Project Orotta: A conversation with the organizers

Recently, Project Orotta had three different events in three different cities in the United States. I asked the organizers of Project Orotta to talk about the objective of the organization and their successful fundraising. Here are the excerpts:

Issayas: Could you briefly describe about yourself?


Beri Gebrehiwot

Beri Gebrehiwot: I was born in Khartoum, Sudan and immigrated to the U.S. with my family at the age of 7. I currently live in Seattle, Washington. I am a Registered Nurse (RN), currently working in the health care IT field where I train and support nurses and physicians in implementing new health care systems. I love what I do because of the flexibility and the ability to travel and meet new people! I have a heart and passion for helping people and I want to dedicate my life to serving those who live in areas where medical attention is scarce or inaccessible. It is my ultimate dream to start a non-profit in Eritrea that supports their health care system by providing resources such as equipment and manpower in their schools, hospitals, etc.


Hellen Fissihaie

Hellen Fissihaie: I currently live in Dallas, Texas. I am the Program Director of the New Immigrant Women's Empowerment Initiative at DFW International Community Alliance. I have my Masters in International Political Science and hope to do my Ph.D in African Development. Now that's the education and career side of myself. The other side is filled with hope and optimism for women's development universally and growth for Eritrea and Eritreans internationally. An avid traveler who finds comfort and excitement in capoeria while finding my own growth in the company of random strangers and places.


Rahel Solomon

Rahel Solomon Afeworki: I was born in Eritrea on June 20 1981. My parents migrated to the United States in 1991 and I am the oldest of 6 kids. I am currently living in Seattle Washington and work for the Space Needle Corporation. who I am is defined by my history, my bloodline and my country. I am a daughter of Eritrea , I am bright, confident, honest, loving, smart, witty, hardworking and at times arrogant but knowing who I am and where I come from is the most important thing to me. I am blessed and lucky to have the beautiful family that I have.



Abadit Eyasu

Abadit Eyasu: I am currently a graduate student at the University of Washington. I immigrated to the U.S. in 1992 with my family of seven. I am very interested in service-focused work, and working with people experiencing crisis. Being involved with Project Orotta is one of the best decisions I have made. The idea of getting the community involved both locally and nationally to empower medical and dental students in Eritrea keeps me motivated.


Yehdego Beyene

Yehdego Beyene: I was born in Asmara, Eritrea but have lived in Dallas for 26 years. I’m a Contact Center Engineer.



Azieb Okbamicael

Azieb Okbamicael: I am nursing student pursing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). I currently work as a nurse with special needs children. As a nursing student I am very excited about what the Orotta Medical and Dental School means for our nation. I believe that these students are some of the brightest minds and by helping provide them with the proper equipment they will be able to further advance the medical practice of our nation.


Selamawit Bariamichael

Selamawit Bariamichael: I am originally from Washington State and graduated in 2011 from Seattle Pacific University as a pre-medical student receiving degrees in Molecular Biology, Chemistry and French. I currently live in Washington D.C. working for the Teach for America Organization (TFA). Joining the Project Orotta team has been an extremely exciting endeavor. As we commit as an Eritrean community to further the education of our brilliant medical and dental students, we are ultimately helping to develop our nations promising healthcare infrastructure.

Issayas: Have you been to Eritrea?

Beri: Yes, I was in Eritrea with my entire family in 2003! It was during that trip, actually, that I decided to become a nurse and to one day come back and serve in Eritrea. Even then, I would dream about building small clinics in the villages...giving those who are unable to travel into
the city access to health care closer to home, especially during emergencies.

Hellen: Yes, I was there in 2005 and plan on returning this year. Excited to see the new development of Eritrea and definitely see my family.

Rahel: I have never been back to Eritrea but making plans for the summer.

Abadit: After a long 20 years departing from Eritrea. I finally went back six months ago. One day, I decided to purchase my ticket because putting it off for so many years just wasn’t an option anymore. The six weeks I spent in Eritrea wasn’t enough but I had a chance to close and open new chapters of my life. The plan is to go back this summer, God willing.

