Travel report November 2007

The chairwoman of Esel-Initiative, Stefanie Christmann visited Gash-Barka, Anseba and Debub in November 2007. Her flight was made carbon neutral through www.atmosfair.de. As always, her journey and all other related expenses were financed privately.

November is harvest time in Eritrea. During the day, the donkeys carry straw and grain. At night, they stuff themselves - the entire country is covered with high grass and even a harvested field is littered with grain seed.

This year I met many women who only received their donkeys this May or June. Many of these women are still very weak and tired. Their first and only joyful smile appears when asked about their donkeys.

Recent Allocations

As with 30 year old Hali Salim (a Saho from Adi Agnar, Debub), mother of six. Her oldest child is eight years old. Before she received her donkey, she always had to ask the neighbours for help and also for water since it is a two hour walk to reach the water source. Now she is selling wood and can buy her own grain to bake bread.

Even Saida Abdu (Saho) from Civi Rasso (Debub) smiled when we talked about her donkey. This 35 year old widow has four children between three and eight years of age. For a long time she has been dependent on her neighbours. She has had several operations and the walk to the water source is still too far, even with her donkey. "But now the neighbours no longer have to carry for me. Now I can offer them my donkey when they go and fetch water for themselves and for me."

"Donkey save my life"

Forty-six year old Fatna Dris (a Nara from Shilabo, Gash-Barka) said: "The donkey saved my life. When my husband died two years ago, I became ill, but had to carry water and all loads on my back. I was already an old woman then and I had no idea how to look after our two children without my husband's support. When I was no longer able to pay for exercise books and pens, I had to take the children out of school. The donkey has given me new courage to face life. I am now able to look after my family by myself and my children are back in school."

Several young single mothers who received their donkeys only this summer are already planning to build houses. Arlassia Andemariam (Tigrigna) is now selling wood and charcoal in Decemhare (Debub), a three hour walk away. Since her divorce, this 23 year old mother of an infant is living with her parents for the time being. But her parents are old and Arlassia must build her own house before they die because when her parent's estate gets distributed she will lose the roof over her head.

Twenty-eight year old Lucia Gebrekurustas is currently living with her four children in a former donkey stable (8 sqm) in Kudu Arva (Debub). She received her donkey this summer and is now selling water. She has already bought a hen and, most importantly, has spoken with the local authorities: She will receive 1000 sqm of land where she can build a house and grow vegetables during the rainy season.

Single Mothers go to school

In Debub, most single mothers who have received a donkey are now also going to school. In the countryside, where 85-90% of women are illiterate, this is an enormous achievement. Many mothers radiate so much self-confidence now it is impossible to imagine that they used to live in poverty, totally dependent on their neighbours.

Adiam Zeweldi, a 28 year old Tigrigna from the small mountain village of Assamrej (Debub) has two small children and when her husband got a divorce, she was pregnant. The years after the divorce "were very hard". But in 2003, she received a donkey and started to sell wood and to brew beer. Now, her three children go to school and she has just completed night school and also learned to build energy efficient stoves with a flue (mogogo). She is the only person in her vicinity able to do this. Her own mogogo is also skillfully decorated. Her donkeys carry sand and water because the foal is now old enough to work. She also has chickens and sells eggs.

The despair these young women experience when they are suddenly on their own after a death or divorce becomes obvious in their attempts to make some money. Hawa Mohamed, a 24 year old mother from Auwat (Gogne region, Gash-Barka) asked for a divorce although she lost all her possessions according to Kunama law.

She started to dig for gold (hard men's work) and spent hours washing soil to find a few grams of gold. The Women's Union travelled for five days to Haicota to buy an especially good female donkey for her. Now Hawa has also a foal. Instead of looking for gold, she is now cutting palm fronds, weaves mats and sells these in Barentu (one day trip from 4 am to 6 pm). She is able to cultivate a piece of land belonging to her mother and sells her own sesame. Most women grow sorghum (a millet variety) for their own use.

cultivating plants

However, more and more single mothers are now growing sesame, teff (another millet variety), grains for beer making and vegetables - because they can buy more sorghum with their earnings than they could grow themselves.

