Vol. 22 No. 51 Wednesday, August 26th, 2015 Pages 8, Price 2.00 NFA

News Briefs

NatioNal athletics team gets admiratioN for its performaNce iN world champioNship

The Eritrean National Athletics team continues to secure great admiration for its impressive performance at the World Athletics Championship in Beijing.

The Eritrean Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, Mr. Tsegai Tesfatsion, in a message of congratulation he conveyed, he expressed pride for the shining victory scored by the national team, especially the gold medal won by Athlete Ghirmay Gebreslassie in the men’s marathon.

Athletes Abrar Osman and Aron Kifle will participate today in the 5000-meters men’s race.

implemeNtatioN of goverNmeNt’s regulatioNs aNd policies

Heads of national associations in Northern Red Sea region urged the administrators in the region to play due role in implementing the Government’s regulations and policies.

Mr. Haile Tewoldebrhan, PFDJ Secretary in the region, explained that Eritrea is standing on firm ground foiling external conspiracies and that the administrators should strengthen efforts in increasing the awareness of the public and ensuring the capacity of implementation of development programs.

Ms. Jimea Raki, Head of NUEYS in the region, also gave extensive briefing on gender equality and the government’s position on that issue, as well as women’s struggle for equality at the national and international level.

Likewise, Mr. Haile Petros, head of National Confederation of Eritrean Workers, presented a study paper regarding the question of workers and youth as well as the importance of organization.

It is to be recalled that the Administration of the Northern Red Sea Region gave basic management training to 280 subzone and district administrators, managers, experts and unit heads in the region.

President Isaias Afwerki returned home on Saturday 22nd of August after a fruitful four-day working visit to the State of Qatar.

During his stay, the President held talks with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on further enhancing the warm ties of friendship and

Nineteen-year-old Eritrean athlete Ghirmay Ghebreslassie won the men’s marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing on Saturday 22nd of August 2015.

Ghirmay finished the race in

presideNt coNcludes visit to Qatar

athlete ghirmay geBreslassie secures eritrea’s first world athletics champioNship gold medal

2 hours 12 minutes 27 seconds securing Eritrea’s first gold medal. He is the youngest winner of any road event in the history of the championships.

Fellow Eritrean athlete Amanuel Mesel also ranked 9th in the

competition.

Ghirmay Gebreslassie’s shinning victory is Eritrea’s second world medal after Zersenay Tadesse’s silver medal in the 10,000 meters in the 2009 World Championship in Berlin.

cooperation that exist between the two countries, on international developments as well as trends of mutual interest to both countries.

President Isaias was seen off on departure at Hamad International Airport by the Qatari Minister of Environment, Ahmed bin Amer Al Hamidi and senior Qatari officials.

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Eritrea Profile, Wednesday, August 26th , 2015 2

Mela Ghebremedhin

Deep thoughts while I am chilling out on the terrace of Gurgusum beach, in Massawa, and looking at the kids playing in the water under this sun, which hits you already at 7 in the morning. Here I am, talking with my friends, who are engineers and working on installing solar power in the port city.

All I knew about solar energy is that we have plenty of sunshine in Eritrea and that it could be our main source of electricity supply. As I bombarded my friends with lots of questions on solar energy – hoping from capital expenditure costs to local operational know-how of the technology – I became more interested in looking at our current consumption, the latent potential, and, where we are now compared to the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa. The vast continent, which could be self-sufficient in energy, still remains the least developed one. With a growing population accounting for about 13% of the world’s population, only 4% of its energy demand is met (OECD; IEA, 2014) through the combination of all power generating methods.

Back in Asmara with plenty of ideas from those discussions… I thought, why not do some research on this subject for my regular column on Profile. Indeed, I suspect that many of you do not have a clear idea or probably do not know where to get information on this renewable energy. I realized how solar power, as a green energy, is key to tackle growing demand in

power supply. It is also safer and durable. The Energy Research and Training Centre of the Ministry of Energy and Mines collected data on solar radiation maps, which show the multitude potential of solar power in responding to the needs of households and businesses.

Have you ever thought about how much money and energy we spend in Eritrea on lighting and electricity-related activities such as cooking? Well, compared to Africa’s average, Eritrea is still consuming less on a per capita basis. However, the method used in getting lighting or electricity has economic, environmental and health-related effects. In Eritrea, most households and even businesses depend heavily on biomass as a source of energy such as charcoal, fuel wood and back-up generators. Available statistics illustrates that each household consumes about three candles per day and 5.8 liters of kerosene a day (UNEP, Feb 2013). These numbers may look tiny and insignificant in relative terms. Still the cumulative impact at the national level both in terms of aggregate economic expenditure and environmental and health- related issues cannot be underrated.

