African Wind
Chapter1
Encounter with Africa
I visited the country called Eritrea in May 1994. Eritrea is facing to the Red Sea. It is the 53rd country in the African continent and Eritrea attained independence in 1993 from Ethiopia after 30 years of war. I was invited to attend the celebration of its first independence day. And it was my first time to walk on the African soil. African continent was not what I had imagined it to be.
Eritrea was at war only a year ago. Gun shot holes were everywhere in the wooden airport building.At the museum located in the city many firearms on display together with combat vehicles that were in use a year ago sat eerily in the museum. Among the items on display I saw the letters “made in Japan” engraved on the operation tubes and communication instruments of the weapons. I faced the unknown truth that we were a part of this war.
There were no photographs in the museum but instead they depicted what happened in paintings.One of the unforgettable paintings was the one describing a woman held down by soldiers and her breasts were slashed off. During the ethnic strife in Africa it was common to kill a pregnant women and slice off breasts from a breastfeeding women in fear of revenge from the people in the next generation. It was considered as a strategy to discontinue the DNA of the enemy. It was such a shock to me as I grew up in the homogeneous society.
The celebration on the day before the independence day was such a joyous event with people in their garments of the people with candles in their hands. They were celebrating their victory and dignifying the lost souls of the war. I heard women singing “a la la la la la ….” in high-pitched voice. Back then Eritrea was experiencing shortage of electricity and there were only few areas where they had lights at night. But that night with a few thousands of candle lights illuminating the air created a fantastic sight. People were luminous for remembrance of people lost and prayer for the peaceful future. I truly wish for the bright future for this county.
One more thing that I learned in Ethiopia about life and survival came from the street children of Addis Ababa. Back then there were a few tens of thousands of street children in Addis Ababa. There were kids without arm and legs. I heard that their parents cut them off from children to make them a better beggar. They get pity without arm and legs. It was terrifying experience that as soon as I stepped out of the hotel so many small hands of children asking for money surrounded me. It wouldn’t help anyone just by giving some money to some children. I couldn’t even look at those street children whose lives were depended on begging money from a stranger. The reality that they live right next to their death was too unrealistic to me even though we live on the same earth on the same time frame. My first visit to Africa shook me from the bottom of my feet. I felt that my soul went missing in African continent.
12 years had past since I stepped on the African soil for the first time. I thought I knew everything as I lived in the center of the information overflowing society like Japan. It was Africa who slapped my face to wake up to the reality. I am still searching for my missing soul. I often wonder how many reality do I experience, feel, and interact in my lifetime. And how many people can I tell the stories of what I had experienced? It seems that I have no time to waste.
There are 53 countries in African continent. But it actually has about 5000-6000 ethnic groups with their own anguage, culture and lifestyles. I wonder if Africa has 53 countries after all. I believe that at least it wasn’t the people of Africa who drew 53 borders in Africa.
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