Lagwen, Eritrea and Vilnius, Lithuania : A Connection?

Vilnius, Lithuania.
I'm sorry that I've been away for so long. I went to Lithuania at the beginning of July 2008 for work related business.A tee-shirt that I bought in Vilnius (the capital city of Lithuania) asks, "where the heck is Lithuania?" And you might say, "who cares?" Hold on. But, did you know that there is a connection between Eritrea and Lithuania, but specifically between Lagwen, Eritrea and Vilnius, Lithuania? I didn't think so!

What's Lagwen, a small village outside Asmara (the capital city of Eritrea) got to do with Vilnius, Lithuania? It's not because of sister-cities or sister-city/village connection. And the connection is not now. Let's say the connection was in 1705 AD. And 1705 isn't a typo. In other words, what's Lagwen and Vilnius, a city founded by Gediminas, Grand Duke of Lithuania (who based on a dream of an iron wolf that howled like hundred wolves) have in common? In short, Abraham Petrovich Hannibal.

You might ask who was Abraham P. Hannibal. Even though many countries claim him to be from their respective countries (Cameroon is the latest addition to the list: Eritrea, Ethiopia and Chad also claim him) but the strongest evidence places Eritrea as the birth place of Abraham P. Hannibal. Many renowned biographers of various nationalities of Alexander S.Pushkin (the great grand son of Abraham Hannibal) also support Eritrea as Abraham's birth place. In short, Abraham was kidnapped from Lagwen, Eritrea and was taken to Turkey and later to Russia. In Russia he became a general and became the maternal great grand father of Russia's greatest poet: Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. I wrote a five parts series on this subject a while back on dehai.org, shaebia.com and shabit.com. Using this article as a spring board, I will re-post the previous five parts soon.

I started writing this article from Hotel Narutis, which claims to be the oldest hotel in Vilnius (ANNO 1581) and finished it in the United States.



Hotel Narutis on Pilies Street, Vilnius, Lithuania.

Old town section of Vilnius is full of rich history. Tomas Venclova's City Guide is an excellent source about the richness of the city. Each building in the old section carries a multi-layered rich cultural and historical secret. Walking down the narrow alleys and roads, one feels like a time traveler. While I stayed in the old town, I dined at various Gothic cellar restaurants. The thought of Abraham Hannibal, who might have dined in one of the cellars, or who might have walked down one of the alleys of old Vilnius sent shivers down my spine.


Hotel Narutis is located on Pilies Street. It faces St. John's church: the church of Vilnius University (one of the oldest and most famous universities in Eastern and Northern Europe which was established in 1579). From Hotel Narutis going north on Pilies Street, there is a square where vendors sell their products. It is at this square that Pilies Street turns into Didzioji Street. On the left hand side is an old Russian Orthodox Church of Paraskeva (Piatnica). It was in this church in 1705 that Czar Peter I of Russia baptized Abraham P. Hannibal as his god-son. Every time I passed by the church, I got a sense of awe. A sense of tingling. Just think about it. In 2008, I knew how I got there and why I was there, but for a small boy who was kidnapped from Lagwen and ends up in Vilnius in 1705 to be the Son-in-Christ of a Russian czar is mind boggling!

Pilies Street, Vilinus, Lithuania.

Pilies Street turns into Didzioji Street


The Russian Orthodox Church of Paraskeva where Abraham Hannibal was baptized in 1705.


A plaque outside the Russian Orthodox Church indicating that Abraham Hannibal was baptized there in 1705. General Abraham Petrovich Hannibal.


At the main door of Vilnius University.

Inside St. John's Church of Vilnius University.



Formerly the summer home of one of Alexander S. Pushkin's descendants. Now Pushkin Museum, Vilnius, Lithuania.

The statue of Pushkin in Vilnius, Lithuania.




Narrow alleys and roads.

Examples of some of the magnificent buildings of Vilnius.

Finally, as I've mentioned earlier at the beginning of this introductory article, this will be a segue to re-post the previous five articles that I wrote about Abraham Hannibal and his descendants, soon.

As a footnote, however, I would like to add the following. Vilnius is not the only city that Lagwen, through Abraham Hannibal, had a connection with. Reval (now Tallinn the capital city of Estonia); Pernau, Estonia; Amsterdam, Holland and Paris, France were also some of the many other connections. General Abraham was a military commander of Reval for ten years from 1742-1752. Lagwen, through General Ivan, Abraham's oldest son, had also a connection with Kherson in Ukraine. General Ivan was one of the founders of the city of Kherson. Through the descendants of Alexander S. Pushkin, Lagwen's connections with other countries include Germany and Great Britain.

A conversation with Eritrean filmmaker Ambessa Jir Berhe

Ambessa jir Berhe

Issayas Tesfamariam: Can you tell my readers about yourself?

Ambessa Jir Berhe: I am an independent filmmaker based in Washington DC. I was born in Eritrea where I spent my early childhood and came to America through Ethiopia. When I think of it now, the seed of my film making career started as far back as Mendefera, Eritrea. Since I was very little, I have always loved films. I used to be very determined to see all the films shown in the local movie theaters even though my family thought movies were a distraction for my education. They never allowed me to watch as much as I desired hence I was a handful and obsessed with movies. Somehow I always found a way to watch all the movies in town at the expense of getting the whooping from my mom for staying late at the movie theaters watching new Indian films.

