The trip that tuned out into a dream

The trip that tuned out into a dream

Mohamed Kheir

Whenever I travel and I am about to reach my destination, a feeling of sadness strikes me; as that destination is not that original ‘Home’ that I left many years back. Yet, I feel glad to see people that are happy to have come back home. The dead rest in peace, but those of us who are alive and have some conscience live, dying all the time. The regime has destroyed our homes, our lives, our careers, everything. In a way, those of us who are lucky enough to have survived the physical and mental damage or both feel not only obliged but also determined to struggle to create a better future for the next generation. The destination this time was a bit different.

‘Uscita’, ‘Vietato fumare’, ‘bagalio’, are the words that one meets at the airport and then you hear ‘boun gjorno, ciao, bouna sera’ …. Whenever I visit Roma my few old Italian words become revived and that sense of Italian colonialism come back and you feel that there is something of you there. Few years back a friend told me about one ardent supporter of the Eritrean regime who talked proudly of how the Italians copied Asmara when they built Rome. Rome is just so rich in history that you can hardly cover that irrespective of how many times you have been there. It also reminds you about the Ascari who fought for Italy and some of them came to Rome for training. It reminds you the time Mussolini paid a visit to an Eritrean military contingent in Monte Sacro in Rome on the 5^th of May 1937.

But the dream started a couple of days back when my wife came from Sanaa and we had a long discussion on the current events there. I had met an Affar intellectual who told me about the history of the Affar, their links to Yemen and other neighbouring regions, their independent Sultanates that signed agreements with foreign powers before the advent of the influence of Italian and French colonialism in the area. The evening before our travel, we met a Yemeni Professor, at the University of Sanaa (in the company of a Sudanese family), who studied the genetic composition of the Yemenis and compared that with those of people in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Djibouti) and how much similarity there was.

In Rome, Fatouma, a friend from Djibouti offered us to stay in her flat that was available. We fetch the keys from an Italian friend and we get a warm welcome from three generations. We stayed in Garbatella with its beautifully designed old buildings and too many elderly people. You feel it is a place that has defied death with its many ‘Farmacia’ some of which are specialised in catering orthopedical and other materials needed by the elderly. There we enjoyed having a Cornetto and a Cappuccino every morning at the Garbatella Fooball Club Caffe and the old man who served us would ask each day ‘Multi Bouno’. I was told never to order a Cappuccino after 11 O’clock as that would not be liked, it is becoming un-Italian.

One evening we had dinner with this extraordinary genuine, caring and helpful friend from another area of the Horn. Another day we meet this incredibly happy trio, Eritrean-Italians. At another evening, we met an Ethiopian–Somali, who I found to be an embodiment of all that is good about the Horn of Africa.  He is fluent in his own native language, besides other languages in the Horn: Amharic, some Tigrinya, Arabic and other international languages. He drives us across the city, shows us a building in the center of the city where asylum seekers, mostly from the Horn and others have occupied. It is usually Italian leftists who act-in and promote such activities helping not only the needy but also helping their agenda(s). I say, why not; Italy has occupied Eritrea, Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland and don’t we have to occupy some residences, here. He drives us past ‘Palazzo Venezia’ where Mussolini used to address crowds, including where he boasted the Italian occupation of Addis Ababa in 1935. 

He follows events in the Horn closely, he is a fan of Awate.com and follows the arguments between Ethiopians and Eritreans there, and he told me that it is where he came to know about me first. He also follows other Eritrean websites such as Asmarino.com and follows Dr. Russom Mesfun’s Face the Erespora. He tells us a joke where the head of state in some country was inaugurating a railway line.  The President addresses the gathering saying, ‘Look you used to travel between here and the capital for more than nine days, but now you can reach your destination in one day. He was expecting jubilation and clapping but the audience did not. They were simply murmuring and talking to each other.  In the end the President asked what the problem was, and they replied ‘what are we going to do with the remaining 8 days?’.

