Every summer, I talk to Diaspora Eritreans who are visiting and I ask them questions.  I find that despite their years of living in more advanced countries, it is I living in Asmara who has to educate them.  I have to listen to their hypocricy and their complaints. I entertain them lavishly and they drop me some coins.

I always hear them claiming that the life of a refugee or sidetegna is miserable. They openly talk that you if you are living out of your country you are a second-class citizen or you are discriminated on racial basis etc. But the race issue after all is a term that is relative. Even in Eritrea, there are people who still have a racial bias towards some ethnic groups in Eritrea. This however is not a deep-rooted phenomenon and may be of no offense as long as the concerned person is not denied any right because of his color or race. It is a matter of lack of social interaction. For example, Eritreans and Ethiopians of lighter color complexion, consider Africans as "Negroes" and themselves as a different and more civilized people. Africans know this chauvinistic attitude very well. About thirty years ago, no Eritrean father in the rural areas ever wanted his daughter or his son to marry a white person not to mention an African. This is no trouble as long as these naïve people did not trample on the rights of that certain ethnic group or person for that matter.

When we come to the western world, the people have been brain washed by the ruling classes for generations that they came to believe that all non-whites and specifically Africans are uncivilized, ignorant, and incapable of resolving their differences peacefully. This stereotype thinking has its origins and will take years to erode it totally from the mentality of the concerned people. Nevertheless, if people have social and economic interaction, they come to know that all people are biologically the same after all. It is for this reason that we hear so many acts of discrimination in various forms in Africa than we do in the western world. The reason is, in the west the economic interaction is so powerful that people become colorblind. Secondly, they are more educated, experienced and more traveled than we are.

The Diaspora Eritreans are full of so many strange and contradictory things.  Summer is coming and I have to hear more of their strange and contradictory stories whenever I ask "how is Europe or America?” Here are some examples from past summers for Awate readers:

The Uncle From Sweden

An uncle of mine from Sweden came home and he had a nice time for a week. He always comes to Eritrea every summer and distributes some coins to his relatives (including me) who entertain him lavishly. We were talking about the economic hardship in the country. In the middle, I asked him about the economic situation in Sweden. He started by saying, “It is difficult to make ends meet. Here in Eritrea everything is cheap and one can live much better than he does in Sweden. Life there is so miserable that member of the family is forced to work. For example, I live on welfare but I work clandestinely and one day I was obliged to deposit the illegal money to the government. My aim now is to come back to my home country after my children finish their schooling and I enter the pension age.” I know that the person has already purchased a villa at a cost of 4.5 million Nakfa in 2003. Then I asked him how he was able to buy a villa if life in Sweden is miserable. He told me that he and his wife worked day and night to collect the money.

After all this, he said that he wonders why people after liberation want to go to sidet [exile.] I told him they have no vision in this country and he replied, “Whatever may happen, your country is your country!” As the Tigrigna saying goes, Ab kebdi Xgub yelen Tmuy [those whose bellies are full can't imagine what hunger is like.]

On another summer, we were talking about the current political and economic situation of the country. The government was imprisoning parents whose sons fled the country; there was also lack of basic commodities and blackout all over the country. He began to talk emotionally. “In Sweden, let alone for such things to happen, the government is forced to immediately resign if it does a tactical error that concerns the livelihood of the people. These people (PFDJ) are playing games with our miskin hzbi [poor people.] I wonder why you people never talk about your plight in your meetings with the authorities. Look at my children for example, they are telling me: ‘Pappy, your country is very poor because there is no Coca cola in the shops. The people are benevolent and we love them but next year we will not be coming. You will take us to Dallas to our uncle Abraham.’ My dear, I bring my children to their home country so that they will have some attachment with it.” Then I replied to him that we could never talk our mind since we will be incarcerated if we did so. I also asked him if he would ask such questions in the usual PFDJ meetings in Sweden. He replied, “ketetfaani dika delik? kab men keykef’ani iye qdum zikewn.[You want me to get in trouble? Why should i be the first to complain?”] It was an opportunistic reply. He concluded by saying, “In Sweden, we make demonstrations and peaceful marches either to support or oppose any government. I have the right to criticize the PFDJ openly, but this will forfeit me from coming to Eritrea. I am quite sure if any group tries to stage a demonstration is, genocide would follow unless the military refuse to shoot. I am sorry to tell you that I understood this lately.”

An Old Friend From The US

Another woman I knew from my school year told me that she is doing fine in America, that she is an American national and her children are Americans by birth. She does not entertain any idea of coming back to Eritrea. I asked what her reason was. She replied, “Adi ingeraka iyu adika" [your country is where you find your bread.] In America, I have everything including my own house, what you can’t find there are your relatives, and thanks to money and technology I come every year to visit them. If you come to Eritrea; you find everything in shambles. If citizens always live under the specter of being imprisoned without bail for the simple reason of talking their mind, then I would prefer hell than live in such a place. When we say a 'nation', it does not mean the mountains, rivers and cities only. The people make a nation. Moreover, if the people are considered like pack animals, it means the nation has become the property of few people.”  I asked her if she says this openly in her PFDJ meetings and she also said, "intay gedishuni! Asha do ilomka?[why would I? Did they tell you I am a fool?]"

The Hafash Widbat Leader

Another friend of mine who has been a hafash widibat [mass organization] for almost half of his life comes to Eritrea every year but talks nostalgically about the struggle for independence. “Qedem neyra Sha’ebiya, hji tim ilka halew lew iyu zibhal zelo, [the real sha'ebiya is of the old, now it is just idle talk]” he repeats every now and then. His problem is that he and his colleagues have been discarded as dead long in favor of new recruits. Gone are the days when he was an important person who chaired wahyo [cell] meetings and had the ear of EPLF leaders. He was even inviting them for dinner in his house. Now, he says, “When I come to Eritrea I am less preferred than those who pay more money to PFDJ coffers. Even the people who were almost like friends to me neglect me and give me a perfunctory salute. How I feel depressed when I remember the camaraderie of the olden times,” he laments.

In spite of this he reiterates, “Even if PFDJ has betrayed the revolution, since no one or nothing lasts forever, we should not be hopeless. We should struggle for the establishment of a just order. I consider myself a rich man because I have four children who love their country not the regime. The worst thing I learned recently from PFDJ is duplicity. I see many people now having two hearts. One for PFDJ ears and one for anti PFDJ gossip. It reminds me Haileselassie prior to his coup d’etat.”

Questions to my readers:

• Can an Eritrean living in Europe or America and is a legal resident (citizen) consider himself a refugee?

• Why do almost all Eritreans in the Diaspora always say, Sidet merir iyu [exile is bitter]etc while they are not sidetegna [refugees]? Do Africans or Asians with the same status consider themselves as sidetegna or as nationals of the host country?

• All Eritreans I know say, “Adika iyu Tium” [Life in your own country is sweet.] But they do not prefer to come back to Eritrea to reside?

• What do you think the main concern of the Diaspora to be: their livelihood or the nation? If it is the Nation, should they not challenge it from where they are?