Long and Crazy Week!

So last week was the marathon week of my life! The lead up to the conference(NUEW's 25th aniversary) and the conference itself was overly exhausting - but also great fun and interesting! We all worked very long hours (usually 7am to 8pm- with no going home for lunch- in Eritrea its customary for offices to close over lunch 12-2pm).Thank goodness- I have the day off today(Monday) and maybe tommorrow its supposed to be a holiday(!)- I can finally catch up on things.
So, despite all the hard work involved, the conference was truly amazing, there were 400 women delegates from all over Eritrea who came to the capital to celebrate NUEW's 25 years of amazing work. The conference was a 4 day event, so lots of time to meet people and learn about the various issues facing Eritrean Women! There were lots of interesting speakers, mostly professors or ministers from different governmental departments, presenting on all sorts of topics, from the low education rates for girls, to prostitution, to HIV/AIDS and women. My laptop ended up being the official conference laptop, so I have all the papers and powerpoint presentations at my disposal, so I may post one or two, later, to give you all an idea of the issues that were discussed.

The conference, officially began Wed. night, with a wonderful opening ceremony held downtown in Asmara's Oden Theatre.The next day there was another opening ceremony, for the inauguration of the beautiful exhibition NUEW had organized, honouring the women who fought and died in the war. This second opening cermony was really something else, there about 300 Tigrinian women dressed in the traditional white dress who came - to march, sing and drum for about one hour, the leadup to when the president came and when he came it was nuts, as I learned what its like to be part of the press, as there were about 15 other camera persons there and photographers all trying to grab the perfect shot of the president, as he toured the exhibit and later stayed for a tradional cofffee cermony outside. It was a little hectic but I managed to get a couple good shots!

After the next day we had yet another opening cermony for the conference, this time at the Ministry of Infromation where the rest of the conference would be held. There were all sorts of music, dancing and singing by Eritrean youth, this event the president also attended!

From that point on, it was a little tough, as the conference was competely in Tigrinya, with the exception of a few powerpoint presentations done in English. Luckily one of my collegues from NUEW sat next to me and did a lot of translation for me. Sunday evening, the conference concluded with a big dinner and dance. I had made friends with a women who works for the British Council and she brought me some traditional clothing to wear, and that got everyone quite impressed- to see Laura dressed as a Tigrinyan Women! I also made friends with some women from Barento- from the Tigre and Soho ethnic groups that live in that area- they reserved me a spot at their table and so we all sat together for the feast of ingera, salades, spicy meat in red chili sauce and veggies. After we all danced the night away- to all sorts of women singers singing the music of the different ethnic groups in Eritrea. I got home late, and very much loved sleeping in today! I took tons of beautiful photos of the women I met over the weekend, so as soon as I figure out how to post them on this site, I will be sure to send them your way.

Beautiful Trip to Keren

On Saturday I got a wonderful opportunity to visit the city of Keren.At 6:30am in the morning, my collegues at NUEW picked me up, and together we travelled to Keren, to participate in NUEW's 25th aniversary celebrations that were taking place in this city. We took a small winding road for about 2 hours and arrived in good time, to have a quick breakfast near the market. We ate a popular tasty breakfast called "Foul",which seemed to consist of a slip pea soup base, with chopped onions, tomatoes, green chili peppers, cayene pepper and topped with sour cream and melted butter, and was served with bread.
After something to eat, we made our way to the city's Stadium which was packed. At the Stadium there were all sorts of women's groups, doing presentations and marching around the stadium. There was a musical concert,singing, dancing, followed by several speeches and awards for best women worker, best sportswomen, etc.
After we visited NUEW's women centre in Keren for a feast of all sorts of good foods. And after lunch I got to partake in my first Eritrean Coffee Ceremony, where I had about 5 cups of expresso-like coffee, not realizing there were several rounds of coffee included in the ceremony. All in all, its about a 2 hour ordeal. Great fun, drinking lots of freshly roasted coffee,combined with lots of socializing...
After we went to an exposition the women from the centre were hosting in another area of the city. There I joined in the women's drumming and dancing circle and I must say they all loved my dancing, as following their tradition they kept putting dollar bills in my shirt and on the side of my glasses, to keep me dancing. At the exposition they also had three traditional huts set up, representing three different ethnic groups in the area of Keren: Tigre, Tigrina, and Bilenin. In each of the huts they had a real bride and a groom you could meet and ask questions of.
After, the exposition we had to leave in order to get back to Asmara before it got dark, as the roads are not too safe at night, as they wind up and down the highlands.

Eritrean Film Opportunity

So one day into my time here in Eritrea and the women here at NUEW have given me a wonderful project, right up my alley- they want me to help produce a film documenting the organization's 25th anniversary ceremony. I will have access to footage taken by some professional cameramen (however, I intend to also take some footage) and we will later arrange for the film to be edited in a professional studio. I will be in charge of directing the overall production of the film, writing the script, and doing the English narration for the film. I am very excited about the project as it will coincide nicely with the documentary film project I have been writing several grant proposals for, as I am hoping to make a film about the situation of women and refugees in the Horn of Africa, during my time here in Africa. In the meantime this weekend I may get an opportunity to visit a couple of NUEW's women centres outside Asmara- as they also celebrate NUEW's 25th aniversary.

Greetings from Asmara!

So I have arrived in Asmara after a long 20-hour journey from Ali's city in Germany to Franfurt via Rome to Asmara. At the airport two ladies from NUEW, Blainesh and Tsegga came to meet me. From there at 1am, they took me to the house of the other Canadian CIDA intern working here, Lindsey from PEI (she is working for UNDP). She is sharing the house with another Australian woman working with the UN Peacekeeping force. The house I will be staying at for the next short while is very nice, it's located only a 20 minute walk from the downtown, in what appears to be a fairly rich neighbourhood.

This afternoon I found my way downtown with a map, only problem not all the street signs are in English. On my way, lots of cute school children practised their English with me, saying hello and how are you? On my way I also saw all sorts of NGOs and different UN agencies who all have their offices in the city, UNICEF,UNHCR, UNDP, VSO, OXFAM,etc. Most of the store signs and advertising is written in Tigrinya, Arabic and English, as those are the main languages spoken in Asmara. I hope to buy a Tigrinya dictionary and learn some basic phrases, however, it appears as though I will be able to get by with my English.

I am presently at NUEW's main office, and will be meeting with my boss Tsegga later this afternoon to discuss my workplan. It appears as though in the short term my time will be spent helping the women in their preparations for NUEW's 25th anniversary that will be held next week.

En Route to Eritrea

On my way to Eritrea, I have a made a quick visit to Germany to visit my sister Ali, who is currently living here. The past 5days with her have been great and have gone by every so quickly. We have been biking all over the place and I am amazed at just how many Germans bike to get around, its so great!
Tommorrow AM, I will catch a train to Frankfurt, 2 hours away, and then catch a flight with Eritrean Airlines, to Eritrea, 5 hours and 3 timezones later I will meet my new boss Tsegga Gaim from NUEW, with whom I will be working with for the next 6months! Will try to send a new update as soon as i have settled in and have access to internet.