Yehidgo: Have not been back to Eritrea since 1996, but looking forward to going back in May of 2012 to document the success of this project!

Azieb: I grew up in Asmara for the majority of my life and came to the United State in 2002. I am hoping to go back and visit this coming summer.

Selamawit: My most recent trip back to Eritrea was in 2006 during the Eritrean Youth Tour and the 2006 Eritrean Youth Conference.


Orotta School of Medicine and Dentistry. Asmara,Eritrea.

Issayas: Orotta Hospital, Orotta Medical and Dental School and now Project Orotta are named after Orotta, a historically significant area. Could you tell us about it?

Beri: The Orotta Hospital, as well as the Medical and Dental school adopted its name from a battlefield hospital during Eritrea's 30-year war for independence. This hospital, once known as the world’s longest underground hospital, stretching about 5 miles, was located in the northern mountainous region of Sahel. These hills became a safe haven for the families of soldiers, orphans and the disabled. According to the 1987 publication of the British Medical Journal, the underground facility consisted of many units that were all carefully hidden from air attack. Surprisingly these units, the neurosurgery, cardiovascular and orthopedic units, to name a few, were set up following western standards. This hospital had up to 1200 beds including a recovery unit. Aside from the hospital there were schools, orphanages, a newspaper printing press, a medical library and a pharmaceutical factory where anti-malarial pills, antibiotics and hundreds of bags of saline were produced every night.

The Orota Referral Hospital, an up-to-date facility with 200 beds, was built in 2003. It is currently the largest hospital in Eritrea with a variety of specialty services. In response to the shortage of medical professionals in Eritrea, the Orotta Medical School and Dental School was birthed in 2004. Both of these institutions were called Orotta in remembrance of what took place beneath the Sahel mountain; to honor those who lost their lives in the struggle, and also to commemorate and remember the countless physicians, surgeons, nurses and other personnel who worked tirelessly to make sure the wounded veterans, as well as civilians affected by the war, had adequate medical attention. Hence the model for the Orotta medical and dental school is community based, with a strong emphasis on public health and public health research. The ultimate vision is to provide the country of Eritrea with outstanding providers and clinicians. Prior to the establishment of the school, the physician index was 5 per 100,000 people and the approximate number of physicians in specialized fields totaled 4 obstetricians, 5 pediatricians and 7 surgeons. As you can imagine, this is far too low for a country with a population of 5 million people.


Orotta School of Medicine and Dentistry 2010 graduates.
Asmara, Eritrea

Issayas: How did the project started and how did you get involved?

Beri: I knew I wanted to somehow get involved the moment I met the dean in New York. I was thrilled about the mission and goals of the Orotta Medical and Dental School and knew that it was something I wanted to be a part of, even from a distance. Shortly after meeting the dean, I emailed him with a proposal to help provide some equipment for the school and instead he referred me to Yehdego Beyene, telling me that he too was on a mission to help the students at Orotta. I contacted Yehdego immediately, and the rest is history! This is a very important project because Eritrea's physician index is extremely low, with only 5 physicians for every 400,000 people, ranking amongst the lowest in the world. I believe that the idea of increasing manpower from within the country, developing and cultivating its own medical and dental professionals, is the best way to go. When you increase the number of health care providers, not only do you increase accessibility to the people, but you also have the ability to increase the quality of health care received.


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Issayas: What is Project Orotta and how did it start?

