My wife and I along with our Eritrean brothers and sisters drove 40hrs round trip to show our support of our beloved president and government members. Based on the information provided, we tried our best to stay close to the seminar by sleeping in a hotel in New Jersey a 25 minute drive from Manhattan. When we arrived to the seminar location we could not control our feelings of joy when we see the colorful crowd of beloved nation. Out of happiness one of my friends from Washington Dc said with tears in his eyes "I don't care whether I get inside or not I am so proud to be an Eritrean, who amazingly gathers to support the motherland other than Eritreans? specially from Africa" while embarrassing each other. We joined the crowd as the number of people was increasing every second, with every one smiling and e'liling. We waited for long hours while the line was moving slowly with no knowledge of what was going on inside. We waited until we finally got a surprise announcement that the venue was full to capacity. We could not believe this announcement because we barely moved in line though we waited for many hours. But we realized it was over when police officers began to leave from their assigned areas and told us we are on our own with no police protection and that we had the option to leave. But no matter what, even though there was disappointment for most of the crowd about 2500-3000 decided to stay realizing our main goal was to support our government so we began singing and chanting till the end of the seminar.
Whoever coached the preparatory committee, our young sons and daughter or brothers and sisters, did not plan carefully. It was a successful seminar because every Eritrean who did not get chance to enter inside tried to make the best out of the situation realizing our flocking to New York was not only to see PIA but to show support for our president, government and our beloved country. The bad part was some people knew the capacity would only hold 2500; hundreds of late comers joined in the middle of the line acting as if greeting their friends, meeting family members while assuming everyone would get a chance to enter inside. I was really surprised at how this was handled knowing it was a seminar with the president and certainly the preparatory committee hadn't done it without communicating and consulting our government representatives in Dc and New York. Isn't it the responsibility of the government representatives to monitor how the preparation was progressing to avoid a surprise mistake?
As one Eritrean brother posted a message, the government representatives in DC and New York should have rushed to look for quick fix, after they grasped there was not enough seats to accommodate the whole crowd. They could have used the last remaining seats for the young sons and daughters who were waiting outside with their parents but nothing was done. Likewise, nobody came out politely tell us the venue was officially full to capacity except for when the police officers degradingly announced through their loudspeakers. I am an adult so therefore I can deal with the fact that I wasn't able to attend this event. I am happy for the successful gathering. But, I could not stop thinking about the 100s of young children who traveled with their parents to see their Eritrean president. Isn't it disappointing for the parents who had no answer for that? What excuse can parents give to their young children for not getting a chance to see the president and participating in the seminar after traveling from a far distance? There is no excuse for this, period.
It could have been worse; as a result of not carefully preparing our PIA was obliged to come outside on the street to greet the many people who did not get a chance to enter the seminar knowing a mistake had been made. Even though it was a joyful moment with many loud screams, joyous cry's and tears, there was a present fear of the President being outside so close to the public. Thanks to PIA for concluding the day with happiness by greeting the people who patiently waited for him outside the whole day after convincing the secret service to give him a chance to seek his people. The government representatives who had upper hand in preparing this seminar should close this chapter with a brotherly apology.
Sincerely,
Eyob Sequar
Orlando, FL
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]---- Received on Wed Sep 28 2011 - 10:17:26 EDT
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