Travel report June 2006

The chairwoman of Eritrea Donkeys, Stefanie Christmann, visited Debub and the Northern (NRSP) and Southern Red Sea Province (SRSP) in May/June 2006 to see the project in person. Her flight was made carbon neutral through www.atmosfair.de. As always, her journey and all other related expenses were financed privately.

Yet another skill has been discovered: oven tile burning. This work requires water and plenty of wood. The creativity and single-mindedness with which the women put their donkeys to use is once again surprising. Netseti Araria (travel report 2004) was able to finance a goat with her water and wood trade and has since raised three goat kids. She built a wall to be able to raise more small animals for sale.

Succes not only in isolated cases

Lettu Gebresmeskel, also from Dengberguruf, said proudly: "I cook much better food and larger portions now and I have bought sandals for all five of my children." Saeda Mensur, a widow who lives with her five children outside Ghindas (NRSP) received her donkey three years ago and started trading water and wood. Next, she built a house and then a shop, which is now providing her with an income. She has two donkey foals. Her first guava tree has already blossomed and she wants to plant more fruit trees.

Her neighbour Amna Amir, a mother of six children aged 6 to 13 who all go to school, has planted a vegetable garden with the help of her donkey. She sells water and wood and with her earnings purchased a goat and ducks, selling the ducklings. Her donkey also has a foal.

Some of the women are simply relieved that they no longer have to carry everything on their own backs and that they now have an income to pay for food and exercise books. They can build a house and are able to make their own decisions, not having to ask for help, and their children and houses are now much cleaner etc. Again and again, I am amazed how much the women achieve with their donkeys.

The women I introduce in my travel reports are not isolated cases (a frequently asked question). Often, it takes just one year for the mothers to considerably improve the health and living conditions of their families and they are much more self-confident.

Building homes with the donkey

The donkeys are turning more and more into a four-legged building program. Many mothers build large cement houses with corrugated sheet iron roofs. Mariam Hassan Ali, the smart straw dealer from Sheeb (NRSP, travel report 2002) has added a cantilevered and canopied veranda to her house to protect from Sheeb's extreme sun.

Her friend Fatna Mohamed Nur built a very tall and cool house, which she decorated inside with ornate needlepoint wall hangings. Both houses are palaces compared to the earlier makeshift huts. The rain gets into the huts and dugouts, it is hot and stuffy inside, the wind, permanent in some regions, blows in sand and during the rainy season, the floor turns into mud. These huts offer no protection from animals.

Compared to these makeshift buildings, the wooden straw barn, which Mariam Hassan Ali built with her donkey, is a stable, safe and spacious home. The desire to live in a proper house motivates the women to efforts next to which I feel pathetic and weak.

Senab Ali (Sheeb) initially hired a donkey to earn at least some money for herself and her children. In 2005, she received her own donkey from the Women's Union and has now bought a goat with her earnings. I met her in June, in the full sun with 45°C (in the shade), surrounded by stacks of long sticks she had collected under the newly erected ridge pole, which marks the beginning of house building in Sheeb.

Amna Nur Isak from Afabet transports building sand from a place two hours away - in a grain sack, which she split and remodelled as saddlebags for her donkey. In front of her hut are already two large sand heaps.

A Widow and Single Mother at 13

The hardship of many single mothers still without a donkey is unimaginable. "My harvest is never enough to repay my grain debts from the previous year. I must borrow money to pay for loans I took out from someone else, " says Abrehet Andrebehan from Zbam Segi (Debub) in June - a few days before she received her donkey.

She was married at age 12, a mother and war widow at age 13. When her sister died, she took on her child as well. Now, aged 18, she started school. Her biggest wish is to be debt-free. She will be able to manage this with her donkey, trading water and wood - and in a couple of years, she will be able to fulfil her wish: to run her own shop.

Every hard-earned improvement is greeted with awareness and gratitude. Mona Mohamed Ibrahim from Halale (a couple of huts approx. 20 km outside Assab, SRSP) lost her husband in 2000 in the war. Her wooden house burnt down. With enormous input of effort and time she built a low hut from straw mats for herself and her children. She also weaves mats and sells them in Assab. In 2005, she received her donkey and now the daily trips collecting palm fronds and selling mats are paying off.

Her donkey also helps her in raising and fattening goats because now the six-hour trip to fetch fodder has become worth while. After sunset, when she returned, she brought each of her four children a whole dry bread roll. The children handled these like treasure before they began to eat.

Fighting Genital Mutilation

Momina Issa, a single mother of five from Asbol (near the border to Djibouti) uses her donkey mainly as "midwife taxi". The sweltering, shadow-free Danakil region is sparsely populated. Momina Issa attends only about four births per month, but visits each week 10 - 12 pregnant women since there is neither doctor nor vehicle anywhere around.

Regular pregnancy monitoring is vital for these women. On the day before I arrived at Afta (Zula peninsula) a mother of three died on her way to hospital giving birth to twins. In Eritrea, the mortality rate for women whilst giving birth is extremely high.