At the same time, I was equally intrigued listening to my grandmother and relatives storytelling’s; mainly during their visits I use to stay up all night listening to their stories about the villages and the bandits. From a young age, our people manner and methods of imaging the stories had me fascinated.

All throughout my education and especially in Junior high, I watched numerous movies and dramas while remaining an avid reader as well as short stories writer. However I never really seriously considered film making until I was in college after going through my freshman year in complete confusion, where I had the opportunity to discover my true call. From then on, I didn't even hesitate to pursue my objective because I knew in my heart that I was making the right decision for my life. Since then, I was able to graduate from Scottsdale Community College majoring in Motion Picture Production, continued studying film production at Howard University to finally obtain both my BA and MFA in film production.

Since I had to support myself, I had odd jobs as I continued to write, direct, and edit short narrative films like Africa (1998), Wondering (1999), My Fate (2000), Spice my What? (2001), Last night (2003), Shigara (2005), and Shikorina's Date (2006), A-Weight-With-Words (2007), Fragmented Lives (2008). Those films have been screened at the South West Film Festival, The Eritrean Film Festival in Washington, D.C., Prosperity Media College Film and Video competition, Paul Robson Award, Rosebud Film Fest, and DC Shorts Film Fest and Regal Cinema.

Issayas: What do you think of Eritrean films and Eritrean filmmakers?

Ambessa: This is certainly a hard question to tackle because talking about Eritrean films, I can only sound very pessimistic simply due the number of years I have spent studying film and my strong opinions. After many years of studying films, I am very critical of any film mostly those bad Eritrean films. It truly irritates me. Well, please let me warn the readers that this part of the answer might be critical, thus might be considered offensive or outright arrogant but if you want to know what I feel about Eritrean films, here it is:

To me filmmaking is a very serious medium, which allows us as filmmakers, storytellers and individuals to take on a responsibility on how we can project our own stories.

With Eritrean films, this misconception of producing quality film is only becoming impressive in technical terms but doesn’t mean that Eritrean films are improving or progressive. Quality and content have to be integrated for the film industry to grow. Of course when it comes to production quality in terms of clarity of image and sound, Eritrean movies have improved, though the value of the crisp high definition (HD) or digital video (DV) image is useless if the cinematic language and story telling is absent. This is what I call a waste of time, money and talent.

I allow myself to address the issue of content because story telling is firstly about content regardless of the medium. I have been examining most of the Eritrean films since the Independence of the country. In the early nineties, the content was all about the Ethiopian occupation and the effect on Eritrean people. Then in 1998 came the war, and most of the films switched to stories about “Weyanies” and their evil deeds. Unfortunately the last four to five years, it seems Eritrean filmmakers are mostly repetitively cliché love stories. I am unsure of the outcome for the next ten years though I can affirm that it is lacking a voice. I haven’t seen any Eritrean filmmakers with a unique voice, doing something interesting and revolutionary.

Although I feel like Eritrean films need to obtain their identity first before entering the International arena, even if I hear from friends why Eritrean films are not recognized at the international level. I do believe Eritrean people have a strong identity, but I don’t see it translated into our films. As people we have our own culture and tradition and complexities. We have our own storytellers who entertained us for centuries, telling our own stories through our own methods from generation to generation. It seems that our generation has disconnected and lost the traditional way of story telling. I remember growing up, my mother, my father, and my grandmother used to tell us the Eritrean stories, about the legends and mythology and they all had a unique way of telling it.

Our fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers didn’t have radio or TV to entertain them, rather each village if not family, had storytellers to provide historical stories, fictitious tales, fables, riddles (Tsintsuway, hinkil hinkilitey) complex poetry, jokes and messages oriented stories towards kids. They use to seat under the tree in the middle of the village and tell each other mostly unpreserved stories. Every ethnic group in our country has developed a way of telling stories and here we are with our generation that has forgotten the traditional way of storytelling. The irony is that the tradition and the culture is still around us dictating our daily existences.

This change is mostly due to our contemporary storytellers who are busy trying to be modern (what ever that is), they never developed those authentic stories and storytelling’s. For me if we start from there, our uniqueness will be really authentic and based on our reality.

I will give a simple example about love. A young man is in love with this young woman and he approaches her after such an ordeal refusal, finally she agrees to go out with him and one day he goes to her neighborhood to take her out. He couldn’t knock on her door because he is afraid her mother will catch him so he sends one of the neighbor’s kids to call her and she comes out to tell him to follow her from a far. So she starts walking towards the Lovers’ cafe on the other side of the corner street, and her lover follows walking one block across her in parallel and at every cross-section, they waited for each other until they glanced at each other from a block away to continue towards their destination. For the people who saw them, they were a block away from each other but for them it’s like walking side by side. When they get to their destination in a secluded area, they are able to seat together and enjoy the company of one another. To me this story will tell every thing about the society those lovers live.