Hellen: Project Orotta is a global project geared at generating the income needed in order to purchase much needed laptops, printers, projectors, and converters for the medical and dental students as well as staff at Orotta Medical and Dental Schools in Eritrea. It is the mission of this project to provide the students and staff at Orotta with the most up to date and efficient technology in order to continue to progress and succeed as the country's first and prominent medical school. Yehdego met Dr. Andemariam Gebremichael (the Dean of Orotta Dental and Medical School) in DC while he was touring and promoting the school. During that time, they discussed possible means of helping the school. Months later, after receiving a letter of assistance from the Dean, Yehdego reached out to me in order to create a project that was both realistic while still serving the needs of the school. Thus, Project Orotta was born. I've worked with non profits and saw the schools needs as one that was easily attainable and was in unison with the idea of this project as a global diaspora project. Within weeks Beri, Abadit, and Rahel joined the
movement as the Seattle Team. Beri had also met Dr. Andemariam while he was touring and thought that joining Project Orotta was the best method in contributing to the needs of the school. Abadit, too had heard about the project and was excited to join the team and make a difference. Within months a solid DC team, consisting of Selam and Azieb, was organized. Together, this group co-exists in order to reach the final goal of Project Orotta and IS committed TO providing the medical school with what was promised to them by Project Orotta and its many supporters. This project is not about the 7 individuals working on it but about the future doctors and dentists committed to providing a healthy Eritrea.

Issayas: I heard of your successful fundraising in Seattle. How were you able to do it?

Abadit: When the group first decided to have a fundraiser dinner we all decided to have the event the same weekend. DC hosted the dinner on January 27 and Seattle and Dallas on January 28. Although, we were all in different parts of the country we worked together and collaborated our ideas. We made a list of people we knew and made sure they heard about the project. Included everyone: old neighbors, former teachers, restaurateurs, professionals, parent’s friends, and religious affiliations you name it they were invited. We wanted this dinner to be a night for the Eritrean Diaspora to come together and support Project Orotta. The dinner did just that, it appeared all attendees were enjoying themselves as well as making connection with the aspect of the mission. Which was beautiful. We couldn’t have been so successful without the support of the Seattle community, family and friends. We were all overwhelmed by the compassion and generosity of the community members when they heard about the project and the fundraiser. I remember the night of our fundraiser Beri, Rahel and I were having a brief
discussion upstairs around 7:00 p.m. and not many have arrived, 15 minutes later the room was filled. We were floored when we saw more people coming in. I t’s great to see all the work that they team has put in come together so successfully.

Issayas: Was the Seattle fundraising your first?

Abadit:Many of us have worked with nonprofits putting together events to raise funds in one shape or form. This project was great because we had an opportunity use each of our unique talents. This particular fundraiser dinner was special and close to our hearts because we wanted to empower the medical and dental students in Eritrea. This being our first Eritrean fundraiser, we went over details over and over to make sure the night would be perfect. The fundraiser in all three states gave us an extraordinary feeling and we appreciate the energy, excitement and willingness of the community leaders through this process.

Issayas: Seven of you are in different parts of the country (Seattle, WA., Dallas, TX; and Washington, D.C.) How do you manage to coordinate , mangage time,be active and determined?

Hellen: Thank god for facebook, email, and the cell phone. These are our three forms of communication. We mainly communicate via phone or email. Like everyone else, we all have careers and many of us are in school so communication is constant, whether it is texting, emailing, facebooking, or phone. Each individual has a primary role, whether it is taking care of paypal, facebook, twitter, or the bank account. We all share full visibility and access to what the other person is doing but we have divided roles so that one person has a specific job and is not burdened by too many duties. As a whole, each group is responsible for fundraising and advertising in their respective cities. Decisions are made by majority rule via calls or emails. Yedhego focuses on the facilitation of the project and in spreading the word to everyone as well as specific markets of the community. Hellen focuses on the logistics of the project, primarily setting up non profit, getting all legal and financial documents, and researching avenues to fulfill the end goal. Abadit, Beri, and Rahel are focused on social media, advertising, marketing, and fundraising. Selam and Azieb focus on utilizing the DC market and meeting prominent members of the diaspora to help fulfill the end goal. But, Everyone works to fundraise and to continue to spread the word about Project Orotta. We all share our opinions and help each other in whatever item needs to be taken care of. We are a solid group who share the same desire to help Eritrea have a long and sustainable health care system lead by Orotta Medical and Dental School.




