CRF Projects in Eritrea
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ADI AWISHA
CRF Project: construction of a bridge.
Village: Adi Awisha.
Awaraja: Hamasien.
District: Seharti.
Population:321 residing families for a total of 1,022 inhabitants.
Ethnical composition: Tigrygna.
Religious influences: Christian-Coptic.
Position: the village is about 11 km away from Asmara and it is situated on the left side of the road carrying to Decamehare. Situated on a hill, it is separated from the road by a deep escarpment.
CRF intervention:
At the end of May 1994 , the construction of the bridge's reinforced concrete works results to be finished. However, still to be completed, is the filling of the bridge's arches.
Hydric resources:
Water is perennial and abundant all the year.
Economical activities:
- Agriculture: the sown products are barley, wheat, taff, sorghum and legumes. The soil's property system is the Dessa. The number of Tsimdi assigned to each family depends on the number of the family's components. Moreover greens are cultivated in areas called giardino, situated in the proximity of the irrigation basin. Three owners use pumps. The principle of Wereda, that is the periodical rotation of the soils, is not applied to the property of the giardini.
- Livestock breeding: due to the drought, the number of families possessing oxen has decreased; at least 200 families state that they do not own oxen for ploughing.
Health Services:
In the village a medical post is present to which the village's inhabitants refer to.
Education:
The school service reaches the V grade. The students, of provenance of two neighbouring villages, are 270. The school is unprovided with equipment such as desks and benches; the teachers on duty are 6.
New comers:
Of numerical insignificance are the families returned from Sudan.
Transportations:
Some private motor vehicles are present.
Market:
The nearest market is at Asmara.
Alimentary aids:
Problems:
Presence of locusts and parasites which damaged the harvest.
Advanced proposals:
- Agricultural assistance.
ADI BIDEL
CRF project: rehabilitation and enlargement of an elementary school.
Village: Adi Bidel.
Awaraja: Hamasien.
District: Tzahda Christian.
Population; the resident families are 380, for a total of 2,480 inhabitants. Native of the village, 120 families reside in Asmara.
Ethnical composition: Tigrygna.
Religious influences: Christian-Coptic.
Position:
At the end of 1993, the construction works of a large church in the village were terminated. Already proposed by the village 25 years ago, the building of the church was deferred because it was retained too large by the population. The works, hence only recently started, in financial terms have greatly engaged the population: it is indeed declared that the contribute by the residents (gathered in the form of animals, currency, cereals, etc.) has been equivalent 150,000 Birr.
In 1993 as well a mill has been built in the village: for workmanship 10 masons of the village have been employed, whose work has been lent gratuituosly, that is, in Mahatot. With this system of collective work, during the last years 30 new houses have been built, as well as a dwelling for a fighter returned to the village; with Mahatot also the road leading to the village has been repaired and the fields of some families who lost their members during the war have been ploughed, as well as also 80 Tsimdi of property of the school have been worked out.
CRF intervention:
Initially the intervention anticipated by the CRF concerned the construction of a new edifice to be used as elementary school and the rehabilitation of a nearby edifice built about forty years ago. Such rehabilitation foresaw the partial demolition of the surrounding walls, damaged by deep cracks. However, in the course of the works, it has been deemed more suitable to completely demolish such edifice and to build it anew from the foundations. During the survey carried out on 22 April 1994, the good proceeding of the works, whose conclusion is foreseen for the end of May, has been verified. However this term will not be liable to be respected also because of the delays in the forwarding of the building materials.
The population's contribution, amounting to 31,000 Birr, has been advanced by some traders, natives of the village, but residing in Asmara. This amount, already deposited in the bank at the beginning of December 1993, will have to be paid back by the families residing in the village. It is calculated that on the average each family should pay 100 Birr.
Hydric resources
A single well is present in the village, supplied with a hand-operated pump. The water, usually not sufficient, exausts itself in May. The animal's watering site instead is two hours walk away from the village.
Economical activities
- Agriculture: no problem of land scarcity is lamented, neither for agricultural nor for pastures' use. If manured, before May's rains, the land is considered fertile. The land property is based on the Dessa system: the land rotation among the families takes place every seven years.
Livestock breeding: most of the inhabitants do not own oxen: for ploughing, they recur to renting them in exchange for the harvest's part agreed upon, or they are freely borrowed during the holidays. The pastures' land is in the village's neighbourhood. There is not the habit of transhumance to the lowlands.
