Of all the obscenities of governments, none is more so than the cheapening and coarsening the lives of our citizens: Our dead are estimated bijimla, our wounded unreported, our history is whitewashed, our open wound festers and our hurt gets no closure. For political purposes, people are encouraged to be ill informed: heroes are vilified and villains receive instant redemption. Talking about villains is not necessarily pointing a finger of accusation; it is meant to enable people to understand why some people hurt so much. We have to write extensively about our experiences before the revisionists finish writing them for us. Il-informed people are chastising them for their acts of bravery and kindness.

Of Vilified Heroes & Redeemed Villains

Can you imagine going to a survivor of Auschwitz and telling him that the Nazis were brave Germans? Can you imagine going to an American to tell him that Benedict Arnold was a hero because he was first in his class at West Point and he was an American wedebat? Could you go to the parents of the victims of Charles Manson and tell them how deviously clever Manson was? Of course not. Yet, this is what is happening in Eritrea: redeeming villains and insulting their victims.

I was recently reading the �Jack Kramer Papers�, including an interview about the operation in Halhal where Omar Ezaz gave his life. An Eritrean �historian�, who by the way is fond of presenting cartoonish military analysis every time a battle flares, explained the battle by giving credit to the courage of the Commandis. He explained: �Hal Hal post defenders were Eritrean Police commandos trained by the Israeli military in advanced infantry and counter insurgency tactics. Above all, they were Eritreans, albeit on the wrong side. Eritrean fighters are known throughout history for their tenacity and fighting spirit.�

That is enough for today; I will revisit it in my next Negarit. Now let us see what the great Lalmba mountain bears witness to.

When Lalmba Speaks

It was one quite hazy Sunday mid morning. A black 1965 Chevrolet cruised at low speed. The man sitting in the backseat dressed up in tailored black suit and matching English hat, was Embaye Habte. His guards, brandishing Uzi submachine guns, followed in a Land Rover. He was on his way to the house of God. Even his late drive to church, long after the early morning mass, long after the worshippers were dispersed, seemed an ego trip. A staunch Andnet party leader in the forties, he recruited members to his cause by showing the pictures of Haile Sellasie, whom he presented as the �pious bearded man.� Until his death during the Derg days, Embaye Habte stayed a loyal servant of Haile Sellasie. Dejazmatch Embaye Habte was the governor of Senhit.

Occasionally, on his way back from church, he would stop by the roadside where children played. He would then make proud, majestic hand gestures and call the children to come closer. Wearing a reserved, cold, almost �royal� smile, he would chat briefly with the children and finally ask them to sing a favorite theme of the Andnet party of the forties: Haile Sellasie Metta Abiet Addis Abeba. [Haile Sellasie was greeted with that song when he came through the Sudan from exile (on the heels of General Wingate, the British commander who defeated the Italians) in WW2.] Embaye�s crowd of innocent and curious children complied and mimicked the lyrics of Embaye�s oldies hit. Now, wearing a wider smile, Embaye would reach for his pocket and pull a few one-birr (then Dollars) bills and distribute it to the children. The adults of my neighborhood joked about the actions of the man who wanted to imitate Haile Sellasie, his mentor, the �Lion of Judah�. But what was the source of his wealth?

Similar to all his high-ranking peers, the �Dejazmatch� title brought him a monthly stipend of 500 birr from the Ethiopian treasury - for the rank alone. His status as governor of Senhit provided him with a handsome salary, a house near Forto, countless perks and the power to do whatever he pleased.  And what pleased him most was blackmail and extortion. 

The Perks of Dejazmatch�s Government

The merchant community in Keren was generously contributing to the liberation struggle. Many, including Suleiman Merrir, Saad Saleh and Idris Akte were involved in soliciting funds from the generous able Kerenites to the struggle. The operation was covered up by patriotic police officers like Idris AliNur and the late Sergente Tewelde Beyn (disappeared after being taken by the EPLF in 77). Though in most incidents he could not prove it, Embaye knew of the fundraising and financing activities that went on. 