Above two pictures: DC fundraising event









Seattle Eritrean Dance Group performing
The group consists of middle and high school students


Seattle, WA. Orotta Project Fundraising Event.

Issayas: What is the plan for the future?

Yehdego: To start a movement that will galvanize the Eritrean Diaspora to get more involved in the development of Eritrea, including focusing in the area of knowledge transfer. It's important we reach out to Eritrean professionals to discuss ways of lending our skills to our people back home who are eager to learn and use what they've learned to develop the country.

Issayas: On your website it states that you want to raise 40 laptops, 15 projectors and 60 converters. With your recent successful fundraising, how far are you from achieving the above mentioned goals? Once you achieve them what is the next plan?

Yehdego: As of now, we have collected funds to cover the cost of 20 laptops, 10 Overhead LCD Projectors, 1 all-in-one copier/printer and 60 power converters. Once all the necessary funds have been collected, we will proceed with purchasing the equipment from Dubai. Our desire is for all of Project Orotta members to travel to Eritrea and document the equipment transfer to the dean of the Orotta School of Medicine and Dental Medicine, Dr. Andemariam Gebremichael.

To check out their website and donate, please visit: http://www.projectorotta.org

Thank you all for your time and dedication.

A Conversation with Dr. Massimo Zaccaria

Sketches of a trip: Eritrea 2011


Sketch five and half.

Whenever I'm in Eritrea, by luck, Dr. Massimo is also in Eritrea doing his research. We have held discussions on various issues and our center of gravity in Asmara has always been RDC (The Research and Documentation Center of Eritrea, which is the defacto National Archives of Eritrea).

Below is one of the topics that we discussed.

Issayas: Can you briefly tell us about yourself?

Dr. Massimo Zaccaria: I’m a researcher of African History at the University of Pavia. I graduated in Oriental Studies at the University of Venise (Arabic main concentration). Quite soon I took a particular interest on Sub-Saharan Africa an area where the intersection between Islamic and African culture is particularly evident. Sudan was the first African country where I have conducted research. I first visited the country in 1987 and the following year I took an advantage of a special program organized by the University of Khartoum aimed at teaching Arabic to a selected group of foreign students introducing them to the history of the country. After a year and a half I had to return to Italy to conclude my studies, but I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the country and by the kindness of the Sudanese people. I received my PhD from the University of Siena in 1992 and then I was Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University a Pavia. In 2000 I obtained a permanent research position at the University of Pavia. In 2001 I decided to visit Eritrea. During my researches I was struck by the fact that Sudanese history was treated quite separately from the history of the neighboring countries. In reality Eritrea, Sudan and Ethiopia share a great deal of aspects, they have developed links that permeate the culture and the daily life of the three countries to an extent that always struck me. I started focusing how this links developed during the colonial period so I started working at how Italian Administration related to the Hajj, a typical transnational phenomenon. I also focused on the labor history of the region; I’m currently working on a project centered on the history of mechanic in the Horn of Africa Region. This kind of knowledge was brought in the region by the Italians, but Eritreans soon appropriated this technology and soon became the regional experts. Especially in Ethiopia, Djibouti and Sudan the Eritrean connection in the mechanic field is particularly evident. So I’m trying to trace how Eritreans were able to develop and maintain this network.



Road construction


Edible oil production factory in Keren. (1930)


Gold extraction, Medrizen. (1900)


Oil refinery, Massawa. (1885)


The first automobile in Eritrea.