Health services
The nearest clinic is at Tzahda Christian, that is 20 km far off. No traditional medical doctors operate in the village.
Education
243 students, among which 113 females, attend the school lessons in the village . The professors are eight. The desks are 18: hence the rest of the students seat on rocks. The didactic material too is not sufficient: a school text is utilized by four students.
The boys who cannot frequent the lessons for want of school halls are 275, taking into account the inhabitants of the nearby zones.
New comers:
At the beginning of 1994, about 10 person returned from Sudan.
Transportations:
Alimentary aids:
Market:
Some shops exist in the village. However the principal market is in Asmara.
Problems:
Insufficiency of the hydric availability,
Advanced proposals:
Digging of new wells.
DERESENAI
CRF project: rehabilitation and enlargement of the elementary school.
Village: Deresenai.
Awraja: Hamasien.
District: Magarca.
Population: according to a 1991 census, the families residing in the district and in the neighbourhood are 218.
Ethnical composition: Tigrygna.
Religious influences: Christian-Coptic.
During the independence war the village was a training seat of the EPLF militants; due to this it has been levelled down. Also, because of the recruiting of conscripts, the juvenile population of Deresenai is extremely exiguous. Relatively numerous are the individuals who settled, during the war, in the Barka region, where traditionally the seasonal livestock's transhumance is practiced.
CRF intervention:
The works for a school edifice composed of two halls were started in 1992, however, due to lack of funds, the works for the new school have been interrupted before completing the supplying of windows, doors, and the laying down of the floor. For the new school's construction the village's community took charge of the expenses' weight: in accordance to the financial possibilities, each family contributed from 30 to 40 Birr. The costs sustained in 1993 are the following: 10,000 Birr for the galvanized sheet iron covering and for the cement; 5,500 Birr for workmanship; 3,500 Birr for the chiseler' service. Hence, due to these recently sustained expenses, the community declares itself in difficulty for the completion of the above mentioned school.
On 7 April 1994 the construction works of the two edifices foreseen in the ambit of the C.R.F. program have been started.
On May 6th, date of the visit, a slowing down of the works has been noticed due to the delay in the forwarding of the building materials.
Besides 7 masons of the contracting firm, many workers recruited in the village lend their service.
The community's contribution, besides having been paid down as currency, has been calculated in accordance to the collected material (205 m3 of rocks and 61 m3 of sand).
Hydric resources:
A well dug four years ago is present, with sufficient water for the whole year.
Economical activities:
- Agriculture: the soil has been declared as not being very fertile, and more suitable for pasture. The cultivated products are mainly maize, barley, various legumes and snap beans. Although the land property system is the Dessa, the last rotation of the soils among the population goes back to around twenty years ago. Each family on the average has an availability of three tsimdi, situated in two different zones.
- Cattle breeding: the families not owning animals are numerous. There are, altogether, 30 oxen in the village. The greatest number of animals owned by the village's most wealthy individual is of about 10 cows and 30 goats. During the rainy season (from July to September), transhumance of the livestock to Gula', in the Barka region, is practiced.
Health services:
For the simpler interventions, recourse is made to the nearest medical post, which is at Addi-Namen, 10 km away.
Education:
The imparted school education covers the IV grade. The students are 320 of which at least about eighty above fourteen years of age. Most of them come from 5 neighbouring villages, the further away of which (Mitrat) is at about two hours walk. The eight teachers on duty come from Asmara. The school is made up of four halls. The spoiled roof is not waterproof and hence needing repairing works. The didactic material is insufficient (on the average a book for two pupils is utilized) and there are no desks.
New comers:
About 5 families, coming from Sudan, returned to the village in 1993. Their dwellings having been levelled down, the new comers are actually guests of relatives.
Collective works:
Through the constitution of several Maharot (collective works), ultimately 100 dwellings have been built.
Transportations:
The village is not linked to any major centre by any transportation means, either public or private. For medical urgencies, the patients are carried on shoulders.
Alimentary aids:
Their distribution is not regular: the last alimentary aids go back to January 1994, while the previous to September 1993.
Market:
Only a small shop exists in the village, where sugar, coffee and tea are available. A better supplied market is at Ate Klesa (at a distance of about 20 km away) and at Magarca (25 km). For livestock's buying and selling, as well as not-daily consume commodities and clothing, the most important commercial site is in Asmara. On the average, a family's leader betakes himself thereto about five times yearly.
Problems:
- Impassable road, especially during the rainy season.
