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Youth
Reflections from Denver's Youth Mekhete (1) Today on January 26th of 2008, two special guest speakers
from out of state came to the Eritrean Community Center to clarify and
explain the issues and concerns going on about Eritrea and the Horn of Africa
region. One of them who's name goes by Dr. Ghidewon Asmerom lives in
Richmond, VA and earned his Ph.D at Western Michigan University. He is now
also a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. The other special guest
(Yohannes Sium) is a law student at George Washington University in
Washington D.C. Both of these men are highly intelligent and understand the
crisis going on back in Eritrea and the Horn of Africa Region. They came to
speak to us about a few of the many things that we are facing today along
with the brief historic background of Eritrea and the thirty-year struggle
for independence. Things such as the border issue between Eritrea and
Ethiopia happened to be explained throughout his discussion. Going further
into this subject Ethiopia and Eritrea are contemplating over who's land is
Badme and other couple of areas. Both countries then came to an agreement
that the demarcation of the borders will be carried out by a technical team.
It so happens that in 2002 Badme was all along inside Eritrean territory. "We must be the change we wish to see" - Mahatma
Ghandi. Age 14 Youth
Reflections from Denver's Youth Mekhete (2) After hearing Dr.Ghidewon and Yohannes Sium speak about
Eritrea I felt more educated on the history and the current issues dealing
with the Eritrean and Ethiopia borders, terrorism, and on how we as a
Eritrean community can help our country. Dr.Ghidewon discussed the struggle for independence and
Eritrea and Ethiopia's fight over territory. Eritrea and Ethiopia had fought
for over thirty years for independence. After the 1991 victory, many of the
Tigri Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) moved into the Badme region to farm and
live. As a result of these Ethiopians moving into the area, many Eritrean
farmers who were already there were forcefully evicted. This became a issue
of Ethiopia's illegal occupation in large parts of the Eritrean region and
destruction of crops and property continued throughout the next year. By this
time, Eritrea and Ethiopia had fought again in 1998 and 1999 over the border
issue. The Eritrean-Ethiopia boundary decision was made in April 2002. Our other guest speaker Yohannes Sium informed us about
the issue Eritrea is facing today about the accusations of supporting
terrorism. It is said that Eritrean has supported the Somalia extremists but
Eritrea does not support any organizations that link to terrorism. Also
Eritrea had been a victim of terrorism many times before and it is helping
along with other nations to try to fight terrorism. Eritrea is doing its best
to stop terrorism and is cooperative with the U.S. to fighting it. As
Dr.Ghidewon and Yohannes said, the accusations that Jendayi Frazer has made
about Eritrea's relation to terrorism has had no evidence to go along with
the false information provided. If Eritrea was to be put on the state
sponsors of terrorism list this would affect the country of Eritrea and the
people from Eritrea. Mr. Garcia had also come to speak on how we as an Eritrean
community can help our country with the issues it is facing today. There are
a number of ways we can help. We could write to our representatives and
senators to pressure them to not put Eritrea on the sponsor of terrorism
list. We can also urge the U.S. administration to make Ethiopia accept the
border agreement decided by the EEBC. I appreciated the time the guest speakers took to inform
us of what's going on in our country and what we could do to help our
country. With what we know we can rise up and act together as an Eritrean
community and do something about the current issues that our beautiful
country faces today. Semira Matios Age 14 Youth
Reflections from Denver's Youth Mekhete (3) As a little girl, I have always been intrigued with
Eritrea. I grew up learning about the culture, government, and tradition of
the people in Eritrea. Even though I had a small connection with Eritrea, I
somewhat felt disconnected with my heritage. I felt that I would never be a
true Eritrean because I did not benefit the country in anyway. I did go there
during the summer time, but unlike the natives, I never contributed to the
country whether it was joining Warsay or even donating items to the people.
However, after the seminar this weekend I actually feel like I am a true
Eritrean. I understand that despite the fact that I do not live in Eritrea, I
can still contribute and help my country with my knowledge and hard work. I have to admit, when I first heard about the seminar I
did not think that I would benefit from it what so ever. I expected to be
lectured at about how great our country was and how the government was doing
wonderful things for the people. However, it was not like that at all. The lecturers
presented the history of Eritrea in such an interesting manner. They used
slide shows and joked while teaching us about our history. It did not feel
like I was in class; I felt like an adult that was being informed about my
country. During the seminar, the presenters made us fee like we
were in a discussion rather than us being spoken at. I felt extremely
comfortable and I gained a lot of knowledge.
Not only did the presenters educate us, but they informed us what was
really going on in Eritrea. There are so many websites now-a-days that
denounce the Eritrean government and make up absurd stories about what is
going on in Eritrea. Even though I know better than to believe the stories,
many people actually think that the Eritrean government is corrupt. In fact
during the meeting, a girl had asked "why refugees in Eritrea were being
mistreated" and her source was Asmarino.com
(also known as Agamino.com). She failed to
realize that Asmarino.com is actually
funded by Ethiopians. The presenter told her that the myth was not true and
to make sure that her sources were valid.
The presenters revealed the truth and let us know what was really
going on in Eritrea. It was much appreciated by the youth. The
most important and valuable portion of the seminar was when one of the
presenters explained to us how we can come out as winners in a struggle. This
portion of the meeting was so meaningful to me because it showed how
Eritrean-Americans could tremendously help the people back home without
having to move out there. He spoke about how we need to know our targets,
personal information about them, and how to pressure them into supporting our
cause. The presenter even gave us an example on how he gained the support of
Senator Salazar in his struggle for the rights of immigrants. All my life, I
have struggled with my identity because I thought that since I did not
contribute to Eritrea, I was not a true Eritrean. However, after that part of
the seminar I realized that it is what I make of the situation. Whether it is
getting people to sign petitions or emailing government officials, I can help
my country. This seminar motivated me to do something for my country. For
once in my lifetime I do not feel helpless when it comes to helping Eritrea
and I have to thank the presenters for that. I gained knowledge and
confidence that will last me a lifetime. I really want to thank the
presenters and people who are responsible for creating such a great event! Luwam
George University of Colorado at Boulder International Affairs
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