The governor was fond of parties. He held official functions on public holidays- Haile Sellasie birthday was the grandest of them all. Those celebrations cost the government coffers nothing; Embaye ordered everything--candies, biscuits, bread, soft drinks and the logistics-- from the local Kerenite merchant community. When, later, the merchants presented their bills for payment, they were told to wait, indefinitely. If they persisted and complained that their bills were not being paid, they were threatened. His staff had a good blackmailing tactic. The merchants would be threatened: �the government knows that you are contributing money to the Shifta�, the bandit Jebha. That threat had its consequences: the merchants would abandon their claims and bear the losses caused by the extortion. I personally know of unpaid bills worth thousands of dollars owed by Embaye�s government to several merchants.

The victims of the Dejazmaches and the Commandis are now exiled in refugee camps, unable to return to their land, watching from a distance as their victimizers are praised for their courage and patriotism. Moreover, the merchant class of Eritrea who sustained the Eritrean revolution in its infancy is now all considered, like all merchants, greedy people motivated by nothing but self-interest.

The Lalmba Government

Next door to Embaye Habte's residence and across a dusty road from Forto, children lined up in a yard in preparation for class. They sang passionately because they were happy. Sometimes, they would sing casually, but from the heart: Mister Hugh Abo Dekha; America Wehhs Aalem (Mr. Hugh the father of the poor; America the sustainer of the world). They would then go to class. It was just the beginning of another day.

The Grand Hotel was a posh walled resort in Keren. It had a military camp type of security and was off limits to the common person. It is understandable because it served as a retreat for the Kagnew Station personnel in Asmara. On weekends, young would-be Hippies rode noisy motorbikes and drove in Jeeps to Keren. They brought considerable tourist business to the sleepy handicraft market. They bought silverware, local swords and saddles.

On one of these Asmara-Keren trips, Hugh Downey, a communication officer at Kagnew Station met a villager who then invited him to his village. Short after that introduction with the villager, who I believe was a priest, Hugh ended up raising money from the Kagnew personnel to build the JFK memorial school in Shinnara- the first ever school in the region. Facing the mighty Lalmba Mountain, another might Lalmba was born- this time a humanitarian association.

Upon finishing his services at Kagnew, Hugh went home to Missouri and got married to his wife Marty, in Colorado. Later, the couple went to Eritrea-and specifically to Keren, the town they loved and spent a good portion of their lives serving. Later, the Downeys built the compound with red brick buildings and the Lalmba orphanage was established.

Lalmba was involved in digging wells and building several schools in the countryside. The orphanage raised tens of students. It raised spiritual leaders, teachers and activists. It raised brave men who gave their lives for the liberation of Eritrea. I personally know one such brave friend: martyr Germatsion, who is probably the first martyr from the Lalmba children.

The Downeys were part of Keren. Their charitable deeds were commended in places far from the besieged town of Keren. Lalmba sculpted smiles in the faces of many children who ate, slept, played and went to school in the compound of red brick buildings. The Neem trees, as if in appreciation, quickly grew to huge sizes and gave the compound a cool breeze and much needed shade. The dusty field was full of noisy children running around and playing football. I loved the place because it had many books. I read many children�s books from the library � Jack & Jill, Jack and the Beanstalk were my first exposure to American culture. Many afternoons, I sat on the verandahs of the school living quarters and watched the sun set towards Cha�eda Krakh, to Bab Gengeren, leaving behind a glow of red, amber and orange sky. It was quite an unforgettable scene.

Lalmba built a hospital for Keren. Until then, Embaye�s government had run an old dilapidated hospital left by the Italians. When Embaye�s government was shooting villagers, Lalmba was treating their wounds. When the ever-dry land was creating thirst, Lalmba was defying and digging wells. When illiteracy was blinding the people, Lalmba struggled to light the beams of education. Lalmba was the undeclared government offering social services to the community.

As a ninth grader, I watched Hugh Downey looking after the wounded and driving them to the hospital that his association built after the massacre of Ona. Hugh Downey�s kindness enraged Colonel Welana, the man responsible for the massacre and the burning of Ona and Besekdira. Welana requested of Asrate Kassa the expulsion of the Downeys from Keren: he did not want any foreign witnesses to his massacres. Hugh Downey was ferrying the wounded that escaped the shooting and bombing by the Commandos and Tor Serawit.

The Downeys lived through the curfew-days of Keren and Marty was once shot by a jumpy Commandos, a guard of Embaye Habte�s residence, who probably took the �shoot at anything moving� command literally. The couple was driving to their house; but that did not make a difference to the idiot. Luckily, she survived the incident, but not without serious injuries to her leg.