According to the off-grid lighting assessment conducted by the UN Environment Program (UNEP), a full transition to energy efficient, off-grid, lighting in Eritrea would result in saving 33 million candles, 67 million liters of kerosene and 12 million batteries per year. This is equivalent to 83.3 million USD in annual savings in monetary terms and 0.5 million barrels of crude oil energy (UNEP, Feb. 2013) in fossil fuel demand dimensions.

In environmental terms, this is tantamount to about 182.9 thousands tones of carbon dioxide emissions reductions annually. Churn out the numbers more and this becomes equivalent to 45.7 thousand of mid-size cars being off the road. Also, each household could save up to 86 USD per year and reduce or eliminate fuel-related health issues, fire hazards and toxic fumes (UNEP, Feb. 2013).

The use of biomass as a source of energy has its negative impacts in both the economy and the environment while remaining solely a short-term solution. Unfortunately, most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa depend heavily on this resource. Africa is supposedly the richest continent in terms of resources. But the sad reality is that it is lagging far behind and remains the poorest on energy supply. In today’s Africa,

about 620 million people live without electricity while 730 million use hazardous, inefficient and unsafe ways of cooking according to the Africa Energy Outlook report (OECD; IEA, 2014).

In Eritrea, average access to electricity these days remains low and erratic particularly due to problems related to maintenance cycles of the main, interconnected, power plants. Increased use, even as a stop-gap measure, of charcoal or fuel wood, will only accelerates deforestation with the added side effects of toxic fumes especially on women and children. As the war on natural resources is rising on the planet, others are looking at safer and durable ways. One of them is solar energy. As I said earlier, there is a great potential on solar power in many parts of the world and Eritrea is one of them.

There are about five companies on solar energy operating in Eritrea working hand-in-hand with the Ministry of Energy and Mines. There is a growing demand by both households and businesses to shift their electricity supply towards this renewable energy. Already, in 2013, the UN office in Asmara installed 104 solar modules on the roof of its building, producing a total of 15.5 kilowatts of electricity (UNDP 2013). The awareness on the potential of renewable energy is gaining in popularity. Without a doubt, the use of renewable energy such as solar power is, evidently, the most feasible one in Eritrea due to the high amount of sunlight. In number, the country receives about 7.5 – 8 kWh of solar energy per square meter daily and it is perceived as being amongst the sunniest in the world (GeoSolar, 2015).

The different types of solar energy such as photovoltaic (PV), concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) or concentrated solar power (CSP) are all forms, which could respond to the demand of both households and businesses (especially in farming and agriculture). The great opportunity on solar energy cannot be ignored as once installed, the materials could last more than 25 years. It is clearly a great investment, as it becomes a free source of electricity and without any effects on the environment and health.

If Eritrea invests on solar energy on a big scale – and I am informed that initial steps are

‘Let the Sun Shine…’

Eritrean technicians on training

Installed Solar panels continued on page 5

Eritrea Profile, Wednesday, August 26th, 2015 3

fikrejesus Amhazion

Bang. Banng. BANG!, Fikre! Aleka? Tesi’e ata! Fikre!” I rolled over, groaning and rubbing my eyes, confused with the loud com-motion at my door. “What is going on?” I muttered to myself. As if on cue, a loud, shrill sound made things quite clear. “Cooooooo-Coooooo-Coooooooooooo!” crowed the roost-er in the yard. Then I remembered. The night before I had promised my cousins and several of the neighbour-hood children I would take them for an athletic training session (what they referred to simply as “sport”) in the morning. Yet, when agreeing to do so, little did I imagine that “Tse-bah negho,” (tomorrow, in the mor-ning) meant 5:41 am to them, and not something along the lines of 7 or 8 am (which I had foolishly assumed). Oh well, let’s go get it!

I got out of bed, threw on some slacks and a sweatshirt, and went to open the door, lest the boys break it down. Opening the door, I saw that it was still quite dark outside, with the sun yet to fully rise. The air was cool, crisp, and clean. I inhaled greedily and stretched my arms. In the far dis-tance, I could see Haz-Haz (a nearby neighbourhood); some of the don-keys, horses, and cows were already out, ambling along lazily. Returning my attention to the boys at my door, I glanced from left to right, seeing a bunch of warm, smiling faces, eager to get going. Their ages ranged from ten to fourteen, and they all had shidas (rubber sandals that became iconic during the country’s libera-tion struggle) on their feet. Rubbing their heads playfully, I headed to the bathroom, pleading with the boys for some patience. As I turned towards the bathroom, I noticed that the fau-cet feeding into the large water drums was running smoothly. I smiled to myself, engulfed with happiness;

water is life, and it was wonderful to see a clear, clean, steady stream of water running from the tap. This is what we would drink and wash with. I couldn’t help but recall how, not many years ago, this country’s rate of access to clean, running water was amongst the lowest in the world (thus breeding terribly high rates of disease and mortality). Yet now, after much national investment, the vast majority of people could simply turn a handle and fill up large drums with clean water. On top of the vari-ous health and wellness benefits, an added bonus of running water was that people could more efficiently get on with their day - heading to school or work, rather than having to walk long, barren, dusty, rocky miles to

fetch water. Quickly snapping out of my thoughts, I was met by the rooster right outside the bathroom. My aunt (with whom I was staying) had purchased him for a special meal sometime later during the week. Ap-pearing quite content, the rooster was slurping water out of a shallow pan. I cautiously stepped around him, mak-ing sure to avoid stepping on any of the messes he had made (and there were many!)…but hey, it happens.