He then tells us about Mengistu Lemma’s Amharic poetry “Basha Ashebir beAmerica”, a brilliant exposé of Habesha’s take on racisim in America.  The story revolves around Basha Ashebir’s encounters in the 60s America where he went as a delegate of the Ethiopian Government. His specific encounter in a coffee bar where he was not welcome is at the heart of the Poem’s message.  In the bar, Basha asks repeatedly to be served but the Barista simply ignores him and then tells him that this bar is not for his type. Not understanding what that means Basha insists to be served. The back and forth led to some scuffles that in the end landed Basha in prison. In prison he met an African American and there, an interesting discussion started on race relations. Basha argues that the sons of “sem” have no business in the fight between the sons of “Kam” - supposed to be the father of the black race - and “Yaphet” - supposed to be the father of the white race (all three are supposed to be the sons of Noah). The poem concludes with Basha in the end understanding where the African-American is coming from and not only sympathizes with him but also realises that he is in the same boat.  One of the verses reads, 

"yemojaw tewelaj yeTerahut Menzyie Shagolle Shanquilla tebieye meyazie". We discuss how Ethiopia is managing its diversity and how federalism is gradually empowering those people who have been marginalized for long in taking care of their own affairs. We agree that the biggest problem facing African countries is managing their diversity.

Grazie Claudio

From time to time, wax in one of my ears solidifies and makes hearing difficult. When I left to Rome I had that problem. The wax would usually disappear when I use special ear medication that dissolve it. This time it was stubborn, I tried several liquids and even an ear candle that you burn holding to the ear that is meant to dissolve the wax but didn’t work. We went to a ‘farmacia’ and asked the usual question. “Parlare Inglese”, this time the answer was not the usual, “Poco, poco”. But it was, “yesss, aaa litttlle”. I explained the problem and asked if there was a clinic where we can go to in the neighbourhood. Claudio took a couple of telephone calls to check. When he found they were closed, he went with us to a nearby, “Studio Medico” and asked Dottore Sergio if he could help. Sergio told us to come the next morning. We went to the clinic the next morning and we met his secretary and it was difficult to communicate. When we tried the little Italian we knew, used gestures and used English, she could not understand us. Then 4 persons, who were waiting for the Doctor in the clinic came and each one used an Italian word and so the four of them made a tangible sentence. Later the Doctor came and pumped out the wax and it was a relief that the last 24 hours before my travel back, I could hear Italy, well with my both ears. We went to thank Claudio for his help and it was still kind of him to ask again, “Was the price too much”. We told him it was fair and we left. Grazie Claudio and Garzie to all the nice Italians we met.

The night before we left we were invited by a couple from another region of the Horn who previously not only lived in the Sudan, but loved it. Though the invitation was for a drink, it turned out to be a mini-dinner. Then we had to run to catch up with a typical Italian dinner with our Italian friend in the company of a Japanese family. I reflect that some of our modern political links and boundaries in the Horn started here with the Italian connection.

After spending an internet and TV-free week in Italy and having interacted with many incredible citizens from the Horn, I had a dream about the ‘The United Federal States of the Horn of Africa’, Why Not, WHY NOT.

I have written in one my of my previous articles at awate.com, after attending a seminar on the region, “The Horn of Africa is home to more than 100 million people with hundreds of ethnic groups. It is a dynamic multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-religious region. Its landscape varies from vast formidable deserts to high mountains, plateaus and fertile agricultural areas. It has produced people who are resilient to the adversities of nature and perhaps has contributed to yield tough fighters. It is partly home to the Great Rift Valley. It encompasses pastoral, agro-pastoral and farmer communities. More often than not, clashes between the mobile pastoralists and the sedentary farmers are causes to some of the wars in the region and perhaps potential for further conflicts. It is a home to the oldest human fossils and settlements; origin of coffee that influenced the political landscape in both Arabia and Europe; source of the Blue Nile and its importance for livelihoods of millions of people; and a the first region that hosted religiously persecuted Moslems from Arabia as refugee by a Christian king—a symbol of religious dialogue and tolerance. The region is home to the ancient Meroic and Axumite civilisations and home to the oldest written scripts in Africa.”