In this day and age, the filmmakers are just copying Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks love stories with complicated plot into Tigrinya, with Celine Dion’s and Whitney Houston’s soundtrack on the background, which has nothing to do with our concept of love and the intricate habesha relationships. When you finish the film, you have no idea what the hell is going on. Now, it doesn’t mean that young Eritrean don’t express their love openly, which they really do. Nonetheless they do against the strict culture and tradition and no one is delving into that complexity and exploring it. I feel as storytellers we don’t yet have the core grip so I feel as an Eritrean filmmaker a need to bring out in our films, stories that are from our own experiences. We must also have ways of telling a story.

Another example is to look at the Iranian film industry, which is so respected around the world. Iranian filmmakers usually tell a story about their people, their traditions and the complexity of their culture as well as the modern world. They are very successful despite their difficulties with censorship and religious restrictions.

Therefore to me, until we recognize our older storytellers and are able to transfer their method into cinema we will be making a Tigrinya remake of Hollywood romantic movies. In fact it is also the problem with other African countries.

Issayas: What is your short film about? (Note: two clips from "Fragmented Lives" are presented at the end of the conversation).

Ambessa: “Fragmented Lives” is a 30 minute professionally produced short film. The story is about an Eritrean family in America. The story follows a young Eritrean American (played by Senai Medhani) who finds out that his father had left his troublesome younger brother back home in Eritrea when they went for vacation. As the film progress we see the effects of the abandoned little brother issue and how it manifests in the family and their different reactions toward that action. The mother is torn between her children and her husband, which shakes the already fractured Eritrean-American family that is already falling apart. The father is firm in his decisions. The older brother refuses to accept his brother’s abandonment thus confronts his father and decides to bring him back. The story is merely a glimpse of our problems as immigrants and dislocated people, though at the heart of the film the principal subject matter are communications and families.

All pictures courtesy of Ambessa jir Berhe

Behind the scenes : "Fragmented Lives"


Ambessa and Rob "Fragmented Lives"


Jordan Tesfay and Senai Medhane "Fragmented Lives"

Actor Senai Medhane

Actress Jordan Tesfay

Filmmaker Ambessa jir Berhe

Issayas: What do you think the role of Eritrean filmmakers (who studied film in the Diaspora: like you, me and etc.) be in the improvement of Eritrean films inside Eritrea?

Ambessa: I would've said enthusiastically yes we would help improve Eritrean films because we studied film in some university. But the reality is that we are very few and un-organized, scattered around the world doing our little film projects here and there. I don't know if the improvement of Eritrean films will come from the Diaspora Eritrean filmmakers. I think the improvement has to come out from the Eritrean filmmakers who are writing and directing in Eritrea right now. The Diaspora filmmakers are not making a Tigrinya film every month most of us in the Diaspora spend years to produce and get a project off ground.

As Eritrean filmmakers in Diaspora we can share the knowledge we acquired over the years and give film production workshops. Also we can crate an organization, start sharing ideas, information, and collaborate with promising local filmmakers. Well first we have to get a hold of our big egos in both ends and learn from each other. My believe is filmmakers who say they know everything about filmmaking, should stop making films. You learn a new experience from every film you make regardless of your prior experience.I think as Eritrean filmmakers in Diaspora if we tell our story properly and one at a time that should be a contribution.

Issayas: There are lots of Ethiopian films ( in Amharic) that are coming out, what do you think of them?

Ambessa: I get this kind of question all the time, except it is usually stated differently. People would ask me to compare between Eritrean and Ethiopian films. Some people get a kick knowing one side of film is better than the other side.

My mom told me this saying, if I remember correctly. A peasant was asked to choose which bandit is better, between a ruthless bandit from his village and a cruelest bandit from his neighbor’s village. His answer was ኩሎም ሓደ ኩሎም ሽፍታ kulom Hade kulom shifta (all the same, all bandits). So every problem that I stated above about Eritrean films also applies to Ethiopian films.

There are few Ethiopian filmmakers out side the Ethiopian film industry making interesting films. One of them is Haile Gerima a world-renowned Ethiopian filmmaker, he is making films that are internationally acclaimed and even used for film studies in universities. I might add that I have been fortunate enough to study under him and became his film student. As a filmmaker and storyteller he has tremendous influence in my progress.

Issayas: Film is a visual medium. Do you think there is a lot of dialog in Eritrean films?

Ambessa: What dialog? Every Eritrean film that I've seen is dialog- driven. I would’ve been ok if the dialog that I've seen on those films is real to life, but it's not. To me everything is spelled out and acted like a theater play. Which is also very dangerous for audiences, because audience stop participating in the story and wait for the filmmaker to spoon-feed them in a dialog format.

Film is a visual medium there is now way around it. Now if we are talking about soap operas then it’s a different question. I will demonstrate with a short scene written both ways with a lot of dialog and with limited dialog and more visual action.

An Example of dialog -driven scene.

INT. HOUSE - AFTERNOON

ABEBA and KESHI TESFATSION are eating enjera.

ABEBA
Please eat. You haven’t touched your food.

KESHI TESFATSION
Bless you my child. I am eating.

ABEBA
Let me add some stew. You didn’t even touch
in front of you.