Being the most prominent humanitarians in Keren, the whole town talked about the Downeys. There was even a paranoid talk of the �CIA planted Hugh� who, apparently, being an ex-communication officer, could have been seen operating a ham radio. Mercifully, Hugh is still around and still doing marvelous work helping people around Africa and eventually, I will ask him about that.

The Downeys had a son, Michael, named after the patron Saint of Keren Laalai, and a younger daughter they named Keren, after the town they loved. When we were being forced to speak Amharic, it was strange that Michael, a barely four-year old child, �spoke fluent English when we older boys couldn�t�, according to a funny friend who used to make fun of our poor English.

Lalmba was an NGO long before I knew what an NGO was.

Most Eritreans who live in the West are there through one of two ways.  Either they come from privileged families who were in very good terms with the Haile Selassie and the Derg regimes or they were brought to Europe or the United States through NGOs - Good and humanitarian NGOs like Catholic Charities, CARITAS, UNHCR, etc. These are the heroes of the poor, the exiled and the rejected. They stretched their hands to help us when no one would.  And how do we repay back the favor?  By vilifying them and pretending that we never received their help and don�t need their help.

Are there villainous NGOs? Of course: the enablers of tyranny.

The PFDJ could never have been emboldened to be the evil it is without the funds and political leverage accorded to it by some NGO's: it owes its longevity to their limitless backing at the expense of other balancing political powers. There are NGO's who are, even now, making deals with the self-selected exclusionist power brokers who presume to represent all of Eritrea and are drawing the plans for PFDJ-2. Nevertheless, there are also good NGOs, great NGOs, life-affirming NGOs.

Alga Werash�s Government

In 1991, I visited the old Lalmba compound and I saw dozens of orphans who were brought there from Sahel. I hoped that Lalmba would expand its operations to help accommodate the big number of orphans- but the EPLF was so intoxicated with the SELF-RELIANCE crap and would not care for help if they do not get it in hard cash. Today, you cannot hear children�s giggles in the Lalmba compound; young patients who lack the basic medicine to be cured populate it. Lalmba orphanage is converted to a military hospital; and I heard the government has refused to hand over the premises to Lalmba Association that would have continued its charitable work. The fact that now �an ugly building stands in the old football field", explains what became of the Lalmba orphanage (Incidentally, I heard part of the land was �donated� to Lalmba by Embaye Habte).

Time has changed but the extortion and blackmail, similar to yesteryears, is still rampant in Eritrea. The old �Haile Sellasie Metta�� number is now replaced by �Wedi Aform Brri Nsu �Mbessa Ashakkru Nebri�. Back then, there was Welana, now we have his Eritrean equivalents in some of the commanders. In addition, foreigners, the neutral witnesses, are banned from moving in the countryside in today�s Eritrea.

Happy New Year - not that it is a new year, but the Egyptians must have a reason for greeting each other, �Happy New Year� everyday of the year.

To The Downeys: A Humble Thank You

When I started to write this essay, I though of looking for Lalmba�s website in the Internet. I was glad I did. I called the Downeys and spoke to Marty and we talked about the old days. I also verified with her, many facts that were blurred in my memories. The lady speaks about Lalmba as if it is still 1970 � 34 years later, she is not tired! Throughout our conversation, she just expressed her concern for the poor and the helpless. Call it telepathic, she has an energy that is transmitted right over the phone line.

I wanted to confirm many issues from Marty, but she told me she does not want to get involved in Eritrean politics. I understand her position and respect her decision. We talked about her children, tens of them, who are now grown up and living in many parts of the world. We talked about Germatsion. We talked about Memher Seyoum, Tzehaye and Abdelnur. I really enjoyed talking to Marty.

The story of Lalmba, from different perspectives, is many books worth of material. It is a very moving, humanitarian and a dramatic movie material. Here, I have briefly touched the Lalmba experience from a citizen�s perspective.

For Eritreans who can afford to give, Lalmba is the perfect conduit for your contributions to reach those who need it. Your money will certainly be spent where it should- caring for the real people who matter, the poor and the destitute. Lalmba holds a track record of unwavering dedication to the cause of humanity. It has always been a worthy cause. Please help Lalmba help others. To the Downeys and Lalmba: THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR MY PEOPLE.

Please visit Lalmba�s Website: "The World's Smallest International Relief Agency"

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