Issayas' blog (መአዲ ኢሳያስ) Welcome ንቐደም በሉ

A Conversation with Dr. Massimo Zaccaria

2012-01-24T20:09:00.000-08:00

Sketches of a trip: Eritrea 2011Sketch 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

Sketches of a trip : Eritrea 2011

2012-01-11T21:00:00.000-08:00

Sketch FiveA 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

Sketches of a trip : Eritrea 2011

2011-11-27T10:20:00.003-08:00

Sketch FourOne of the many things that I do in Eritrea is to dig more deeply into the story of my paternal great uncle, Fitewrari (a title) Fessehatsion Beyene. On this trip, I received some more pictures, which I added to my documentary film. I had never seen some of the pictures before. Even though the documentary is still ongoing, I have a clearer picture about his life than when I started it

Sketches of a trip : Eritrea 2011

2011-11-27T10:20:00.001-08:00

Sketch ThreeOne of the things that I do in Asmara is to visit Dr. Yosief Libsekal, Director of the National Museum of Eritrea, in his office. As usual, he was very gracious and humble in receiving me and we discussed the various activities that the National Museum is engaged in. While discussing their activities, I found out that Dr. Bienvenido Martínez-Navarro, research professor of ICREA(

Sketches of a trip : Eritrea 2011

2011-11-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

Sketch Two My trip to Eritrea would not have been complete without looking into some information on Kidane Kiflu. People sometimes ask me why I continue to research about Kidane Kiflu. My answer to that is twofold. First, I read the letters that Kidane Kiflu wrote to Jack Kramer, which are housed in the Hoover Institution Archives. Through his writing, I began to understand and appreciate his

Sketches of a trip : Eritrea 2011

2011-11-12T15:34:00.002-08:00

Sketch OneI always look forward to my regular visits to Eritrea because of the surprises that await me. Even though the physical distance between Eritrea and the United States (where I reside) is far and wide, the distance has been shortened (time and space, circumvented) because of ERI TV's (Eritrea's national television) 24/7 physical presence in our living rooms.This year’s trip was different

A Conversation with Rahwa Gebretnsaie

2011-11-12T15:34:00.001-08:00

Issayas: Can you tell us about yourself?Rahwa: I was born in Connecticut and moved to California at a very young age. California had many great gifts in store for me, including a new brother, supportive communities, and great institutions of learning. My parents were very dynamic both in their parenting skills and in their involvement with the Eritrean community organizations of the Bay Area.

Eritrea participates in the 5th Annual Cultural & Diversity/Disablity Awareness Day at Caltrans Office (District 6) in Fresno, California.

2011-11-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

On November 10, 2011 Eritrea was represented (for the fourth time) at the 5th annual Cultural & Diversity/Disability Awareness Day at Caltrans Office (district 6) in Fresno, California. Even though the Eritrean community of Fresno is small in number, they came out in full force to support the cultural event. People lined up to taste Eritrean food, checked out the cultural products on display,

A Conversation with Dr. Simret Beraki

2011-06-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

Issayas: Can you tell us briefly about yourself?Simret: I was born in Asmara, Eritrea. When my mother was six months pregnant with me, my father, like many fathers at that time, had to leave his family and join the EPLF (Eritrean People's Liberation Front) to free Eritrea. My mom had been a housewife, and transformed into a working mom to raise five children on her own. When my two oldest

Where is Bisrat now?

2011-05-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

Twenty years ago, a group of us started a newsletter called ERITREANA in our neck-of-the woods.Also twenty years ago, a young 8th grader from Baltimore, Maryland (USA) sent me an article to be published for the August/September 1991 issue.Fast forward to May 2011. Where is Bisrat now? Issayas: Would you tell us about yourself? Dr. Bisrat: A lot has happened since I last wrote about myself in

A Conversation with Qeshi Alazar Mengistu

2011-04-01T23:06:00.000-07:00

Part IIIIssayas: In 1982, Dr. Araia Tseggai editor of a journal called Journal of Eritrean Studies,wrote about Qeshi Marcos Ghirmay . In it he mentioned that Qeshi Marcos was an Eritrean evangelist who graduated with distinction in 1889 from Johannelund Theological Institute. After his ordination, he came back to Eritrea. In December 1899, Qeshi Marocs married Regina Johansson in Eritrea. To make

A Conversation with Qeshi Alazar Mengistu

2011-03-30T21:47:00.001-07:00

Part TwoIssayas: On the cover of your book, you used the word "goytana" with the names of the Swedes'. If I'm not mistaken, in Tigrigna, the word "goyta"/"goytana" is reserved for the Lord. Why do you have the word "goyta" with the names of the Swedes'?Qeshi Alazar: "Goytana" has nothing to do with a savior . The old Eritreans used to call the missionaries "Goytana N N", "Emebet NN"

A Conversation with Qeshi Alazar Mengistu

2011-03-30T21:25:00.001-07:00

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A Conversation with Author Jennie Street

2010-12-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

Author Jennie StreetIssayas: Can you briefly tell us about yourself? When and where were you in Eritrea?Jennie: I'm pleased to answer your questions as that way more people will get to know about the book. But remember, although I put the book together, and published it, my co-author is an Eritrean, Amanuel Ghebreselassie, who is General Manager of the Eritrean Railway, and we could not have