Kadijja Mohamed (Tigrigna), a mother of three from Barentu is growing okra and karkare. Karkare is a medicinal plant which is taken with water. Kadijja received her donkey at the end of May and moved into her self-built house in November. The money for the house with its wooden roof truss, she earned selling wood and water. She earns 150-200 Nakfa.

In the past, she earned 30 Nakfa every two weeks as a washer-woman. At the moment, she is building an extension to her old hut where she intends to set up a shop. She already started a small trade selling matches and chewing gum. She has planted a lemon and a neem tree. Neem trees drive malaria mosquitoes away. Her daughter Kandra is now in 6th year in school - and wants to become a teacher.

social advancement

Some of the women have small donkey herds by now. The donkey (allocated in 2003) belonging to Macha Alfaidambei, who is well over 50 year old (Nara from Gogne), has had three foals by now. This grandmother looks after her three grandchildren. In the past, she led camels as a day labourer, a job requiring a lot of courage and energy. Now she is manufacturing straw mats.

Every week she sells about 80 - 100 Nakfa worth of mats and wood at the market in Gogne. This year, she sold two of her donkeys and bought a cow for 3500 Nakfa. One litre of milk costs 15 Nakfa (80 Cent) in Gogne. Since she is also feeding some of the milk to the calf, she could not say how much milk her cow actually produces.

The economic and social advancement of Brehane Zaccharias (Tigrigna) from Barentu is amazing. Eleven years ago, her donkey became her first possession and this donkey has since had five foals. The house with a straw roof that she built in 1997 she is now renting for 100 Nakfa. She herself lives in a new stone house with a tin roof, which is at least four times the size of her old house and it towers over many of the houses in her neighbourhood. Brehane's three children go to school and she has completed night school.

This single mother owns two sheep and a goat; she is cultivating sorghum on a large field. She has learned to weave in a course organised by the Women's Union and is planning an extension of her house for the loom. Her income from weaving alone is 1250 Nakfa a month. Since she no longer wants to make bricks or build walls, she sold two donkeys. With the money, she wants to get an extension built. The two donkeys were females - and she sold them to the Women's Union for our donkey project.

FGM is a punishable offence

About half of the well trained village midwives have received donkeys from us! On 20 March 2007, the government of Eritrea declared female genital mutilation (FGM) a punishable offence with fines or imprisonment for those who carry out, order or who are accessories to FGM. This law provides enormous support for the midwives who are active against FGM.

After it had come into force, the 40 year old midwife Halima Adem al Hassan from Auwat (Gash-Barka) threatened the village women that she would not attend their next birth if they let themselves be sewn up again by a neighbouring woman after the birth. In one case, she even investigated with the help of another midwife to find out who actually sewed the mother and reported the woman to the authorities. In case of difficult labour and a threatening difficult birth, Halima carries the woman on her donkey to the road, leaves the donkey with a relative of the pregnant woman and brings her by car (hitchhiking) to the hospital.

She herself is divorced and looks after her five children herself. She never regularly attended school but was trained as midwife by the Ministry of Health. As she had assisted women in childbirth for ten years, her experience and skills were well known. Her donkey is also a help to herself, carrying water and palm branches. She weaves and sells home made mats.

Midwives fight mutilation

Gadit Negusse (Bilen) also received a "midwife taxi" recently, despite the fact that she guesses her aged at "between 50 and 55". Although a younger midwife is also working in Gelas (a village in Anseba consisting of eight spread out settlements), the families still call for Gadit. "On foot, it often took me several hours to get to the village". This agile horsewoman checks that girls are not genitally mutilated. The Bilen usually do this in the first month after a girl's birth. Visiting regularly, Gadit can prevent this now with the help of the law and her donkey.

Amna Ali Mohamad Dabrei (Tigre) works as midwife in Adi Ömer, a mountain village in Anseba located 42 km from the next tarac road. This imposing 40 year old mother of six (aged five to 15 years) got a divorce because she no longer wanted to be a "second wife". She owned no land and no animals, carried palm fronds on her back to weave mats and baskets for sale. Before her divorce, only her two oldest children went to school, "but now, all of them go!".

Since she received her donkey (in 2005), she makes money mostly with transport of straw, grains and palm fronds. She is very proud of her achievements and no longer considers herself poor. Quite the opposite: "When I am called to a birth, I drop everything. I am the only trained midwife here." For her work as midwife she receives no pay.