selam dehai,
The attitude and negative behavior of some Eritreans towards their own
people would have been understandable if it were limited only to a few
ignorant individuals who don't know any better and who may never have been
abroad to experience discrimination, but unfortunately it doesn't seem so.
In December 1994, preparing to leave (nostalgically I should add, for I
didn't want to leave) from Asmera airport, I approached an official at the
airport to explain a situation I had. I was asked, and gladly volunteered,
to carry a hard disk for the Sun WorkStation from the computer center at the
University of Asmera to the U.S. for repair and/or exchange. (By the way,
that was part of Dehai efforts to connect email service to the University).
I was carrying an official letter signed by the vice president of the school
that said basically lest the disk is damaged, it shouldn't be exposed to
x-ray radiation. I explained that to the operator of the x-ray machine but
he just said, "no, everything should go through it." As I tried to explain
the situation, an official, with no visible such designation, approached us
and asked what the problem was. I repeated the instruction from the UofA.
He said he didn't care about that, "we treat everybody the same, whether
it's the UofA or others." "But," I protested, "the disk could be damaged."
He said, "you're not the only one who understands computers." I said, "I am
not saying that at all, as a matter of fact I don't know anything about
computers, I am just repeating what the UofA people told me to ask airport
personnel not only here but abroad as well." He refused to accept my
explanation and took the disk from my hand and passed it through the x-ray.
He also asked me to pass my video camera that I was carrying on my shoulder
through the machine which apparently he was not requiring from others until
that moment. When I protested again he threatened me saying "sene serAt
gber." After that exchange, the nostalgia, all of a sudden, left me. I
just stared at the guy for a moment, shook my head and walked away.
In the waiting room, which BTW was a much pleasant area than the Addis Abeba
one, I noticed there was, I hate to say it but it was a white journalist
carrying his TV camera with him; he wasn't asked to leave his camera with
the luggage like mine, which I had to retrieve a couple of hours later from
the open boarding area near the tarmac, exposed to the midday sun and heat.
The official, I realized, just made his own rule after our exchanges, which
he viewed as hostile and confrontational, when he told me to leave mine
behind at the machine.
Why the difference in treatment? Fortunately, I didn't encounter any such
disparity in treatment in my five weeks stay in Eritrea except for the
airport incident. I was surprised to learn the official didn't even care
and said so about the UofA "official" letter which was signed by the vice
president for academic affairs. Such incidents put a dump, a stop, to ones
nostalgic, very emotional departure from Eritrea. Everyone of us knows how
hard the departure is, at least those of us who permanently live abroad.
The moral of the story: this is a pervasive problem. What is it going to
take to eduacate some folks, I don't know. But better to confront the
problem than covering it. As the tgrNa saying goes: "Hmamu zHab'e fewsu
yHab'e," he who hides his problem (lit. disease) fails to cure it (lit.
hides his medicine). (Note: This is not a political or partisan issue, so
let's treat is as such).
As for Tewelde's case, I too would be outraged to be treated in such a way
by some guard, and by an embassy who let him roam outside his jurisdiction -
an embassy doesn't own the street outside their compound. They failed to
educate their guards and should be held accountable. The city
administration also should make this clear to all foreign embassies in Asmera.
Paulos.
P.S. "May God save Africa from itself?" Hmm...Well, such problem may be
pervasive in other African countries, but I'd not generalize; I would rather
worry about Eritrea first!
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