Abeba adds more enjera and stew

KESHI TESFATSION
It’s enough. I have enough.

ABEBA
You have been out side all day. You must be hungry.

KESHI TESFATSION
Bless you my child. Bless this house.

Abeba adds more Siwa.

ABEBA
You are not drinking enough. Didn’t you like the
test of my siwa.

KESHI TESFATSION
Its good. It’s testy.

Abeba's ten years old son MERON comes and stands at the door wanting to eat but couldn’t say it. Keshi Tesfahtsion sees him.

KESHI TESFATSION
Come eat with us Meron.

ABEBA
No, he just ate his lunch.

KESHI TESFATSION
He is a kid he can still eat.

ABEBA
Son, go out side and play with your brothers.

Meron walks out.

Now lets see the same scene, but visually driven with limited dialog.

INT. HOUSE - AFTERNOON

ABEBA and KESHI TESFATSION are eating enjera. On his side of the trey it’s getting empty. Abeba sees this and adds a fresh enjera on the top of it.

She adds more stew on it. Keshi Tesfahatsion tries to stop her grabbing her hand holding the spoon full of stew.

KESHI TESFATSION
It’s enough my child.

ABEBA
Come on eat. You must have a long day.

Abeba puts away the spoon and adds more Siwa on the almost full Keshi’s glass. Keshi Tesfatsion picks the glass to stop her from filling it all the way.

MERON Abeba’s ten years old son comes into the room. He stands at the entrance and looks at the food they are eating.

Keshi Tesfahatsion catches Meron looking at the food and he feels uncomfortable.

Abeba catches this and she gives Meron the evil eye, which translates that you will be in trouble after the guest leaves the house.

When Keshi Tesfahtsion looks at her she immediately softens her look and smiles like nothing happen.

Meron understands the danger of this situation and he is terrified. He starts backing out.

KESHI TESFATSION
My son Meron, come eat with us.

Abeba furiously looks at Meron. Meron looks at the ground.

MERON
I am full. I just ate.

Meron runs out of the room.

I have more freedom and weapon to tell my story the way I want, if I make sure the story is communicated visually.

As people ,especially Habesha people, we don’t say what we really mean. If we must communicate a scene through dialog we should make it as complex as our daily lives and give the audience something to work with.

Before I end this question I have another example about telling story through visual method. When I was young ,my mom asked me to read a letter she received from a relative. I start reading very loud until I reached the third paragraph, suddenly I stopped reading. Little did I know the letter was carrying a bad news. The bad news was about a death of a sick relative. I remember standing there speechless and couldn’t continue with the letter. I knew that person was a very dear family to my mom so I couldn’t dare tell her his death. My mom could read my body language and she didn’t have to ask me what is on the next paragraph. She knew exactly what it was and she started crying uncontrollably.

If I decide to put this scenario in a movie, I am not going to waste time stating it with a dialog. The actions and reactions between me, my mom and the letter are there, all I have do is apply them into the film. So life is full of visual stories, as filmmakers we just have to look deeper than the surface and bring them alive into our stories.

Issayas: Ambessa, thank you for your time and your thoughts. I hope to see more of your works on the screen.

Ambessa: You're welcome.

Two clips below from "Fragmented Lives"

JUNE 20
ERITREAN MARTYRS' DAY






"THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE."

Rainbow International School. Asmara, Eritrea

Before I went to Eritrea six months ago, a friend of mine asked me to look into Rainbow International School, which is located in Asmara, Eritrea. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to visit the school at that time. However, I searched and inquired about the school after I came back to the United States. I also had a chance to talk to Professor Asmarom Legesse (when he visited the United States in May 2008) who is the chairman of the board of managers who run the school. It would be redundant for me to go in detail here (since the information can be obtained from their website), but suffice to say that the school is owned by parents who run the school through a board of managers. Their motto reads, "every child matters." This is a brief introduction to the public about a school run by parents.

The url of the school’s website is:

http://www. rainbow-eritrea.com

The pictures are courtesy of Professor Asmerom Legesse.

Alkmeya: " a secret to discover".

ALKEMYA: " a secret to discover".

Issayas Tesfamariam

I was introduced to Alkemya two years ago in a peculiar way. In 2006 in the lobby of the Britsol Hotel in downtown Asmara, I was waiting for a friend and I noticed a very beautiful calendar on the wall. Even though the calendar was a year old at the time, the colors, the photography,etc. like a magnet pulled my eyes. I thought it was a calendar produced by one of the major western outlet stores or a fashion company. To my total surprise, I was told that it was produced by Alkemya, a company owned and almost entirely staffed by women in Asmara. The daughter of the owner of Bristol Hotel informed me that Alkemya is located right in front of the hotel. And she introduced me to Nadia Biasiolo, the owner of Alkemya. Alkemya's motto is "a secret to discover". Once I was introduced to Nadia, Tedros, Fresewra and all the dedicated young women (whose products are beautifully modeled by the models in this post), I realized that Alkemya was indeed, a secret to discover.

The pictures below testify to the quality of Alkemya's product. However, I am writing this short article to introduce Alkemya and their products to the general public. Alkemya as its objective states, it uses pure Eritrean cotton, it is hand spun, and it is woven dyed on traditional loom.

