Where are you Seyum, my friend from Eritria?

Photo Credit mikahiironniemi

Where are you Seyum, my friend from Eritria?

I still remember him a tall shy boy, always standing in a bending position also while moving . He was with me in the physical chemistry group. We had common teachers, common classes. He said he is from eritria.
In those days I did not know where eritria was located. It was seventies and the country where we studied was USSR.

Evrybody whom the soviet union supported was taken by us, the foreign as something very natural to support for. Soviet union would support only genuine movements. We knew Ethiopia had its monarch Haile Selasi removed and a new revolutionary leader Mengistu Haile Merium has taken over.

To be a supporter of Ethipia and its leader Mengistu Haile Merium was something fashionable and very natural and I would say on hindsight, very safe, those days in Moscow.

For the Soviet government Ethipia was fighing a sessionary movement. Later I came to know that they are also Marxist in their outlook.

I saw Ethipians and I saw eritrians. There was difference. The eritrians were calm and quite and sober.

Those days, Eritrians in Moscow could not openly argue their cases, they were not supported by the USSR. They kept very low profile, studied hard and waited for their turn.

Seuym was my friend. I feel sad that in those days I did not spend more time with him. Language was a problem. He spoke English with his accent. I had difficulty to understand. He said there are many Indian teachers in Eritria. He studied under one such teacher and till date remembers him as a real teacher. He had very high opinion about Indian teachers.
My interest in Eritrea was rekindled this week when I read a book by an ENglish author Justin Hill - "Ciao Asmara". Justin as an young man visited Eritrea as an English teacher. His views are very passionately expressed in this book. It shows that he loves Eritrea and it people.