- Lack of an Health Centre.
- Scarcity of young people.
- High presence of parasites attacking the cultivations.
- Lack of alimentary commodities.
- Inadequacy of the school edifices, as related to the number of the students.
Advanced proposals:
- Construction of a dam which should allow the irrigation of 100 tsimdi.
- Promotion of a reforestation project.
LIBAN
CRF project: rehabilitation of a well.
Village: Liban.
Awaraja: Hamasien.
District:
Population: 979 families, taking into consideration the 7 agglomerates depending on Liban.
Ethnical composition: Tigrygna.
Religious influences: Christian-Coptic.
Position: Liban is at a distance of 38 km from Asmara.
About 50 years ago, following a migration toward the lowland of some of Liban's inhabitants, an homonymous village was founded in the Barka region. Such migration came about from the research of more fertile pastures. Around Liban situated in the Barka, two more villages gravitate. Notwithstanding that it is in another region, it falls under the Hamasien's administration. At the beginning of May 1994 in the village of Hamasien the building of many dwellings was started; the works, which for the time being concern 50 houses, should notably extend (a Baito's representative affirms that 1,200 houses will be built in the proximal future), as the settlement in the village of younger inhabitants who actually reside in the neighbouring areas and in the Barka region is expected. Hence given the noticeable increase of the population, the actual hydric availability is insufficient.
Hydric resources:
There are two wells, each 20 m deep, drawing in the same water creek.
CRF intervention:
A hand-operated water pump has been supplied to one of the wells in the first week of March, since the one previously installed was not utilizable. The second well, instead, will not be supplied with any pump: the intervention will limit itself to occlude its opening with a cement platform.
In the same period, from the Water Resource, two excavations have been carried out in lower zones of the village, that is, where the rain waters unite, so as to augment the village's hydric availability. However the results have been negative, as no water has been found notwithstanding that depths of respectively 36 and 38 m have been reached. The population's financial contribute amounts to 4,000 Birr. Initially deposited in the bank, this amount has successively been utilized for the payment of the rocks' transportation (40 trips), now piled up in the vicinity of the two wells (this is the situation so as it appears at 21 April 1994).
Economical activities:
- Agriculture: due to the hills surrounding the village, a scarcity of soils suitable for agriculture is lamented. Taking into account also the Barka's Liban, it is referred that many are the individuals deprived of land. They belong principally to the category of young people and of the ex-fighters. The sown cereals are sorghum, maize, wheat, barley and taff. Also some leguminous plants are cultivated (beans and chickpeas) , flax and the neghig oily seeds. The land property is based on the Dessa system: generally, 5 tsimdi are allotted to each family.
- Livestock breeding: due to the territory's characteristics, scarce is also the pasture's land. Due to the recent droughts, it is stated that not even a fourth of the inhabitants owns any oxen to plough the land.
Health services:
No medical service is existing in the village. The nearest clinic is at Himbirti, at a distance of 7 km.
Education:
The imparted school education covers the VI grade. The students are 460. The professors are 11, of which 4 coming from Asmara. Recently, two additional halls have been added to the already existing school composed of 5 halls, built thanks to the funds sent by a village's emigrant resident abroad. The boys attending this school pay a monthly installment of 3 Birr with which the salary of a teacher, native of Liban, is assured.
New comers:
Following Eritrea's independence, the families returned from Sudan and above all from Tigray are about thirty.
Transportations:
Since June 1993 a daily transportation service between the village and Asmara has been established: the cost to cover this route is of 4.30 Birr. Notwithstanding the annual maintenance given to the road by the population, it becomes rather damaged following each rainy season .
Alimentary aids:
There have been two distributions of cereals in 1994: the first in March, while the second in May.
Problems:
- Scantiness of alimentary aids.
- A high rate of juvenile unemployment.
Advanced proposals:
- To launch projects, such as reforestation and diversion terraces, utilizing the "food for work" formula.
- Development of the agriculture through the construction of small dams.
TA'ARESHI
CRF project: construction of an elementary school.
Village: Ta'areshi.
Awraja: Hamasien.
District: Dembezan.
Population: the resident families are 295, totalling about 900 individuals. About 200 natives reside in Asmara.
Ethnical composition: Tigrygna.
Religious influences: Christian-Coptic.
