Keren Eritrea - November 26th 2006

 

At 6:00 I am at the bus station not far from the Kidane Mehret Church. One by one the old Fiat buses and two brand new Mitsubishi Rosa mini buses enter the bus station. Quite late I notice that there is some kind of reservation system. I ask the men what I should do. One of the friendly men in the queue hands me an Eritrean Airlines boarding card, and tells me I should show it when entering the bus.

It sounds unbelievable, but even the Eritrean Airlines documents are used and re-used to facilitate some kind of reservation procedure in Eritrea's public bus transport. I show the boarding card to the driver, and am allowed to get in first, so I can even travel business class, or at least choose a seat in the front of the bus, that will make it easy to get in and out at the checkpoints.

As usual there is a stopover to have breakfast and tea. At 9:00 we arrive in Keren. At the bus station I have some fruit juice, made of a local fruit called zeitun, and my weekly dose of malaria tablets. From the bus station I walk to the house of Hansu and Afworki. I also take some time to greet all the neighbors, and hand them the pictures of my last two visits.

At 11:00 I want to walk to the Mariam Dearit shrine. Hansu argues it is to hot to walk, but I have specific reasons to go there, and no time to wait for the sun to hide behind a rare cloud. In the center of Keren I locate the last people to bring them there picture and I have lunch in the Kidane Asgedom Bar and Fast-food Restaurant. They make very nice kitcha with egg. (kitcha is a thin Eritrean bread).

From here I walk the last two kilometers to the compound of Mariam Dearit. I leave a picture of a young girl at the statue of the Holy Mary and pray for some help and health for this girl and the people of Eritrea in general. From the roots of the baobab tree I collect some sand to bring back home. This time there is no one to guide me, but when I return to the gate, a group of youngsters ask me to join them.

Three boys and three girls, introducing themselves as Filmon, Biniam, Awet, Amico, Nejat and Rahya are gathered here, because four of them will join National Service tomorrow. Today will be the last opportunity for them to see each other and have some fun, so they organized a kind of a goodbye party on this spiritual place. They want me to be their honored guest.

Amico makes coffee. We eat the injera with berbere sauce, that they brought from their house. We make fun and a lot of pictures. It is the least I can do, since I was not prepared for this occasion, and did not bring them a gift. I wonder if, and where I will find them next year, but I guess I will meet at least one of them at the yearly festival. They ask me where I stay. They are so surprised. One of them is Afworki's nephew!!

At 16:00 I return to the house of Hansu and Afworki. Hansu makes pasta with a tomato and onion sauce. I make the necessary preparations for the trip to Afabet tomorrow. At the bus station I buy a ticket for the bus, so I can be sure there is a seat available for me.

  

Stopover in Baluwa for breakfast.

Stopover in Baluwa for breakfast.

Commercial Bank of Eritrea - Keren Eritrea.

Nazret, Kidane Asgedom Bar and Fastfood Restaurant - Keren Eritrea.

Amico's coffee ceremony - Mariam Dearit Keren Eritrea.

Biniam and Awet - Mariam Dearit Keren Eritrea.

Filmon and Nejat - Mariam Dearit Keren Eritrea.

Shrine and baobab tree - Mariam Dearit Keren Eritrea.

Streetscape - Keren Eritrea.

 

Palm tree lined road - Keren Eritrea.