As we all headed out, we ex-changed goodbyes with my aunt and

my mother, who were still in their room, preparing and organizing for the day. The housing layout is far dif-ferent from that in the west. General-ly, people have small compound-like living areas, with large steel doors at the entrance. My aunt had a small bathroom (with a toilet, sink, etc.), as well as storage room (to store various items, food, etc.). On one end of the compound was a room, sub-divided into two more rooms.

The smaller one was her young boys’ bedroom (and an area for more storage), and the larger one was her bedroom, living room, and dining room – all in one. Then there was an-other general room on the other end of the compound (where I slept). The

rooms were not connected; instead, one had to walk outside to enter a different room. In the small common area outside the rooms, yet still with-in the compound, there were several large water drums (to be filled to the brim with clean water from the pipes, and others that had collected rain water caught in the eaves troughs), a kitchen-like area (for prepping or cooking food, and washing dishes, clothes, etc.), clotheslines to dry wet clothes, and also a large collection of firewood. Although relatively small, the homes were cozy, comfortable,

and welcoming – like the people.

Closing the large front door behind us, I noticed that though it was still early, the streets were buzzing with activity. To the left of our home, there was a small convenience shop where one could purchase almost everything. The owner, a small, wiry, middle-aged woman was organiz-ing her stand and preparing for the day. Greeting her as we passed by, I noticed there was already milk in jugs and warm bread, both delivered fresh, and she pleasantly assured us that beles fruit would be arriving soon.

Much like the reaction to the run-ning water at my aunt’s house, I was again overtaken with positive emo-tion. Seeing the woman busy at her shop, my mind drifted to thinking of how years ago, the girls and women of this young country were oppres-sively shackled by an array of over-bearing, traditional patriarchal norms and traditions. Amongst the many societal customs and beliefs was the notion that the only place for women was in the home, away and out of sight. However, many things changed as a result of the country’s 30-year long liberation struggle. Beyond the pursuit of political emancipation, the struggle was also focused on bring-ing about a large-scale socio-cultural, economic, and societal revolution.

The success of the liberation strug-gle in 1991 ushered in a monumental societal shift, leading to women no longer being categorized as inferior, but as full equals and key members of society. I quietly thought how this woman and her shop beautifully embodied the concepts of independ-ence, liberation, empowerment, and agency.

“Allah-uuu Akbarrr!” The loud call to prayer broke my train of thought. The path toward the meda (field) took

us by the neighbourhood mosque, and there were droves of people hustling to pray. Quietly admiring their dedication, I looked to my left and saw another amazing sight. What seemed to be hundreds of people were making their way towards the neighbourhood church. Appearing angelic, many women were wearing the traditional Eritrean zuria (white robe-like clothing), and their collect-ive movement created an elegant sea of white. Shaking my head slowly, I began to think of the unlikely beauty of the scene unfolding before me.

Here were two houses of worship, representing two different faiths, each with steady streams of people making their way to the respective entrances, and both separated by no more than forty yards (or less than the distance that one of the boys with me could kick a ball). I asked the boys how common this type of scene was and whether the neighbourhood or general region had ever witnessed any conflicts (particularly religious based). Somewhat taken aback, the boys described how this was a basic daily occurrence, and just shook their heads to signal “no” at the suggestion of conflict.

Then one of the boys, with one eyebrow raised, asked, “Why fight? We are the same. A family.” I smiled and nodded in agreement, ruefully thinking how much more peace-ful the world would be with such a simple, yet profound, outlook. Then almost as if to prove his point, the group of boys quickly parted. Half headed to the mosque, while the other half made their way to the church. As they all sped off, they assured me that they would be right back.

And there I was. Standing alone, yet smiling. On a dusty road, in the middle of Eritrea. Awake for less than one hour, but having already ab-sorbed a world’s worth of blessings and lessons.

Morning ‘S Impression

Disclamer: articles published in this column do not reflect the stance or opinion of Eritrea Profile

Eritrea Profile, Wednesday, August 26th, 2015

Natnael Yebio

“Sim Yimerh, tiwaf yebrih” is one of our country’s oldest aph-orisms, left to us by our forefa-thers to say that a name could be an omen or a signal for what is bound to follow.