I have over two hours of footage shot at Alkemya, which I'll use in an upcoming DVD on development. In the meantime, I have put the pictures as a slide at the bottom of this post.

The pictures are entirely reproduced with permission from Nadia Biasiolo. I'm very grateful for the permission. The original photos and graphics are by Lightscapes.

You can contact Alkemya :

e-mail : alkemya@gemel.com.er

Phone: Nadia Biasiolo- Asmara- tel (291-1-12-22-59)

E R I T R E A: sketches of a trip.

Issayas Tesfamariam

Note: This series has an introduction and five sketches. A total of six postings. This is...

Sketch Five (final)

One of Eritrea's motto's for development is to have a qualified human resource. To that end, Eritrea conducts endless seminars, lectures, workshops, training sessions, etc., to develop its human resource capacity. During my stay in Eritrea, there was an ongoing two-months training session for film directors, script writers, actors and actresses, cinematographers, etc.

The Eritrean film industry roughly produces twenty films a year. What is the most important and encouraging aspect of these film products is that they are locally financed and locally produced. However, if Eritrean films are to compete in the world market, they need to improve in quality. Recognizing this fact, the Eritrean Film Rating Committee (EFRC) was set up in 2007 to assign stars depending on the quality of the film that is being produced (four being the highest star). Every film produced in Eritrea is submitted to EFRC for artistic rating, and the Committee uses six categories in its rating system: 1) Screenplay, 2) Acting, 3) Makeup, Costume and Set Design, 4) Cinematography, 4) Editing, and 6), Directing.

Logo of the Eritrean Film Rating Committee.
Logo art by Ermias Ekube

As a sign of coming of age of Eritrean films, Mesghun Zerai 's (aka Wedi Feradai, who is director of Audio Visual Institute of Eritrea) latest feature film, "Ablel ",will be screened in the African Film Festival of Yokahoma, Japan, on May 22, 2008. Through the efforts of Eritrea’s ambassador to Japan, Wedi Feradai’s film was selected for the prestigious film festival in Japan.

I was asked if I could give a lecture and share my experiences with the participants of the film workshop in Asmara. I gave the organizers two films ( Vittorio de Sica's "The Bicycle Thief" and Ginno Pontocorvo's "The Battle of Algiers") so that the participants could watch these movies ahead of the lecture.

The lecture/workshop started at 8:00 AM and ended at 6:00 PM. There were about 100 participants. I divided the lecture/workshop into two sessions. The first session, which lasted half a day dealt with the theory aspect of film making (pre-production, production , post-production, script writing, film aesthetics, persistence of vision, psychology closure, the story of movies, typeset, graphic art, the use of Ge'ez alphabet as a graphic element, etc.)

Some of the objective of the lecture/workshop were as follows:

- To open a dialog among film makers;

- To make individual and collective effort in helping improve the Eritrean film industry;

- To identify various forms used in film making and standardize the forms (have authors and experts in Ge'ez participate in formulating the forms);

- Improvement or change starts within oneself (examples are learning English, read books to learn or improve ones computer skills, etc.);

- Criticism is important in film making therefore a culture of criticism should be encouraged. Criticism should not be taken personally.

After lunch break, the second session solely dealt with discussion and critique of the two films that they had watched a day earlier. We discussed "The Bicycle Thief" for two hours. One of the consensus was that the film is a simple story and yet highly engaging. Gizienesh Menghis, the wife of the popular comedian actor Habte Geresus (Wedi Shawl) eloquently summarized the film when she said that, “ misti seb'ay neta bishkiletit’u kenedaleyo mel’eti Roma kenkola we’einlaya” (“We spent the whole day searching for the actor's bicycle with him throughout Rome”). The consensus confirmed my earlier argument that films don't necessarily need to have a complex plot structure. One of my criticisms of Eritrean film making is that a lot of Eritrean directors tend to make their stories unnecessarily complicated, thus creating a lot of unnecessary characters and sub plots.

Another major criticism that I have is that a lot of them tend to favor lengthy dialog. We need to remember that film is a visual medium. To support my argument, I gave them the simple fact that most of the classic films are simple stories. Simple stories, I argued, can be found out on the streets, in everyday life. I gave two examples from stories that I had just heard a day or two prior to the film workshop. Both deal with signs of the buses that travel from Asmara to rural areas in Eritrea. The names of two of these buses are “Mesob” and “Guale’bat” respectively. In order to attract more customers, the owner of “Guale’bat, Mes ob’s competition, put up this catchy slogan on his bus: ካብ ምስ መሶብና ጎሰስ ምስ ጓል’ባት መሰስ “kab mes Mesobna goses, mes Gual abat meses!” (“Be right on time with speedy Guale’bat, instead of delaying with the slow Mesob!”) This gives one a great visual image. First, Mesob isGuale’bat’s main competition. Second, to put down the competition, it elevates its speed. The ironic part of the story is that the supposedely fast bus, Guale’bat, always breaks down. This is a simple story, but with a lot of conflict, which is raw material for a good film. The second story is that when owners of the rural buses acquire them first, they name their respective buses, "Tiger", "Ambessa (lion)", Gazzele, Impala, etc., but once the buses start breaking down often, the names above were replaced by "St. Gabriel", "St. Michael, etc.

