Virtual Eritrea

This one of our last reports from Eritrea. WE are very curious about who has been following our reports. So please write to us. Comments or questions are welcome:
Address: mats.jonsson@skola.alingsas.se

Early in the morning I (Kerstin) visited the orthodox mass. I didn't understand a word except, of course, Biblical names. The preacher (?) was talking and the congregation were silent, but seemed very moved. They bowed several times and made deep cross signs. Even the ground in front of the church and the walls seemed holy since many people kissed the ground or embraced the walls.

After this I went on to the Catholic mass. It was something extra today, but I couldn't understand what it was. The people I asked just answered that it was like this once a year. There where a lot of children dressed as angels with wings on their backs and elder girls who danced and played maracas.

When the procession started the women in the congregation started to yell encouraging, the same yell that Arabic women have. The choir sang and it was a very happy feeling in the church. I didn't understand any of the words here either since they where in Italy or Latin. The mass continued in a big parade on the Liberation Avenue and all the visitors in the church followed the bishop, the angels, the choir and the dancing girls. A brass band led the parade.

We have some health problems. Kerstin has lost her voice and is writing notes instead of talking and I (Mats) got very ill yesterday. With high fever and aching body I went to a doctor as I was worried about the possibility that I had got malaria. The doctor took all tests and finally told me I have probably got Dengue fever. It is common in the unhealthy climate in Massawa and is spread by mosquitoes. This is not dangerous (no worries !) but of coarse not pleasant.  Today I feel better after lots of painkillers.

When I got back to our hotel, African Pension, today I was invited to a coffee ceremony by the women who runs the hotel. They where sitting in the hotel lobby with a charcoal stove made of tin. First they roasted the green coffee beans on the fire. The hotel was filled with smoke but it smelled very nice. Then they grind the beans and poured the coffee powder in a ceramic "bottle", added
water and let it boil for some minutes. It was served in small cups together with roasted corn. As filter they used a ball of horse tail which was fitted in the bottleneck. It tasted wonderful !

We had a nice chat and a younger woman who could speak some English translated the curious questions from the others.
I showed them pictures from Sweden and of my family and this was  of great interest as they never had seen so much snow before. This coming together by making coffee or tea is a relaxed way of ending the working hours and is the time for women talk. The men go to a bar and take a beer or a glass of tea instead.

We had no special program today so I ( David) took a walk in Asmara. I walked for about half an hour. Then I met a boy who asked if I would buy him a hamburger.

"Okay," I said, "if you tell me about your life."

He agreed and showed me a bar that I hadn't noticed before. It was a good bar compared with other Eritrean bars. I don't know any Eritrean bar except this that have hamburgers. We ordered two hamburgers and two Coca-Cola. He told me that he just had played football and he was very  hungry. He lived near the airport in the government's buildings because his father died in Massawa during the war. It was to far too go home and eat.

"So when I become a football star I buy you a car because you bought me a meal."

He was in 8th grade and liked physics and math because he wanted too be a pilot.

"A pilot and a football star? Don't you think it's to much at the same time?"

"Then I want to be a pilot."

Then he told me that he would like to learn Swedish. He already could speak Tigrinya, Arabic, English, Italic and an Ethiopian language.

About four o'clock we met Negacy who took us to a concert. The concert place reminded of an old Swedish "Folkets park", the Peoples park. When we waited for the concert to start we wandered around in the park and met three wedding parties. They where all dressed in the same manner. The bride in a European styled white dress and the bride groom in smoking. The bridesmaids for one bride were dressed exactly the same, from shoes to ear rings and hairstyle. Most of the guests where  traditionally dressed The man who sang is famous in Eritrea. We had heard him before on the radio. Every time you take a bus they play his music. His name is Sami Brhane. The show was delayed but when it started I was very surprised. There were no security at all. People jumped up on the stage and danced and then they put money in Sami's pockets or under his cap.

Another strange thing was that every time he finished a song there where no applauds, just whistle signals. The audience seemed to recognize all the songs and screamed when a special popular song started.

In the beginning there were only the boys in the front that danced, but after a while more and more people started to dance. We where also invited to try.

Many people in the audience were very curious about us and wondered why we were there, if we liked the music and where we came from. It was a very friendly feeling and we felt a lot of warmth toward us. All ages were represented in the audience and this might help to get a nice atmosphere.

Greetings from Mats, Kerstin, Ida, Maria, Fredrik and David