This proverbial expression has been running through my mind constantly or some time now. The reason for it doing so is the ever increasing indecorous way of naming our business companies and new born babies.

When the Turkish soap opera became a common household phenomenon, many young moth-ers didn’t hesitate to name their children after Mohanned, one of the lead characters of the Turkish films.

The same happened when the animated movie Shrek was re-leased and young girls were named Fiona.

When I was in college in Adi Keyih, I found to my utter sur-prise, a young girl being called Kevin one evening. I couldn’t be-lieve my ears so I asked one of the people who were calling her as such if that was some kind of a nickname.

Finding it was indeed her real name, I simply sat astounded and didn’t even dare to ask why she was given that name. Things people do!

And then there’s that story I heard about a family from a vil-lage in the Southern Region.

They apparently called their son William. I really wouldn’t know if they wanted to give the child a Shakespearian future; that is, if they even knew about him in the first place.

And what’s with calling your child ‘ambassador’? Beckham? Hillary? I could never find a jus-tification.

And then there are the names of restaurants and businesses that simply fail to make any sense to the native ears.

“Did you hear? We had dinner the other night at Rainbow Ho-tel.” Somebody says, trying to

tell you of this new experience they had. It is not where they had dinner but the name of the place that mattered to me.

For any new location open for business, you find its name distant from the identity it is supposed to uphold. Our country is full of his-torical sites and people from dif-ferent times and yet we still tend to choose names that are quite irrelevant to our history,culture, and society.

One of my friends told me that she was going to wait for me at ‘Peaceland’.

When I got to the place, I found out the whole sign was bigger than the place itself. “A peace-ful land, a peaceful country…” I hopelessly tried to understand what the owners where trying to say with that name sign. Did they really run out of a name in an Eri-trean language?

When a friend was going away on a trip and I found out we had to meet up for some sort of a farewell lunch, I asked where we were supposed to meet. “Why don’t we meet at Golden Fork, then maybe we can go to New Fork, Roof Garden or Castello, or even just the Blue Bird restau-rant.”

The answer nauseated me. I tried to imagine myself in the shoes of an elder citizen with a limited knowledge of the English language. What would that list of names sound to that person? Some of the names would barely make any sense if they were to be translated into Tigrigna.

If we were to think in terms of the Eritrean way of eating, I’m not even sure what we would call the fork in Tigrigna or how bizarre they would all sound in their translated version.

A question that should be clearly addressed here is who these business firms belong to. If a business company in Eritrea doesn’t reflect Eritrean identity in any way, then why should it ex-ist there in the first place? Eritrea is deemed as a place of historical values and identity and one of the ways to preserve our heritage and legacies is when our business companies rightly do so.

When the streets of Asmara fit-tingly got their names right after independence the immense joy and pride they brought to the people was immeasurable. Today, avenues such as Semaetat, Har-net, Warsay, Tegadelti glow Eri-treans’ sense of nationalism.

What is wrong with our busi-ness companies then? Are we ashamed of our history or the idea of globalization and west-ern influence have ensnared us to the point where we seem to have forgotten our own illustrious his-tory.

Over a conversation with friends, we decided to list the names of several businesses in Asmara: Rotana, Florida, Alla Scala, Lion, Savannah, etc.. The list goes on. Some may have had longstanding names, and I could understand the hassles of com-ing up with a new name. But new businesses could easily put up Eritrean names.

It is the service that they pro-vide to their customers that should be of importance to these institutions, not what name they are called by.

Especially, those that provide services mostly to people from abroad and foreigners are sup-posed to have Eritrean names and proudly endorse Eritrean culture and identity.

Someone who is visiting Eritrea all the way from Florida or San

Francisco would not be excited to go to bars with those names. That just wouldn’t just make sense to the person.

One the other hand, if a restau-rant was called Metera or Dearit or a pub had the name ‘Belew Kelew,’ the history being sold with the name would somewhat be significant.I heard that as of recently, the business licensing office has stopped registering names of businesses that are not indigenous.

When a photo studio owner was told he could not put ‘Rainbow’ as the name of his shop, adamant to keep the name, he opted to put in the language of one of the Eri-trean ethnic groups.

I haven’t forgotten those places,

old and new, that have chosen to put up authentic Eritrean names. Laza Restaurant is just one of the most recent additions to this list.

Websters dictionary defines the word name either as a word or phrase that constitutes the dis-tinctive designation of a person or thing or a word or symbol used in logic to designate an entity. Names are permanent and they should seek to signify our iden-tity and uniqueness and with that theyought to be selected with great amount of consideration.

After all, just because we picked western names and wrote them in a different language doesn’t mean we are progressing. The fact remains that what is not yours will never be yours!

The Ponderer’s Corner

The Names we Give

CorrigendumThe editor of this column would like to apologize for a small

typing error which resulted in the omission of a single yet decisive word in the article published last Saturday (22 August 2015), under the title “BOBA: Spotlighting the Roots.”

