Is it, one wonders, love or simply money that makes the world go round? I think it is money. But the moment money is mixed with love and passion, the destructive force generated is enough to blow the world to pieces starting from your family. Especially if a femme fatale … more
Although there are various cultural, psychological, political, economic, social, geographic, regional, etc. factors that bring good or bad leaders to the fore, the fact that the people are responsible for the appearance of their leaders, whether elected or through a coup, should never be underestimated. The leader comes out of … more
The music teacher told the choir consisting of boys and girls with good and bad voices alike to sing loud just the same. Let your voices rise to the heavens, he said. “Those with good voice, please sing louder, that way you will please the Lord; and those of you … more
They live in barren mountains and in woods, in creeks, in rivers and streams, in deep canyons and ravines and dark forests, (and after the coming of the Italians and the subsequent construction of railroads, they seem to have taken a liking to tunnels or galleria) and decide to visit … more
History will be kind to me for I intend to write it, once said Winston Churchill. Ever since writing was invented and kings and emperors climbed to their thrones to rule; scribes, chroniclers and later on historians began to document events for posterity. The majority of them scribbled the royal … more
When the issue of producing goodly fruits out of the Eritrean children of the 1950s was discussed, a book containing stories full of morality was suggested. The British Military Administration of Eritrea under Captain Kinston Snell approved the idea, and Arba’aan Arba’ten Zanta (44 Stories) was published (in Tigrinya) to … more
Whenever I hear the word culture I reach for my gun. That’s Goebbels, of course. I don’t know why he said that, but it seems that nowadays the word religion is charged with so much negative particles as to arouse the same sinister reaction among many otherwise well-meaning citizens of … more
In Eritrea, highland women use a spindle and cotton wad to spin yarn in order to clothe their husbands with gabi (four-ply cotton shawl) for winter. They twirl and throw the spindle, topped with a wooden disc, in the air and catch it with their nimble fingers to give it … more
“Why do people work?” once asked a friend of mine known for his aversion to anything that distantly demanded physical or mental exertion such as lifting one’s fingers to move a chair, having to walk from one pub to the next on foot on a boozing spree, having to guess … more
Entropy, a scientific term, is described as disorder and a dispersal of energy, a dispersal of particles which are themselves laden with energy. What is happening at present within the Eritrean opposition forces can aptly be described as entropy, a waste of energy that could have been used to topple … more
Adey Lettu loved to drink coffee early in the morning after attending church mass. She trusted St. Michael but distrusted her neighbors very much. She loved a God whom she could not see and hated people whom she saw and felt and touched and drank coffee with. She was, to … more
What do you do when a bomb (of the old type) fails to go off after you light on the fuse? If you had been very sure of yourself that it would detonate anytime anywhere, the first thing you would do is to check the fuse and the wirings. Okay, … more
My uncle, Malu had been reading the Psalms (Dawit) in Ge’ez for the last forty years, with tears in his eyes, but if you asked him the meaning of what he had just been reading, he would simply gawk at you and blink his eyes. He read because he had … more
It is probably a déjà vu. A surge of global consciousness similar to the one that transpired in the 1960s when in every corner of the world the cry of freedom and independence was heard. Then we had a Kennedy in America, now we have an Obama, both known for … more