Position:
CRF intervention:
During September 1993 the village's inhabitants initiated the enlarging works of a previously built edifice used as a school. However this works halted around December 1993 for the opportunity offered by the CRF to contribute to the construction of a larger edifice. The population's contribution, amounting to about 29,000 Birr, has been anticipated by seven natives of the village residing in Asmara. The paid quota will be reimbursed by the village's families, calculating around 70 Birr per family. Besides the monetary contribution, the population pledged for the gathering of 200 m3 of rocks and 61 m3 of sand.
The works for the construction of the foundations of the two edifices to be used as a school were begun on 28 April 1994, date of the last survey. A delay in the forwarding of the building materials is lamented by the masons of the contracting firm.
Hydric resources:
The available water is gathered into two basins to which indistinctly men and animals get their supply.
Economical activities:
- Agriculture: regardless of the members' number, each family owns three cultivated plots of land and cereals (Zrati) measuring two Tsimdi. Besides these plots, each family cultivates a giardino where agriculture under irrigation is performed.
There tomatoes, potatoes, onions and various greens are sown. For the fields and the cereals the Dessa system is in force. Every seven years rotation, or wereda, of the diverse plats among the inhabitants, is resorted to.
- Cattle breeding: according to the 1986 census in the village there are 700 goats, 80 oxen, and about 30 cows. The village's wealthiest individual owns 20 cows and 3 oxen. In the two summertime months, the village's inhabitants transfer themselves to the eastern declivities, namely in the Semhar, in the demesne area called Bahari, in search of good pastures. In the Bahari zone about 50 Ta'hareshi families possess a plat of one Tsimdi cultivated only with maize.
Health services:
The nearest health post is at Shemanegus Teclai, at about one and half hour walk away. Four villages, with a population of about 2,000 families, refer to this centre. For grave cases the population betakes itself to Asmara.
Education:
The school service includes the IV grade of education. The attending students are 190, of which 116 males and 74 females. The professors are five. On the average, each text-book is utilized by two students. In the school there are no desks or benches. For want of an edifice, it is reported that 49 students are not set in the condition to attend the lessons.
New comers:
During the last year about 30 individuals returned from the Barka region. Instead in 1992 about 20 families returned from Sudan.
Transportations:
Alimentary aids:
The last distribution goes back to September 1993.
Market:
Problems:
- Presence of rats which damage the crops (it is necessary to sow three times) and consequently reduce the quantity of cereals stored in the dwellings.
- Lack of an health service.
- Insufficiency of the hydric availability.
ADI-SHUMA
CRF project: construction of an health centre.
Village: Adi Shuma.
Awraja: Semhar.
District: Gahtelay.
Population: actually there are about 60 resident families, but two hundred more are spread upon the neighbouring territory. They might settle in the village during the rainy season.
Ethnical composition: Tigre'; the main tribe is constituted by the Ashuma.
Religious influences: Moslem.
Position:
Before January 1994, the village was at about 5 km from where it will actually develop itself. The new location has been chosen on the basis of the following motives:
a) Proximity to the main road, which will be built between the village and the Massawa-Asmara roadway.
b) Proximity to the springs of mineral water.
c) Proximity to the agricultural scheme of the Ministry of Agriculture, actually under construction. While in the past an existence of a semi-nomadic type was practiced, for the motives above exposed and so as to enjoy the health and school services, the population is leaning towards a sort of more sedentary life. Instead of the typical round Tigre', to the extent compatible with the economical availability, in the village rectangular dwellings with a wooden frame are being built.
CRF intervention:
At the beginning of January 1994 the construction works were not yet started.
Hydric resources:
Thermal water, outflowing at an hour walk's away from the village, is abundant.
Economical activities:
- Agriculture: generally the sown cultivation is maize, however for the past years a very scanty harvest has been declared due to the scarcity of rains. At the beginning of 1994, in a plain not too far away from the village, the Ministry of Agriculture has given way to the construction of an agricultural scheme. Such area's irrigation is foreseen by utilizing the water gathered by a dam whose construction is under way. At the end of the works each inhabitant of the Adi Shuma village, as well as the population of other five Tigre' villages nearby, will receive a parcel from within the agricultural scheme. For the construction of the banks of the scheme and of the dam, the Adi Shuma inhabitants lend their work in accordance with the formula "food for work". Instead, the soil's ploughing and cleansing from rocks and shrubs activities are freely carried out by the community.
- Livestock breeding: on the average each family owns 20 cows. Traditionally, at the beginning of October, livestock's transhumance is practiced toward the Senhit highlands.
- Artisanship: ceramic pots and colored mats are manufactured by women; also practiced is hides' tanning.