Thus, we reads as “Boba Pro members noted that all their activities to date could have been successful without the contribution of different sponsors from home and abroad” should instead be read as “Boba Pro members noted that all their activities to date could not have been successful without the contribution of different sponsors from home and abroad.”

We apologize for any inconvenience to the readers.”

4

being undertaken towards that end - it will be at the forefront in the continental discourse on alternative green energies. Some statistical projections on Africa (OECD; IEA, 2014) are discouraging as they point to higher figures of people without access to electricity – from the current number of 290 million out of 915 million - as population growth outstrips economic growth. Moreover, wrong policy choices are bound to undermine Africa’s potential on renewable energy Furthermore, in some areas, 2 USD out of 3 USD is invested in exporting renewable energy (OECD; IEA, 2014). This reminds me of Thomas F. Homer-Dixon’s words in his academic article titled Environmental Scarcity and Mass Violence: “It is easy for the billion-odd people living in rich countries to forget that the wellbeing of about half of the world’s population of 5.8 billion remains directly tied to local natural resources” (1996:205).

Many lament the uneven share of natural resources and access to energy supply with more than 40% of people on the planet using fuel wood, charcoal, straw or cow dung as major source of energy (Homer-Dixon, 1996:205). The asymmetrical share of wealth in Sub-Saharan Africa, the destruction of land, fishing and water scarcities are preoccupying trends that require serious appraisal by policy-

makers and all stakeholders. In this perspective, long-term investment on renewable energy in Eritrea must remain a policy priority that can address critical issues and optimize the country’s great comparative advantage.

My brief research and encounters with various interlocutors was refreshing in this regard. Thomas, the manager at EriSun, stressed to me how critical investment in renewable energy is on overall development. I have learned that the approach is also comprehensive and integrated, incorporating as it does, installation of solar powers, the construction of hydropower dams, and the prospects for geothermal steam as well as farming wind energy. Robel, a friend and one of the engineers involved in the field, summed this up aptly: “what is important is that although the energy consumption in Eritrea remains low compared to other countries… we need to think of a greener way by avoiding cutting trees and using imported oil... The question is not about us but about the next generation and what we have left for them’.

The website of GeoSolar (2015) reads: “If Eritrea makes a massive switch from oil power plants to solar and other renewable sources, it is possible that 100% of Eritrea’s electricity could be from renewable energy by 2050”.

‘So let the sun shine everyday…’

‘Let the Sun...continued from page 2

Tomas Alazar, young Eritrean artists, he is a well received singer- songwriter. His promi-nent singing has brought him countless fans of different age, from inside and outside of the country; and the topics he raises with his gentle yet exiting melo-dies are of a wide range. Tomas Alazar has by far written and composed 16 of his own songs and 20 other compositions sang by others. Let’s meet today the man behind fabulous resonanc-es of the kirar.

Before your debut, you were well-known for…

Kirar. I loved playing that in-strument ever since I was kid, way before I started singing. You know how in Eritrea we have this rich and beautiful social life amongst neighbors, so habitually in neighborhoods people gather up and play music in the corners of the vicinities. I was big fan of those gatherings; I used to sneak out from my house without my mom finding out. That is when and where I learned playing the instrument, obviously I didn’t know how to read musical notes but I was good, so good actually. I had a blind passion for it. And from being the one amongst the small crowd just listening and en-joying the songs, I ended being in a short time the one that would sit in the middle of the crowd with the Kirar and just sing till very late in the evening. Kirar accom-panied me ever since.

First steps as a professional singer.

That small thing I had grow-ing up helped me a lot when I debuted and started taking on stages. I don’t want to sound like am bragging but even for a first timer I had all the confidence a performer would ever require on stage. Even though I had a small audience at first, I was so confi-dent that everything felt natural. I felt like I belonged on the stage, I will never forget the feeling I had those days. It was very encourag-ing. Music was the only thing I knew and was confident about.

Artistically speaking, how would you describe music?

Music on an artistic level, far away from business and any form of marketing or professionalism, to me music is the echo of the inner sounds of our souls, some-thing like the reverberations of the resonances of the human spir-ituality.

And how would you explain your theory on music linking it to your music?

It would be nice if I could link the music I have produced so far to the theory I have on music but I wouldn’t dare because I’d be literally abusing the magnifies of the natural power behind every and each kind of music. You see, even the greatest musicians in the human history such as Beethoven, Mozart and many international singers along with the brilliant Eritrean musicians and singers of the past decades, whom left be-hind some great musical heritage, never thought or felt as if they have ever had mastered music.

My music compared to the mag-nificence they have reached it is practically peanuts. But at least I am doing something, small but ef-fective. This is why I never cease to learn more about music or even hesitate to consider myself as an apprentice artist. I have a long way to go and all I know is that I enjoy the musical journey to-wards harmonious achievements and that it is very rewarding and definitely inspiring to do so.