Finally, I donated three films so that the people who are involved in the production of Eritrean films can watch films regularly and discuss them. As a result, they have established a film club and have been watching different films every Friday for three months now. They are in need of a wide variety of international films; therefore, if Eritreans want to see Eritrean films of high quality, I challenge and encourage every Eritrean all over the world to send them DVDs so that Eritrean film makers could learn from world class directors. Therefore, you can contact them directly at : eritreanfilms@yahoo.com or call them at +291-1-121758 (or you can contact me at issayasm@yahoo.com to start a project to collect and send books and DVDs to Eritrean film makers inside Eritrea).

E R I T R E A: sketches of a trip.

Issayas Tesfamariam

Note: This series has an introduction and five sketches. A total of six postings. This is...

Sketch Four

Part Two

It was the last day of my visit. I was doing a last minute errand when I got a call from Senai Woldeab telling me that Memher Tewoldebrhan was in a pharmacy in downtown Asmara. Luckily, neither Senai nor I were too far from the pharmacy. After meeting with Senai, we waited along with another friend until Memher Tewoldebrhan left the pharmacy. Outside the pharmacy, after we greeted him, I asked him if he had time to be interviewed. He agreed to see us in the afternoon. At 2:00 PM, we went to his residence.

The interview took two hours, and it covered a wide range of topics from Eritrean history, to Ethiopian history, to customary laws, to the history of Islam in Eritrea, etc. Memher Tewoldebrhan is 89 years old. He has an amazing memory and encyclopedic mind.

Memher Tewoldebrhan had served the Orthodox Church in various capacities throughout his life. After he retired, he worked with Research and Documentation Center of Eritrea (RDC) for five years. He has compiled a complete history of twenty monasteries, thirty thousands Moya Kudusan (Works of the Saints) and etc. He researched and cataloged the various religious writings and parchments by looking at the way the script was written, the way the book was bound, etc. He has completed the aforementioned which is ready to be published. He has also completed cultural and historical history of Eritrea which is also ready to be published.

Note: I am presenting a seven minutes video clip of interview with Memher Tewoldebrhan (in Tigrigna).

Here is a translation of the clip.

"The anchor villages for the traditional law of Adkeme-Miligae were: Areza, Adi Mongonti, Kudo Felasi, Qene Hayela, Adi Hys, Mai Lham and Biet Gebriel. This traditional law was committed to memory, however when two antagonists differ on what the law says they are supposed to request a reading of the law. For example if two people had a disagreement in the lowland areas of Dembelas or Zayidekolom, they are supposed to have a first reading of the law from the book at Areza, then if they want they can head east to Adi Mongonti, and Kudo Felasi and for the fourth and final reading at Qene Hayela. Similarly when two antagonists start at Qohayin they will do their readings at Biet Gebriel, Mai Lham, Adi Hyis and finally Qne-Hayela. [Assuming that all the four readings agree (best of seven) the dispute is supposed to end at Qne-Hayle (a central location for all regions).] Qne Hayle is a village for Miligae while the other six are for Adkeme.

The traditional law was ratified at a conference in Mai Leham in the village of Zawil [few kilometers south west of Mai Nefhi]. The Logo-Chiwa anchor villages were: Adi Baro (for the Logo) and Adi Bezhans for Chiwa. If two antagonists from Logo had a difference they hear a reading of the law at Adi Baro and then they proceed to Adi BezHans and the others start at Adi BezHans and they go to Adi Baro.

On the traditional laws of Deqe-Teshim, it was legislated by the father-son rulers of the area Abieto Habtslus and Degiyat Gerekstos , respectively. It was written at a place called Adi Brhanu. These too had two anchor villages. Adi Qonsi and Adi Hans. When two people in the western part of this district (Anseba) disagree on the stipulation of the law they will have their reading at Adi Hans and then at Adi Qonsi, while those in the east will start at Adi Qonsi and will proceed to Adi Hans.

There is not much difference between these laws, except in some minor issues. The reason we had separate laws is due to ego than anything else. To mention a couple of the few exceptions: In Adkeme-Miligae a woman that had left her father's place through an official wedding ceremony had no right to inherit from her father's land even if she comes back to her village after a divorce, while the right of a woman who comes back to her village after a divorce to inherit her father's land is respected in the other traditional laws. The second exception was the compensation for a lost life under the traditional laws of Dimbezan (Adi Tekeliezan or Adzemat). Here a person who kills another person is supposed to pay 60 cows that are ready to give birth and 60 heifers (cows that haven't given birth yet); this was extreme and the law was amended with the coming of Italian colonial rule.

The traditional law of Adkeme-Miligae was ratified at a place called Mai Gief. It is said that the elders worked on the law at a special retreat where they only lived on dried garbanzo beans. There was a parchment of these laws at the Monastery of Abune Yonas, but the enemy stole it. What you have now in your hands is what Degiyat Mehari [of Debzana published in the 1940s].