Health services:
The nearest clinic is at Gahtelay.
Education:
No school is present in the village.
New comers:
Numerically insignificant the families of refugees.
Transportations:
The village is not linked to the important centres by any means of transportation, either private or public.
Market:
The nearest market is at Gahtelay.
Problems:
- High frequency of diseases, such as malaria, and of deceases due to sun strokes, snakes and scorpions' bites. Relatively high as well are also deaths due to postpartum hemorhages.
- Communication difficulties.
Advanced proposals:
- Construction of a mosque.
- Construction of a medical post.
FORO
CRF project: construction of an Health Centre.
Village: Foro.
Awraja: Semhar.
District: Zula.
Population: 318 resident families for a total of 1,050 individuals.
Ethnical composition: in accordance with a decreasing order, the existent ethnic groups are the following: Tigre', Saho, Tigrygna, Afar.
Religious influences: Moslem and Christian-Coptic.
Position:
The village has been administered for 15 years by the EPLF. Flourishing in the past the illegal trade with the arabian coast, lately its market was less lively, due to the recent custom's restrictions. However, a high standard of life of the population is noticed above all for the presence of numerous traders. Frequent also the remittances of natives actually resident in Saudi Arabia.
CRF intervention:
During the visit of 13 January 1994 the construction works of the Health Centre were not yet begun, nor had the forwarding of the building materials commenced.
Hydric resources:
The population satisfies its own hydric requirements by utilizing the water coming from two wells dug during the italian colonial period. These wells are connected to the town through a pipeline network which needs maintenance.
Economical activities:
- Agriculture: the cultivated products are: maize, three qualities of sorghum, water melons, taff, cotton, peanuts, tomatoes, okra, pepper. The soil's measuring standard is the hectare. The land property still follows the standards introduced by the italians, that is, it is based on the granting of concessions. Numerous are the families resident in Foro possessing property land, based on the resti property system, in the bordering region of the Akele Guzai.
Livestock breeding: every family owns at least one oxen. During the summer, transhumance of the herds to the highlands of the Akele Guzai, as far as Hosomo, takes place.
- Commerce: flourishing with Asmara and Massawa. Overall during the past years, Foro was the distribution centre of the commodities coming from Saudi Arabia and directed to Eritrea's most important centres.
- Artisanship: introduced by the EPLF, embroidery and tailoring courses. Nowadays those activities have been lost due to the lack of equipment. Numerous, instead, are the tailor shops remained in the village, exclusively of male competence.
- Fishing: it is not practiced. Although fish is appreciated, above all by the Afar people, in the village transportation means linking with the coast are lacking. Although fishing is indeed practiced in the nearby Zula, on the way until Foro the fished stuff deteriorates. Some fishermen of Zula as well sell their fishing's products in the village, but frequently during its transportation it deteriorates.
Health services:
For the Health Service recently an edifice of two rooms has been built, which however, with the forthcoming construction of an Health Centre, will be used as pharmacy or as a dwelling for the medical personnel. In the village actually operate one medical doctor and two nurses.
Education:
At the beginning of January 1994, the building of a school edifice due to reach the IV grade of education, was under way.
New Comers:
Transportations:
Alimentary aids:
Market:
In the village there are at least about 30 shops.
Problems:
- Burial of the vast basin of the dam built during the italian period ( ?? *** nota traduttore: la diga di Foro e' stata costruita dall'impresa Costa [ 1959/60 ] durante il periodo imperiale etiopico ***).
- Difficulties in the connections with Massawa.
Proposals:
- Rehabilitation of the road linking with Massawa.
- To carry on the maintenance work to the dam and to the conduits of the potable water.
WEDDI - ILO
CRF project: construction of an elementary school.
Village: Weddi-ilo.
Awraja: Semhar.
District: Wekiro.
Population: it is maintained that 3,700 families live in the village. However, this number does not appear to correspond to what visibly appears; it probably is inclusive of the Rashaida dislocated in other areas.
Ethnical composition: Rashaida.
Religious influences: Moslem.
Position:
The village constituted itself as from the referendum's date. Before then, the Rashaida lived as nomads along the Eritrean coast. So as to be enabled to enjoy the primary services, such as education and health, it is referred that the authorization has been requested to the eritrean Authorities in order to lay the village's foundations. This area's choice derives from its "belonging to the Rashaida people since the times of the italians".