Your deep voice as a trade mark of your songs???

On the interview I held with V.O.A I was asked the same thing, I have a rather deep and husky voice but lucky for me people like it. Voice is an important as-pect for many singers, as for me my sole voice doesn’t give me all of the confidence a singer needs. I always add much importance to my melodies and lyrics. The most significant fixation for me is the capacity of coordinate my voice with the music that I sing. So, I take my time in setting up arrangements suitable for my vo-cal cords allowing myself to be comfortable in hitting higher and lower notes. Honestly speaking I personally think that deep tones

are most suitable in singing soul-ful and expressing songs, and in my case that is definitely a plus for me.

About your love songs; you are quite of a marvelous romantic for a though guy.

Who says a big and tough guy can defeat love? I am so very much romantic. I believe in love and love has rewarded me greatly so many times and naturally I went through some minor heart breaks. Either ways in my songs when I chant of love from different point of views, I put myself in differ-ent positions and from different points of view, but I try to be pos-itive as much as I can because I love happy endings and I believe love can surely recompense hu-man beings with happiness.

Who is your role model?

I have several. I prefer lis-tening to oldies and I am a big fun of Country music; their pu-rity is amazing. Singers such as TekleTesfazghi, Abrehet Tes-fahuney and Tikabo W.Mariam are some of my favorites. Grow-ing up I passionately listened to Abraham Afeworki and Yemane Barya.

Can I ask you something per-sonal?

Let’s hear it.

Your personal love life…..

Very gratifying, very happy with it. Is that about enough?

Yes it is enough, thank you.

What is your opinion on fellow junior singers?

Many have been debuting late-ly, I truly admire them. They are very courageous and amazingly talented. I am pretty sure we will very soon witness an evolution in the Eritrean music industry, a new and fresh style very Techno like. Most definitely this new styles that they are coming up with will reflect their flexible singing and dancing abilities and add a color-ful brightness to the wide and rich Eritrean musical culture. I think we should support them.

How would you define music in two words?

Music in two words? ...Inspira-tional splendor.

Any future plans?

Working on my third full length album; I will work hard and pres-ent the listeners with much more improved sides of my music.

Well good luck, I am thousands of fans are looking forward to it as much as I am.

Thank you.

“Music in two words? ... Inspirational Splendor”

Eritrea Profile, Wednesday, August 26th, 2015 5

6Eritrea Profile, Wednesday, August 26 th , 2015

VACANCY NNOUNCEMENTBisha Mining Share Company is inviting applicants for the following positions for its Bisha Site Project

Mine Surveyor Number required: - 01Duties / Functions

Implementation and maintenance of BMSC H&S standards at work places.•Lay out grade control holes, ore mark outs, blast patterns and other features, in-•

cluding marking holes, painting dots on holes, surveying in end holes with field computer and turning in data for input into system.

Operate a field GPS computer using a Data Collector program for the purpose of •figuring volumes and field calculations as well as defining field points.

Perform elevation control by determining bench marks and grades. Control pit and •bench limits, by looking for problem areas and determining line definition.

Utilize mine engineering computer software in order to perform volume determi-•nations, productions and editing of DTM and situation plans, designing of features, and write reports or presentations as directed.

Read, comprehend and interpret maps for the purpose of locating field survey •sites.

Read, comprehend and interpret survey literature, Material Safety Data Sheets, •labels on products, warning signs, instructional manuals and numbers on monitors and gauges, to prevent loss of personnel, property and process.

Operate light vehicles on haul roads including a pre-operational inspection, mount-•ing and dismounting vehicle, pushing and pulling knobs and levers and turning steering wheels.

Wear personal protective equipment including hard hat, steel toe shoes, safety •glasses, respirators, wet suits, earplugs, gloves, or any other equipment to perform duties safely.

Profile: Qualifications and Experience

Formal Education, Certifications or Equivalents Two to four years of tertiary degree or equivalent.

Working Experience – Nature & Length

Must have one to three year experience in surveying and engineering industry, preferably in a mining environment.

Leadership Experience – Nature & length of time Demonstrate supervisory and leadership skills.

Other skills and abilities

Must demonstrate comprehension and operation of survey equipment.

General Information and other requirements:Place of Work:Bisha Site.Type of contract: Indefinite period Salary :As per Company salary scale.Additional requirement for Nationals: Having fulfilled his/her National Service obligation and provide evidence of re-

lease paper from the Ministry of Defense. Present clearance paper from current/last employer.Testimonial documents to be attached (CV, work experience credentials, a copy of your National Identity Card etc.)Only shortlisted applicants would be considered as potential candidates for an interview. Application documents will not be returned to sender. All applications should be sent through the post office.Deadline for application: 10 days from the day of publication in the Newspaper.Address : Please mail your applications to;Bisha Mining Share Company, P. O. Box 4276 Asmara, Eritrea

Note to Eritrean applicants:

Please send a copy of your application to Aliens Employment permit Affairs,

VACANCY NNOUNCEMENT Bisha Mining Share Company PLC is inviting interested applicants for the fol-

lowing position.

