet. Here is what I found in youtube…performing in Festival 1998 with Fihra… his signature poem, alewuna/alewana.

The Greatest Olympian of All Times

For many people getting the chance to participate in the Olympic is a dream. For many others, getting a medal, even a bronze one, in this grand competition, is a life time achievement. For Michael Phelps, one gold medal was not enough, two was not enough,…,five was not enough.....it was only being the grandest Olympian of all times that was enough. He broke the all time record of 7 gold medals in one Olympic held by Mark Spitz for 36 years. Phelps has collected 8 gold medals in one Olympic, making him self the champion of all times Olympic and he will keep that record for years to come. What an achievement!!!
How is that possible for some people to achieve so much more than others? Michael Phelps has the answer,
“Nothing is impossible," Phelps said. "With so many people saying it couldn't be done, all it takes is an imagination, and that's something I learned and something that helped me.”