These laws were always open to amendments involving new crimes that were not included in the laws. When a need to do arises the people are supposed to send representatives that will deliberate on amendments. For example in western lowlands of Seraye, Deqi Tesfa is how they are referred to, had several districts and each of these had particular places where the villagers meet to choose their two or three delegates. For example for the people of Afelba used to meet at Mai Hidmo and choose their delegates and those in the vicinity of Areza used to meet at Areza, the same with those from Dembelas and Zaidekolom. These delegates in turn meet with the delgates from the other delegates from the other regions of Adkeme-Miligae at Mai Gif, the traditional conference place of Adkeme-Miligae. These delegates divide themselves into committees that work on laws concerning inheritance, murder, injury, defamation or slander, marriage and divorce. When these people are done drafting the draft is deliberated article by article by the whole Mai Gif delegation; those articles that are accepted will make it to the law and the population is told about these new additions.

In case of new and urgent crime that was not in the books, it is handled by 14 representatives two each from the seven anchor villages if these don't agree on how to proceed they are supposed to send it back to the district chiefs who in turn appoint some wise men from each of the villages to do some further deliberation on it.

For example, the Adkeme-Miligae laws had a provision were a married woman is not supposed to be touched by a man even if he wants to get rid off dirt on her cloth. If he does he will be liable. On the other hand, any one who had heard a woman's cry or saw her tears can press charges on her behalf.."

Next: A summary of a film workshop (the last sketch)

E R I T R E A: sketches of a trip.

Issayas Tesfamariam

Note: This series has an introduction and five sketches. A total of six postings. This is...

Sketch Four

Part one

It is always hard to do so many things with so little time anywhere, but especially in Eritrea. I had a tight schedule when I was there, but I could not miss an opportunity to chat with Dr. Asmerom Legesse. My good friend, Senai Woldeab, arranged the meeting at Dr. Asmerom’s residence. Dr. Asmerom is a renowned Eritrean anthropologist known for his scholarly contribution in African anthropology -- especially for his marvelous work on the Gada: The Traditional Oromo democracy, Eritrean history, etc. He is also emeritus professor from Swarthmore College. But, what I wanted to talk to him this time was about his great grandfather, Keshi Zeratsion Mussie.

Keshi Zeratsion Mussie (father-in-law of Keshi Tewoldemedhin Gebremedhin) was one of the few priests who were leading a reform movement within the Orthodox Church in the 1860's of Kebessa (highland) Eritrea. The rest were Keshi Haileab Tesfai (younger brother of Keshi Gebremedhin Tesfai and uncle of Keshi Tewoldemedhin Gebremedhin), Keshi Solomon Atsqu (Keshi Haileab's brother-in-law), Keshi Gebremedhin Tesfai (older brother of Keshi Haileab Tesfai and father of Keshi Tewoldemedhin), Keshi Segid Zemuy and others.

In 1916 Keshi Zeratsion and Keshi Solomon Atsqu had written one of the earliest Tigrigna books entitled, Berhan Yikhun (Let there be Light), which is an autobiographical account of their reform movement. Also, the Swedish scholar, Dr. Gustav Aren, had written in detail about the reform movement in his book entitled “Evangelical Pioneers in Ethiopia: Origins of the Evangelical Church of Mekane Yesus”. However, I figured it would be important to talk to Dr. Asmerom for several reasons. Firstly, Dr. Asmerom knew his great grandfather, Keshi Zeratsion Mussie, personally and was with him for a certain period of time. Secondly, I heard that Dr. Asmerom has the original hand-written copy of his great grandfather's Customary Laws of Karneshim, in which Keshi Zeratsion was the teHaz Debter (secretary/chronicler).Thirdly, to understand more about this reform movement, which later became the Evangelical Church of Eritrea, which in turn through Keshi Gebre Ewostateos Zemichael, an Eritrean, and Daniel Lulu, an Oromo, who went to Wollega with their respective wives, and later through Onesimos Nesib, an Oromo, planted the seed which gave rise to the Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus in Wollega, Ethiopia. Followers of the Mekane Yesus Evangelical Church in Ethiopia now number over four million. Finally and most importantly, this reform movement in Eritrea was unique because it was totally internally driven, but it coincided with the coming of the Swedish Evangelical missionaries to Eritrea in the late 19^th century, whose main goal was to reach Oromoland and preach to the vast Oromo population of Ethiopia.

The following are highlights of the discussion I had with the great scholar Dr. Asmerom Legesse, which I am quoting from a broader discussion and context.

Onesimos Nesib

Onesimos Nesib translated part of the Oromo Bible in this house in Asmara. His translation started in Umkullu, then Geleb and finally in Asmara.

Picture courtesy of Senai Woldeab.