S1. ecurity team Leader (1) Duties and Responsibilities:

Acts as a Crew leader, he leads and supervises the Security guards in As-•mara.

Assists HR in keeping and following the attendance register. He also regis-•ters any asset entering and exiting Bisha Office.

Registers any personnel entering Bisha office, and confirms the access is •with the permit of Bisha personnel.

Issues Visitors ID for non BMSC personnel entering Bisha Office. (In re-•placement of their ID or any other doc.)

Reports daily security activities and sends it to Security Superintendent.•Reports daily on the activities of Security Guards.•Collects and files copies of all gate passes sent from site.•Confirms reception of (entry of) the list of items on the gate passes destined •

to Asmara office from Site.Registers the arrival of LVs from site and deposits the LV offsite form.•Registers the last KM reading of the LV during departure.•Files the LV offsite form of the departing LV.•Communicates the ETA of the LV to site.•

Profile: Qualifications and Experience

Formal Education, Certifications or Equivalents 12th Grade Complete.

Working Experience- Nature and Length 3 years’ experience in Security Police or Military. Working expe-rience in admin is an asset.

Leadership Experience – Nature & Length of time Supervisory or Crew leadership experience preferable

Other Skills and abilities Computers literate, fluent in English (Writ-ing and speaking).

General Information and other requirements:

Type• of contract: Indefinite period Place• of Work: Asmara Salary• : As per Company salary scale.Additional• requirement for Nationals: Having• fulfilled his/her National Service obligation and provide evidence

of release paper from the Ministry of Defense. Present• clearance paper from current/last employer.Testimonial• documents to be attached (CV, work experience credentials, a

copy of your National Identity Card etc.).Only• shortlisted applicants would be considered as potential candidates

for an interview.Application• documents will not be returned to sender.All• applications should be sent through the post office.Deadline• for application: 10 days from the day of publication in the

Newspaper.Address• : Please mail your applications to;Bisha• Mining Share CompanyP• . O. Box 4276 Asmara, EritreaNote• to Eritrean applicants: Please send a copy of your application toAliens Employment Permit Affairs,P . O. Box 7940 Asmara, Eritrea

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7Eritrea Profile, Wednesday, August 26th , 2015

VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT Bisha Mining Share Company PLC is inviting interested applicants for the positions of;

Network Engineer (01)1.

Major Duties and responsibilities:-

Monitor BMSC’s network for outages and resolve or escalate problems in timely manner.•Log all support requests in the IT help desk management system.•Schedule and perform routine preventive maintenance on all IT network equipment. •Install and configure Cisco IOS device – switches, wireless access point, VoIP telephones.•Install and configure other 3• rd party networking platforms as required.Maintain accurate network diagram and documentation.•Provide support to the Help Desk support officers.•Provide daily and weekly reports on all work activities to it I&S Supervisor.•Maintain an up-to-date detailed inventory of all IT network equipment.•Administer network monitoring tools and maintain an updated list of devices for a one stop •

visual bandwidth and uptime monitor.Commit to a Personal training and development program in line with BMSC’s Training & •

Development policies.Maintains safe working and ensure all work conducted is in line with BMSC’s safety Poli-•

cies.Profile: Qualifications and Experience

Formal Education, Certifications or Equivalents Degree in Computer Science.

Working Experience – Nature & Length

Minimum 5 years in similar Information Technology Position.

Leadership Experience – Nature & length of time None

Other skills and abilitiesExcellent Command of English Language (written & spoken)Valid Eritrean Driver’s License

IT Support Officer (01)2. Major Duties and responsibilities:-

Desktop, laptop and printer hardware maintenance•Windows Operating System and Application Support & Installation•Assisting Systems and Network engineers with project work•Logging of all end user support requests•Duties to be carried out at the Bisha Mine site and periodically in BMSCs Asmara and /or •

Massawa Offices.

Profile: Qualifications and Experience

Formal Education, Certifications or Equivalents IT related Degree or Diploma

Working Experience – Nature & Length 2 years minimum in an IT related role

Leadership Experience – Nature & length of time None

Other skills and abilities

Ability to educate •others on the operation of computers and applications.

Strong command of •English language.

General Information and other requirements:

Place of Work: Bisha.•Type of contract: Indefinite period•Salary: As per Company salary scale.•Additional requirement for Nationals: •Having fulfilled his/her National Service obligation and provide evidence of release paper from •

the Ministry of Defense. Present clearance paper from current/last employer.•Testimonial documents to be attached (CV, work experience credentials, a copy of your Na-•

tionalIdentity card etc.).