Dr. Dominy's and Gillian Moritz's Presentation at the Eritrean Community Center in Oakland: A Summary

2010-06-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

On June 12th 2010, Dr. Nathaniel Dominy of UC Santa Cruz and his colleague, first year Ph.D student, Gillian Mortiz of UC Santa Cruz, presented the findings of their research to the Eritrean community in Oakland. It must be recalled that they first announced their findings to the world at the 61st ARCE (The American Research Center in Egypt) annual meeting which was held in Oakland from April 23-

Conversation with Anthropologists Dr. Nathaniel J. Dominy and Gillian L. Moritz

2010-06-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

Issayas: Can you briefly describe about yourselves.Nathaniel J Dominy: I'm an Associate Professor in the Departments of Anthropology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, UC-Santa Cruz. I received my BA from Johns Hopkins University in 1998 and PhD from the University of Hong Kong in 2001; from 2002-2004 I was NIH Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago. I'm currently a Fellow of the

Pictures from May 3 , 2010 Santa Rosa Junior College Eritrean Event

2010-05-09T19:24:00.000-07:00

I was invited to screen my film entitled "Asmara:City of Radiance" to Santa Rosa Junior College students on May 3rd 2010. The occasion was sponsored by the Eritrean Students Association whose main purpose was to introduce Eritrean culture to Santa Rosa Junior College students.It was an indoor and outdoor event.Here are some pictures from the outdoor event.Pictures from the Eritrean basketry

Pictures from "Eritrea:The Oldest New Nation" lecture at Santa Rosa Junior College on Feb. 8th, 2010.

2010-02-08T21:19:00.000-08:00

At the invitation of Santa Rosa Junior College Museum, I gave a lecture entitled "Eritrea: The Oldest New Nation". The title is from my on-going documentary on Eritrea. The lecture started at 12:30 and lasted an hour. The lecture included a 12 minutes film and power point presentation. It was standing room only and after the door of the auditorium was closed, people were turned away. The

Exhibit Opening Reception at Santa Rosa Junior College Museum

2010-02-06T16:23:00.000-08:00

Santa Rosa Junior College Museum's Exhibit opening reception was held on February 4th 2010.The exhibit was a kick-off for various Eritrea-related exhibit and lecture series. The exhibit will run from February 4th 2010 through May 9th 2010.The event was well attended, organized and received. Kudos to all the people who made the event a success. Of course, no Eritrea-related event would be

Conversation with Pastor Ezra Gebremedhin

2009-10-17T17:51:00.000-07:00

Part Five (Last) Issayas: How about the Mensa? Pastor Ezra Gebremedhin: In his book Envoys of the Gospel in Ethiopia , Gustav Aren writes: "A convert from Islam, Ato (Mr.) Gustavo Bealged Maybetot (1908-1987), went in 1927 from Geleb to Asmara to seek employment. "On my arrival there a circular had been distributed to all companies and government offices which forbade employment of members of the

Conversation with Pastor Ezra Gebremedhin

2009-09-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

Part Four:Issayas: Pastor Ezra, you mentioned that Karl Johan Lundstrom had materials on the history of the Kunama and the Mensa. Can you breifly elaborate on that? Also, a lot of people do not know that Aboi Woldeab Woldemariam's first job was as a teacher in Kunama area.Pastor Ezra: When three Swedish missionaries landed on the coast of Massawa in the spring of 1866, they had no thoughts of

Conversation with Pastor Ezra Gebremedhin

2009-09-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

Part ThreeIssayas: In an interview that I did with Prof. Asmerom Legesse and posted on my blog a while back, he referred to reformers within the Orthodox Church who started a reform movement in the 1860's and this movement coincided (Zeitgeist, if you will. Where history and destiny emerge)with the Swedish missionaries who were trying to go to Ethiopia (at that time, Abyssinia). Can you tell us

A Conversation with Pastor Ezra Gebremedhin

2009-08-21T18:52:00.000-07:00

Part TwoIssayas: You are Aboi Woldeab Woldemariam's nephew. I have a good friend, Dr. Nicole Saulsberry, who wrote her dissertation on Aboi Woldeab. I'm always urging her to publish it. Do you know if Aboi Woldeab had kept a diary or notes on events. If so, have you thought of writing a book about Aboi Woldeab using private (family) and public records?Pastor Ezra: Yes I have a small notebook with

A Conversation with Pastor Ezra Gebremedhin

2009-08-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

Pastor Ezra GebremedhinA brief background note.About a month or so ago, Seble Ephrem sent me an e-mail after she read an interview that I did with ELEM (Eritrean Life and Entertainment Magazine: http://www.elemonline.com) for their latest issue(July/Sept. 2009) . Seble liked what I had to say in the interview and informed me that I needed to contact Pastor Ezra Gebremedhin because according to

A conversation with Adiam Berhane

2009-06-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

Issayas Tesfamariam: First thank you for your time and for all the lovely pictures. Can you briefly tell my readers about yourself?Adiam Berhane: My name is Adiam Berhane. I was born in Asmara, but I left for Milan, Italy when I was two-years old. I was in Italy until I was almost 10, at which time we moved to Washington D.C. My parents owned a very successful Eritrean restaurant in D.C.I went