All pictures are from Zemhret Yohannes'
new book in Tigrigna :"Italian Colonialism in Eritrea"

But I’m aware that I’m not talking about the main subject of our conversation. So let’s go back to the main issue of this interview. In 2009 I presented a proposal for a Marie Curie fellowship. The subject of my research was an attempt to tackle the problem of the preservation of African locally printed materials i.e. books, booklets, newspapers, calendars and so on but rigorously printed in Eritrea in the period between 1867 (first book printed) and 1941 (end of the Italian domination). This kind of material is particularly delicate. It was printed in a very limited number of copies and is in general overlooked by researchers that tend to focus on other kind of materials: parchments, manuscripts, archival documents. I’m not saying that to pay attention to these very precious documents is wrong, on the contrary every effort should be exerted in order to preserve them. But our attention should also go to materials that don’t enjoy the same level of striking value. To my knowledge no African country has an adequate picture of the materials printed locally; in general we have a rather opaque idea of the local printed production. But it is this local production that can help us in understanding crucial mutations in the social history of a given country. Before applying for the Marie Curie fellowship, I discussed and developed this idea with Zemhret Yohannes and obtained full cooperation of RDC in the person of its director, Azeb Tewolde.

Issayas: You are working on the history of the printing press in Eritrea; can you tell us what you've found out?

Massimo: As I said the project was quite innovative, that means that it was new and we had a very imprecise idea of the amount of titles we had to deal with. Some bibliography that took into consideration only portion of the Eritrean local production were putting the number to some 150 title plus some newspapers. The OPAC of the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze searching the combination “Asmara” and “1867-1941” still give back 178 hits. Eritrea's Research and Documentation Center (RDC) catalog was giving close to 200 hits. So we started visiting public and private libraries in the country. After two years of work in Eritrea and Italy we were able to update it to some 750 titles! That is triple of the initial estimation. We also digitize that title, at the moment we have already digitized 110.000 pages being 75% of the patrimony. Currently we are working at the online version of the library; we hope to be able to provide full access to the texts within 2012.

Issayas: What is the title, the author, and the printing press of the first book printed in Eritrea?

Massimo: At the very beginning of the history of the printed book in Eritrea we have the Catholic Church that brought the first printing press in the country at the beginning of the 1860’s. For that reason the first book printed in Eritrea is a religious one, a “doctrine” printed in Massawa in 1867. Then another printing press was brought by the Evangelical Church and an
additional one by the Italian Authorities. In Eritrea there was no shortage of printing presses, on the contrary there was an excessive presence of printing presses that were competing over a limited market.

Issayas: Can you tell us about your project at RDC ?

Massimo: RDC was the main partner in the research project. We took a “minimalist” approach. In general it is believed that a digitization project require consistent financial resources. That is only partially true. The fear that a digitization project is going to be too costly keeps away many potential beneficiaries from the implementation of a digital library project. There are best practices, manuals, software that are distributed free on the web and are prepared by institutions that ensure the highest qualitative standard. Also hardware costs can be kept to a minimum. If you don’t have the resources to buy the most advanced scanner on the market you are not automatically out of business. You can revert to a normal scanner and get a fairly good result. The difference is that if you wait for external funds you seriously risk never start the project. We opted for self-reliance; this kind of mentality is typical Eritrean I would say so we immediately get on well. Consequently our choice for the scanner was the canon slide200 a scanner you can find on the market for approximately 90 euro (we bought 4 of them). Initially I was concerned about its ability to cope with heavy tasks duty, being a scanner designed to meet the needs of a private user. It ended up that they are still working with an average of 20.000 pages scanned each. For A3 format we had to rely on a machine that cost a little bit more, some 1000 Euro. We used three notebooks and a laptop as computers. In this way we were able to keep the hardware cost around 2000 euro, quite an affordable price. Our equipment was very portable, it stayed in a bag, so we did not need car transport, and in fact we moved from library to library using public transport and biking. We wanted to show that nowadays a digital project is not a question of money, what you really need is a sound organizational capacity and a great deal of determination. Again to this respect Eritrea provided the best partner.

Issayas: You've identified about 750 titles and some 110,000 pages digitized. Can you tell us about that?