Only shortlisted applicants would be considered as potential candidates for an interview.•Application documents will not be returned to sender.•All applications should be sent through the post office.•Deadline for application: 10 days from the day of publication in the Newspaper.•

CHINESE CLASSES TO THE PUBLIC CI-NCHE is planning to offer more classes for the public who are

interested in learning Chinese language and longing for knowing more about Chinese culture. The registration is scheduled on September 1-3, 2015 in Room 183, University of Asmara.

The applicants for Kongfu classes should be above 10 years old. The

applicants for rest classes should be above 7 years old. The class sched-ule is as following:

Chinese Language Class I: Tuesday&Thursday, 4pm-6pm. Chinese Language Class II ;wednesday& Friday, 4pm-6pm. Chinese Language Class III; Saturday&Sunday, 4pm-6pm. Kongfu Class I : Monday ,wednesday & Friday, 4pm-6pm Kongfu Class II: Tuesday & Thursday, 4pm-6pm Chinese Song Class: Sunday, 4pm-6pm Chinese Dance Class: Monday, wednesday & Friday, 4pm-6pm Chinese Calligraphy Class: Monday, 4pm-6pm The people who want to take the Chinese class will have to pay 100

Nakfa for handouts. More information is available for you on working days at Room 183, University of Asmara. CI-NCHE is expecting you to begin the Chinese Journey with us together.

NoticeThe Eritro GermenAssociation is starting German Language course

for children in September 2015. Interested applicants are cordially invited for registration effective today.

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Eritrea Profile, Wednesday, August 26th , 2015 8

“Eritrean Teen Stuns Marathon Stars at World Championships in Beijing: Eritrean teenager Ghir-may Ghebreslassie became the youngest ever marathon world champion when he stunned a strong field of fellow East Afri-cans to win the first title of the Beijing championships on Satur-day”, reported Reuters stating that the 19-year-old eased clear of the field over the final six kilo-meters and crossed the line in two hours, 12 minutes and 27 seconds to claim the first world champion-ship gold medal for his country.

Hoping to set grater records for himself in next year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, young champion Ghirmay Ghebreslassie expressed his joy saying that he was “so proud of this victory.”

“My medal is the first gold medal in Eritrean history. That’s something special for us. I can-not describe my happiness. My parents wanted me to be a great student but I wanted to be a great athlete. Today’s victory will be a great surprise to them.”

In the report IAAF published on its official website, it declared that “In the end it was the day of Ghirmay Ghebreslassie. The teenager won Eritrea’s first World Championships gold medal, tak-ing the men’s marathon title on a day when more favored runners wilted in the sun.”

Ghirmay Ghebreselassie, turn-ing only 20 in November this year, made history on the streets of Beijing on the opening morn-ing of the championships, sur-

Eritrea Shines in world Athletics Championships

passing Zersenay Tadese in terms of World Championships medals. He still has a way to go to match his countryman in career achieve-ments, but as he is just setting off on his journey, he is bound to do so in the future.

Following Eritrean Ghirmay Ghebreslassie, Yemane Tsegay of Ethiopia won second place and Munyo Solomon Mutai of Ugan-da finished third.

In any case, no one can take away Ghirmay’s singular achieve-ment of becoming the youngest winner of any road event in the history of the championships, on top of securing his country’s first World Championships gold medal.

Young Eritrean Ghirmay Ghe-breslassie had a solid reputation at previous major champion-ships across all terrains, finishing seventh in the junior race at the 2013 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and seventh at the 2014 IAAF World Half Mara-thon Championships.

But despite that, his manager Jos Hermens – who also guided him throughout his legendary career – did not expect a result such as this one on the eve of the championships.

Although he hails from a coun-

try with a proud history in long-distance running, no Eritreans be-fore Ghirmay had managed to get on top of the podium at the IAAF World Championships. Only his illustrious compatriot Zersenay Tadese had managed to win a medal at the previous 14 editions of the World Championships, tak-ing silver in the 10,000 meters in 2009.

Ghirmay started running seri-ously just three years ago. He ran the first 35km as a pacemaker at the Chicago Marathon last Octo-ber as a learning experience but he decided to finish the race and placed sixth in 2:09:08 when he was still a junior.

He ran 2:07:47 in his second

race over the distance in Ham-burg earlier this year.

“I thank my manager and the officials of my federation who supported me and gave me the chance to qualify for these cham-pionships,” he said following his victory. “It’s the first (World Championships) gold medal in Eritrean history and it’s very spe-cial for me.

It gives me motivation to con-tinue hard for next year’s Olym-pic Games in Rio de Janeiro,” the gold medalist said.

Wrapped in the Eritrean flag, Ghirmay Ghebreslassie races to victory in the men’s marathon at the IAAF world championship, Beijing 2015.