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From: Tesfai Kflu (Tesfai.Kflu@fredonia.edu)
Date: Thu Jan 27 2011 - 00:54:07 EST
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tesfai Kflu <Tesfai.Kflu@fredonia.edu>
Date: Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 5:59 PM
Subject: Fwd: About ongoing religious harmony at home....
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tesfai Kflu <Tesfai.Kflu@fredonia.edu>
Date: Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 5:41 PM
Subject: About ongoing religious harmony at home....
To: Kflu@fredonia.edu
Thanks Ibrahim Hajj from Australia. I believe many in the
diaspora like me are happy to hear what you said about the ongoing religious
harmony at home.... especially comming from a credible
person like you.
Tesfai Kflu.
*Eritrea: a haven for Religious harmony*
By Ibrahim Hajj
Melbourne, Australia
In a world far too often marred by conflicts resulting from religious
intolerance and fanaticism, I thought it might serve a great purpose to
highlight the case of my own country, Eritrea, as a model for religious
harmony and peaceful coexistence.
I’ve just come back from Eritrea having spent five lovely weeks with family
and friends. Mostly shuttling between Asmara, the capital, and my home town
Keren. (90km from Asmara).
The weather was great with temperatures varying from15 to20 degrees Celsius.
Back in Eritrea after an absence of so many years the thing that struck
most, and I’m sure many visitor to that country will not fail to notice, is
the admirable harmony and tolerance that its people - made up of Christians
and Moslems - enjoy.
It may sound bizarre but in Eritrea it is quite common to find a Christian
with a Muslim cousin or a Muslim women with a Christian brother.
The harmony and respect for each other is noticeable be it while queuing at
a post office to pay a bill, in public transport, at marketplaces, café’s ,
schools, soccer matches, hospitals and in any form of social interaction.
I will mention *three* occasions that I believe they should back up and
indeed add credence to what I am saying.
*Example #1:*
My arrival there in early December (2010) coincided with the inauguration of
a magnificent mosque in the city of Keren. At the inaugural ceremony there
were, among others, 3 prominent priests representing the city’s major
Christian denominations (Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant).
In his speech, one of the priests (the 3 gave a unified single speech)
remarked “It is a source of pride to us Moslems and Christians to see a
place that had in the past been the site of incarcerations and tortures of
innocent Eritreans has now become a place of worship” He was referring to a
police station on which site the new mosque now stands.
Judging by the deafening applauds, the priest had scored a curly goal at the
Mufti’s home ground
The Mufti had earlier expressed similar sentiments stressing the fact that
although the people of Eritrea went to their respective places for worship,
they always shared moments of happiness and sadness as one people.
It is worth mentioning here that the event’s expenses (foods etc..) were
paid for by individuals from both faiths.
*Example #2:*
I was at Keren hospital visiting a friend. In the same room as my friend was
a young boy lying in a bed. The boy had had his leg amputated due to some
rare complications. It was indeed a very sad spectacle.
A young Moslem lady, presumably a family member, was dutifully looking after
the boy.
After expressing my heartfelt sympathy, I was engaged in a friendly chat
with the young attractive girl (the friend I came to visit was asleep!). She
told me she had two cousins in Melbourne. I knew them both. What a small
world!
I also came to learn that Hawa (that was her name) was in the hospital
minding, Woldeet Tekheste, her young Christian first cousin.(Their mothers
were sisters).
It was funny to see visitors (coming to see Woldeet) stop at the doorway,
casting confused looks alternating between Woldeet and Hawa, lost and unable
to tell if that was the boy they came to see. Their hesitation was
understandable. Obviously things didn’t up.
Mind you, people should always be careful that the precious little gift
(usually a kilo of banana or orange) they carried didn’t fall in the wrong
hands.
Although, later, Woldeet’s parents came in to relieve Hawa, the job of
feeding the boy was left to Hawa who handfed him (ekelet/Gaat – sort of a
porridge) while the boy’s parents, clearly shaken by the whole ordeal, were
busy recounting events that led to the misfortune that had befallen their
16-year old son to the their visitors.
*Example #3:*
I was at Keren football stadium - I’m a football tragic I have to admit -
for a match between a Al-Nasser (the home side, with a broad popular
support) and Dandan (from Asmara). When a Dandan player had to be stretched
off the ground due to injury, the two captains of both teams aided by two
other players carried the injured player to the side line. It was a gesture
of sportsmanship I had never seen in any match any where. (Al-Nasser won
with a solitary goal in injury time – I was over the moon!)
What I witnessed at the hospital, or at the football ground were, as far as
the people there concerned, nothing out of the ordinary. Just normal. But to
me they were more than that. They gave me hope and optimism. That is as long
as we got the basics right every thing is going be right. These are things
that should be highlighted, admired and spoken about.
The discovery of a huge reserves of gold and other minerals has given the
people there a great moral boost. That is of course great. But to me
Eritrea’s biggest asset is the admirable harmony and peaceful coexistence
that its people enjoy.