A village's expansion is expected, brought about by the returning of many Rashaida now scattered both in the north as well as in the south (up to Foro) of Massawa and its periphery as well.
The private dwellings are made of the typical Rashaida tents: that is, the covering is made up of woollen blankets or of cotton-quilted materials. The shops, instead, of a rectangular form, are made up of wooden planks.
CRF intervention:
The works for the construction of the edifice to be used as school started in April 1994.
Hydric resources:
A single well, 26 metres deep, is present in the village; supporting both human as well as animal needs, it is not considered as sufficient.
Economical activities:
- Agriculture: each family cultivates lots of different dimensions. The soil's measuring unit is called Nocus, and it is corresponding to one half Tsimdi. The maximum extension of a family's land property corresponds to 10 Nocus, while the least is of 2 Nocus.
- Livestock breeding: the owned animals are sheep, goats and camels.
- Commerce: quite alive the trade of commodities with Saudi Arabia and Sudan, through Eritrea. The acquisition of goats from the Barka region which are re-sold in Saudi Arabia, is performed.
- Artisanship: along with the female artisanship, limited to the manufacturing of mats, in the village there are two tailor shops.
Health services:
No ambulatory exists in the village. The nearest medical post is at Wekiro, at a distance of 6 km from the village.
Education:
In the village the inhabitants have built three rectangular huts, where three teachers lend their service. The students are about 270, but 600 more would be of school age if there existed an adequate edifice.
New comers:
No individuals of diverse ethnic groups than the Rashaida are present.
Transportations:
Some pick-up vehicles of private property are present in the village.
Alimentary aids:
Market:
In the village there are some shops supplied with alimentary and voluptuary commodities.
Problems:
- Insufficiency of the hydric availability.
- Lack of a clinic.
Advanced proposals:
Construction of dams, which creating basins, might increase the agriculture.
KENCHUWA
CRF Project: construction of an Health Centre.
Village: Kenchuwa.
Awraja: Sahel.
District:
Population: the families residing in the village and in the neighbourhood are about 500.
Ethnical composition: Tigre'; main tribes: Asfada', Almada', Nabab, Gurita, Dagher, Bet at Sheik, Assaorta, Bet Assegheda.
Religious influences: Moslem.
Location: the village is situated in a vast valley, at about ............... km from Kub Kub, on the road stretch Afabet-Nakfa.
The Kenchuwa settlement, even if referred to as to the Turks' epoch, is presumed to have acquired its actual configuration only recently: indeed, if the structures used as school and for the administration' seat, whose building goes back to the past year are excluded, in the area no other masonry edifices are existing. All the dwellings are made up of the typical tigre' tents. Badly hit by the ethiopians in 1967, the Kenchuwa's population dispersed itself in the neigborhood and only recently a centripetal tendency has been observed. The motives which induce to concentrate in a more populous agglomerate are to be found in the desire to enjoy the sanitary and school services and the alimentary aids as well.
CRF intervention:
The works for the rocks' gathering have started on May 10, 1994.
The population's contribute amounts to about 25,000 Birr, 14,000 of which have already been paid down.
Hydric resources:
A well of a depth of about 4 metres is extant, with sweet and abundant water. For its own hydric needs, the population also betakes itself to a river not far away from the village.
Economical activities:
- Agriculture: two types of agriculture are practiced: dry and under irrigation; the last mentioned avails itself of small traditional dams (agm). While the standard for measuring the soil under irrigation is the feddam, for the dry cultivation it is measured with the traditional system named salloka. The products principally cultivated are taff, sorghum, water-melons and cotton. The latter is cultivated on a small scale by an exiguous number of individuals and it is sold to traders at Keren and Asmara.
- Cattle breeding: grave were the consequences of the recent droughts on the zootechnical patrimony. During the rains' season (from July to September), livestock's transhumance is practiced toward the coast (Mersa Gullub e Mersa Teclay) and toward Agra, in the zone of Nakfa.
Health services
For medical assistance, this area's population is forced to go to Afabet and to Zabra (close to Nakfa). The most recurrent illnesses are malaria and respiratory and intestinal ailments. Quite high is the percentage of women died for parturition.
Education
The imparted school education reaches the IV grade. The students are 250, while the teachers are 10. The two masonry buildings, which comprise six class-rooms, have been built in 1993 by the Ministry of Education, in accordance with a standard drawing.
New comers:
The settlement of refugees in the village does not appear as relevant.
Transportations:
The village is not linked to major centres by any transportation's means, either public or private.