Massimo: It was a very demanding task indeed. We created a team and for a year we were working daily at the project. We faced a great deal of problems but, again, we were very determined to solve them and we did it. In general our job started with contacting the libraries and explaining our aim. We then moved our equipment to the libraries and started cataloging and digitization. We always got full cooperation. In the country there is a widespread awareness about the importance of documenting and preserving the past. If the project succeeded that is mainly due also to members of the team: Feven Solomon, Gebretensae Damr, Nathenet Abraha, Nebiat Andemichael, Saba Kidane and Samhar Seghid.


Nebiat Andemichael and Saba Kidane working at RDC's
Tira a Volo branch, Sept. 2010.



Nathenet Abraha working at the Library of the
Italian School, March 2010

The Library of Keren’s Seminary, September 2010

Mobile Unit Equipment at the Francescana Printing Press, June 2010



The library of San Francesco Church, 2010

Above pictures courtesy of Dr. Massimo Zaccaria.

Issayas: As you know Eritrea has its own script. Even though there was no printing press before the Italian colonization, there were books written and bound by hand in the monasteries and other places. Are these included in your project? Do you plan to add these in your project?

Massimo: No, manuscripts are not included in our project. They represent a typology of materials that has attracted attention from other researchers that have much more competence than us. We are concerned with printed materials and we stick to the rule.

Issayas: Are newspapers included in your project?

Massimo: Yes. We digitized also newspapers that do not exceed the A3 format. For larger format we had not adequate equipment. Anyway the journals excluded for this reason are very few and the majority of the other newspapers and journals have been included in the project. The use of digital technologies has permitted the virtual recreation of the series. In general it is extremely rare that a library houses the full collection of a given journal. In general they have only a few numbers. Step by step we were able to recreate the full collection of most of the journals printed in Eritrea. It was a very demanding task but now we will be able soon to provide access to the full collection of publication like the “Bullettino Ufficiale della Colonia Eritrea” (1890-1941) that no library possess in its entirety or to the extremely rare collection of the first journals in Tigrigna language like "Melikti Selam" ("Message of Peace") published by the Evangelical Church and “nay hzbi ityopya uneteyna fetawi” ("The True Friend of the Ethiopian People") published by the Catholic Church, both publication made their appearance during World War I. The presence of two journals in Tigrigna language in this period signal the existence of a local ring of people that used the printed word for communicating and debate new ideas.

Issayas: What is your next project?

Massimo: To make possible full access to this materials through the web and, maybe, to cover the period to 1962 in order to show how the printed word was used in the national debate about
the destiny of Eritrea in that formative period.

Issayas: Massimo, thank you for your time. When you're done, I would like to talk to you about your research on the history of mechanics in the Horn of Africa.

Massimo: You're welcome.

Note: For a brief report on Dr. Massimo's and RDC's activities, please check out the website below.

http://www.archivalplatform.org/news/entry/2nd_international_/

Next, final sketch.

Sketches of a trip : Eritrea 2011

Sketch Five

A visit to Eritrea would not be complete without visiting Semenawi Bahri (It means Northern Sea in Tigrigna. The area is commonly referred to as Filfil/Solomuna). This is Eritrea’s “rain forest”. The area is the most “northerly rainforest in Africa”. It has one of the best roads built by Eritrean ingenuity. It is also “the under/undiscovered jewel of bird watching in the world”. So far, there are 560 species of birds identified in Eritrea and most of them are in the Semenawi Bahri. For detailed information on bird watching in Eritrea, please check the link at the bottom of this sketch.

I took this tour with two of my colleagues. We met early in the morning and left Asmara. Asmara is the capital city of Eritrea. Asmara is a shorter version of Arbate Asmara (in Tigrigna, it means "they (women) who united the four"). Asmara's humble beginnings started when the women of four villages (Geza Gurotom, Geza Shelele, Geza Serenser and Gaza Asmae') tired of continous warfare, united their villages and menfolk and brought peace. Even today, Asmara is the "safest city in the world".