On his great grandfather, Keshi Zeratsion Mussie:

“I went to stay with my great grandfather because the British during World War II were bombing Italian-colonized Eritrea, so my parents decided that it was a good idea to move to my great grandfather's village of Geremi. It was an amazing life. I got to see a glimpse of another world. My great grandfather was a founding member of the Evangelical Church of Eritrea and yet he used to go every Sunday to St. Michael's Orthodox Church in Geremi to the point where he even donated a bell to the church. He became a bridge between the Eritrean tradition and the Church. When he returned to his village, he arrived as the most educated member in the community. He arrived at his village of Geremi when the surrounding villages of the district of Karneshim were in the process of breaking off from the Laws of Deki Teshim. When he returned to his village he became the chief scribe, the keeper and interpreter of the Laws of Karneshim. So the Customary Laws of Karneshim (hand written by Keshi Zeratsion Mussie) have been in the hands of Keshi Zeratsion and his descendants from then until now. Therefore, he did not see any difference between Eritrean tradition and the Church. He was the bridge figure.”

On the Reformers:

“The Evangelical Church of Eritrea is unique because it was initiated by a group of Orthodox priests in the 1860's who felt that teaching Christianity in the archaic Ge’ez language that people did not understand did not make sense. Their argument was to teach the Bible to people in the Tigrigna language that they understood. They saw themselves as Orthodox priests, but also as reformers. The reform movement was a completely local phenomenon. The achievements of the priests were twofold. First and foremost, to start a reform movement that would give people access to the scriptures in the language they understood, and, secondly, to make Tigrigna a written/literary language.

“The Reformers were persecuted. They had to flee to the coastal town of Umkullu (in Tigre language Umkullu means “the mother of all”). Umkullu at that stage had all kinds of people (people who were sold into slavery, people who were bought and freed, and various ethnic groups such as the Oromo, etc.) One of the amazing things that happened in Umkullu was that the pioneer Oromo writer and translator of the Bible into the Oromo language, Onesimos Nesib, after he was freed became a teacher along with Keshi Zeratsion Mussie at the girls school in Umkullu.

“One of the amazing historical notes about the genesis of the Evangelical Church is the fact that the founders of the Evangelical movement were themselves never ordained as Lutheran ministers because when time came for them to be ordained by the Swedish missionaries, they insisted that they were already ordained priests. So the original reformers remained Orthodox priests until the time of their deaths, although they were the founders of the Evangelical Church. That is one of the paradoxes in the history of the Eritrean Evangelical movement.

As is believed by some historians who have written about the evangelical movement in Eritrea, the reformers, far from being alienated, were deeply rooted in their culture and were the backbone of the society.”

And a lot of discussion on the meeting with the Swedes, discussion on the Valdezians, etc. was also covered.

On Eritrean Customary Laws:

“The dates vary. The oldest is 800 years old. Eritrean Customary Laws are comprehensive laws that encompass civil and criminal matters. They are written in some detail. The procedural aspects are, by the way, the most obscure because those have never been written and they have never been studied by lawyers, either.

“The most fascinating aspect of the Eritrean Customary Law is its dynamism. Laws are not written in order to be administered by law enforcement agencies. Laws exist as a background to intervention, to mediation, to conflict resolution. The purpose of law is to establish a framework for conflict resolution. Resolution of conflict is the most important aspect of Eritrean Customary Law. In my view, Eritrean Customary Law's backdrop to mediation, backdrop to peace making is what is the important aspect. In this regard, customary laws in Eritrea are quite unique. The uniqueness is not that they are customary but that they are written. And these Eritrean customary laws are written by communities and administered by communities, which did not exist in anywhere else in Africa.

“The Customary Laws of Karneshim were never published because the elders of Karneshim and surroundings believed that laws are a living thing that has to evolve continuously and publishing and rendering them in print freezes them. It makes the law unresponsive to change. In Karneshim’s Customary Laws, the changes in law are attached to the document so that the old law still remains in the text and the new law is written on a strip of paper, which is stuck with the latex of cactus to stick it to one end. So they are the amendments to the law. They are called “Hentiltil” in Tigringna, which literally means amendments. Every time you are administering the laws you have to be sure when the offense was committed. That is before or after the introduction of the innovation. If it is before, then what is in the amendment doesn’t apply; if is after then it applies, etc.

“In Eritrea, we have two traditions when it comes to Eritrean Customary Laws: One is a liberal tradition which believes that laws are a living thing and you write them and rewrite them continuously so that they remain alive. The other is the conservative tradition, which states that laws are not to be changed as you please, they were written by the founding fathers in the state of sanctity and in the final form, which doesn’t evolve.

During the reign of Haileselassie of Ethiopia, an attempt was made to confiscate the Customary Law of Karneshim by the Afe Negus (literally the Mouth of the King or the representative) of Ethiopia in Eritrea who ordered the grandson of Keshi Zeratsion Mussie, Memher Gereyesus Yosef, to hand over the book. Memher Gereyesus refused arguing that it was not his to hand over. He argued that it belonged to the community. As a result he was jailed for many months. Still, the book was not handed over to the Ethiopians. The Afe Negus ran into a case which was clearly a traditional case in relation to the Laws. He summoned Memher Gereyesus Yosef who resolved the case citing articles from memory. The Afe Negus checked the articles in the book and decided to release Memher Gereyesus arguing that there was no point of depriving the people their legal book while they have it in their heads and continue to administer it anyway; to do so would just be a pointless activity.”

This fascinating discussion with Dr. Asmerom Legesse took over three hours.

Next: Sketch Four (Part Two) Memher Tewoldebrhan Amdemeskel