Alimentary aids:
Their distribution is not regular: the last alimentary aids go back to April 1994, while the former to June 1993.
Market:
The nearest market is in Afabet.
Problems:
Lack of an Health Centre.
Suggestions:
Developing the agriculture.
BEKLA
CRF project: construction of an Health Station.
Village: Bekla.
Awraja: Sahel.
District: Rora Abab.
Population: the individuals residing in the whole district ( formed by the three villages of Rora Bekla, Rora Masahal and Rora Meret) amount to about 20,000.
Ethnical composition: Tigre'. Starting from the XVII century, the Asghede' coming from Hamasien took over versus the original Asfada' and Almada'. To the former, numerically more important, are presently associated the Rigbat, the Dobbat, the Assaorta, the Loghir, the Nabab.
Religious influences: originally Christians, also the tigrygna nuclei coming from the highlands, on assimilating to the Tigre', converted themselves to Islam.
Location: the village is situated at 2,350 m above the sea level, at about 57 km away from Nakfa. Linked to the latter by a dirt road, which for half of the way follows a stream's bed and which for the last 7 km too rapidly rises to an altitude of 2,350 m, the village remains completely isolated during the rains' season and too rarely frequented also during the other periods of the year.
CRF intervention:
The works for the construction of the Health Station were started toward the half of April. Although, as per contract, 72 days were agreed upon, the period necessary to complete the works will of necessity be not inferior to four months: this is due to the enormous transportation difficulties concerning the construction materials and for the scarcity of specialized workmanship to be found in the site. To solve the huge transportation's problem, the M.U. (*** M.U. abbreviazione per ?? ***) of the C.R.F. has henceforth decided to substitute the cement blocks with materials to be found on site (construction's rocks). Insofar as it concerns the workmanship, actually 3 masons coming from Asmara and 12 workers, natives of Bekla, are on service. The latter however appear to be scarcely prepared to carry out an activity where a greater exactness is requested (like, for example, squaring the rocks or erecting the partition walls). To this fact, it must be added the will, by part of the whole community, to participate in the works, so as to increase its own income (it needs to be considered that a worker's daily wage, actually of 9 Birr, is held to be insufficient by the population and the wage's matching to that of a finished mason, that is 40 Birr daily, is claimed). However the continuous rotation of the workers among all the dwellers brings about a slowing of the works and hinders the setting up of an effectively able work-team.
To progress in the works more quickly, besides limiting the workers' rotation, it would be necessary to increase the number of masons (from three to eight) and that of the workers (considering two of the latter per mason).
The population's contribution, calculated as amounting to 25,000 Birr, has already been deposited in the bank.
Hydric resources:
For human consumption, the water gathered into two artificial basins is utilized: the first, built during the colonial period, is however actually buried. The second, built in 1989 by the EPLF, is still reliable. For livestock's watering, small natural cavities on the streams' beds are utilized.
Economical activities
- Agriculture: the prevailing agricultural cultivations are: barley, wheat and taff. Of a more recent introduction are onions, potatoes, maize, kidney-beans and pease. The land property is based on the Resti system. The unit of land measurement is equivalent to the tsimdi and is called zemet in tigre' language. The maximum extent of land owned by a family is of 7 zemet. However there are families which do not own any land and that therefore dedicate themselves exclusively to livestock breeding. Ploughing with oxen is practiced. Women too participate to the agricultural works, above all in the activities of rooting out the weeds and gathering the crops.
- Livestock breeding: the owned animals are bovines, camels and goats. Due to the recent droughts, the latter are overall more numerous. For initiative of the Ministry of the Agriculture, present in the village with an own extensionist, between 1992 and 1993 in the district 217 oxen have been distributed, 57 of which freely, while the remaining with an extended payment.
During the rainy season, transhumance of the livestock toward Mahimet and beyond the sudanese frontier (Tocher and Cililenti) is carried out.
Health services:
Three nurses work in the village, which however are considered, by the population, to be scarcely qualified to face complex occurrences and inadequately supplied with medicines. For a true and real medical assistance, patients have to recur to the Zabra hospital, to be reached by a seven hours walk. The most recurrent diseases are malaria, respiratory disorders (bronchial pneumonia and tuberculosis) and diarrhea.
Education
The school, built in 1974 by the ethiopian government, has successively been enlarged by the EPLF. The conferred education reaches the VI grade. The students are 180, while the teachers on duty are 8. There are no desks and benches and by now the teachers' seats are old.