After driving for half an hour, we reached the town of Serejaka, which is located about 20 miles north of Asmara on the Asmara-Keren road. We made a right turn at Serejaka and drove east. After driving 10 miles east of Serejaka, we entered Eritrea’s National Park. The official welcome sign to the park reads “Take nothing else, but photos. Leave nothing else, but footprints". The road which was planned, financed and built by Eritrea became operational in 2006. Once in the park, one witnesses Eritrea’s engineering feat marvel with the road winding down from 7874 feet to 2296 feet in just 22 miles with over 40 switchbacks.



From the website of Bird watching in Eritrea: accessed on 1/7/2012

We stopped at different places to film and take still pictures. Even though it was a very windy day, it didn’t deter us from stopping and enjoying the view. Driving down the winding road, one encounters many spectacular vistas. Within the aforementioned miles, there are three recreational centers: Mogo, Sabur and Medhanit. Eritrea’s major state of the art printing press company is named after Sabur. It is important to note that the entire Semenawi Bahri area had a very significant historical role in the struggle for independence of Eritrea.













All the above pictures are by Yemane Andebrehan

After driving for a couple of hours, we stopped for breakfast at the recreational center of Medhanit, which has a restaurant and a small hotel. After we arrived and ordered our food, a group of Eritreans who were visiting Semenawi Bahri, entered the restaurant. As everywhere and anywhere in Eritrea, it didn't take time for us to get acquainted and be good friends, simultaneously. After we ate our breakfast and bid our fellow visitors good bye, my colleagues and I went to film the hotel (located within the compound of the recreation center) that was built by the Italians. After filming, we went to pay our bill, but were told that our bill was covered by the people whom we had met and just bid goodbye. This is another Eritrean hallmark that Eritreans encounter anywhere in the world, regardless of one’s age, gender or religion.

After Medhanit, we reached the small town of Filfil, which is located at the base of the escarpment. We then turned right and continued towards the town of Gahtelai. Before we reached Gahtelai, we turned right towards Mai Wu’uey (the direct translation in Tigrigna is “hot water”). Mai Wu'uey is known for its hot spring. People have been going to Mai Wu'uey to shower in its hot spring for a long time. We saw and talked to many people who had come for its "healing power". Among the people we saw was Wedi Feraday who had been there for a week with his family. As soon as we arrived, we were offered enta'te'h (ground flax seed mixed with water) to soothe the thirst. With a temperature around 100F, the enta'te'h was quite a thirst quencher!

Mai Wu'uey has not been developed to its full potential, but once it's developed, there is no doubt it would be a leading healing destination for world's medical tourists. Wedi Feraday insisted that we could not leave without washing in the hot spring of Mai Wu'uey and assured us that one feels rejuvenated after showering in the hot spring. We drove a few miles from Mai Wu'uey and washed in an area that was established by the Italians. There are still ruins of Italian villas. Sure enough, after taking showers from the hot spring, we were rejuvenated. We dropped off Wedi Feraday and continued to Gahtelai, which is located on the Asmara - Massawa road.

In Ghatelai, we turned right and started to head towards Asmara. In Ghatelai, we stopped by to buy Foro's watermelons renowned for their natural savory. After we drove for another hour, we arrived at a modern restaurant and inn, which is built in the middle of nowhere. We ate delicious lunch and continued with our journey. As one drives closer towards Asmara the elevation rises while the temperature drops. The vegetation also changes, hence, Eritrea's Ministry of Tourism advertisement: "Three Seasons in Two Hours". Once we entered Arbou Roubu, a small village outside Asmara with the most extraordinary view, we saw many kids selling beles (prickly pears). We bought the best ones, ate some and continued towards Asmara. We arrived in Asmara when the sun was just setting and Asmara's famous "passagiata" (nightly stroll) was beginning.

Below are links to bird watching in Eritrea:

http://kilnsey.tripod.com/birdwatching_in_eritrea/bird_photos.htm

http://kilnsey.tripod.com/birdwatching_in_eritrea/filfil.htm




Next: sketch five and half.