New comers
The refugees's settling in the village does not appear as remarkable.
Transportations
The village is not linked to Nakfa by any transportation means, either public or private.
Alimentary aids
The last distribution goes back to April1994, while the previous one to June 1993.
Market
A small weekly market is set up in the open, on the sides of the road leading to the village: above all clothing, salt, spices and voluptuary goods of sudanese provenance are thereby sold. For more important purchases the population reverts to the Nakfa market.
Problems
Isolation: the impervious road which links the Rora Abab highland and Nakfa results as being effectively dangerous in normal conditions, namely during lack of rains. When the latter begin, it becomes absolutely unpracticable. As a matter of fact its way goes along through a narrow steam's bed and afterward rises a steep of a decidedly daring inclination.
Advanced proposals
To create, or if possible to improve, the roadway link between the village and Nakfa.
KARORA
CRF project: construction of an Health Station.
Village: Karora.
Awaraja: Sahel.
District: Karora.
Population: the families residing in the village are about 300.
Ethnical composition: Tigre'. Principal tribes: Almada', Asfada', Bet Mahala, Degdeghe', Reghebat.
Religious influences: Moslem.
Location: Karora is situated on the border with Sudan (57km away from Mahimet) in a sandy plain spotted by acacia trees. The plain, subject to inundations during particularly abundant rains, can result as being not particularly suitable to a permanent settling.
The village of Karora assumed its actual appearance very recently. As a matter of fact it is prevailingly inhabited by family nuclei residing in Sudan. A zone of cotton cultivation already during the italian period (some buildings used as warehouses and built by the Barattolo enterprise are still present), in the past it displayed a type of scattered population.
CRF Intervention:
The works for the construction of an Health Station, although proceeding fast at the beginning, have been interrupted during May's first fortnight due to the exhaustion of building materials. As a matter of fact the road which links Karora to Asmara (from which all the building materials are sent) is long, tortuous and in some stretches impracticable by heavy trucks. The alternative choice to send the materials by sea to Hasmet's landing place (about 60 km from Mahimet) and hence from the latter to Karora (57 km of sandy roadway), although being more convenient, however brings forth some inconveniences. Of these, the first is that, lacking private maritime transport services, Military Navy vessels are to be recurred to, hence undergoing to their time schedules and availability. So as it happened during the period of our visit (middle May), a month can go by before the material to be sent reaches its own destination. The second difficulty resides in the fact that from Hasmet's landing site to Karora it is necessary to rent some sudanese trucks, which, due to the road's difficulties - and to the fact that they travel empty of cargo the stretch to Hasmet and that of return to Karora - are not always available. The contractor's masons (coming from the highlands) are 6; those recruited in the village, with experience acquired in Sudan, are as many. The workers are 24.
The contribute of 10% of the work's value has been paid down in cash by the population residing in both of the two zones across the eritrean-sudanese frontier, into which the city of Karora divides itself.
Hydric resources:
Four wells with the walls overlaid with cement have been dug in the village. Of these, two have sweet water, while the others have salty water. However, due to the fact that all the manually-actioned water pumps are broken down, Karora's population supplies itself at the wells dug in the bed of the Karora river, in sudanese territory and 1 km away from the village.
Economical activities:
- Agriculture: the prevailing agricultural cultivations are taff and cotton. Only about fifty families dedicate themselves to the cultivation of the latter, and they sell their product to traders coming from Keren and Asmara. Due to the lack of means of transportation, the dependency on the latter is total: as an example: this year's crop would indeed be ready to be traded, but lacking the village vehicles for its transportation, it has not yet been sold. The unit of measure of the soil is the feddan and, for the cotton, the Habel-elf, corresponding to two hectare. The soil's property depends on each family's capability of exploiting the land; however, conforming also to the number of the persons in the family's nucleus, the maximum amount of owned feddan corresponds to 10.
Women too participate to the agricultural works, especially in the activity of taff and cotton harvesting.
- Livestock breeding: the owned animals are camels, goats, sheep and, in a reduced measure, bovines. The maximum number of animals owned by a family is of 30 goats and 3 camels.
During the rainy season, livestock's transhumance beyond the sudanese border (Tocher) is practiced.
- Gathered and sold in Sudan at interesting prices are the mother-of-pearl shells (*** probalilmente come addietro a Massawa, "trocas" - conchiglie coniche di madreperla localmente conosciute come trocas - ***) utilized to manufacture buttons. Also traded are the shells' operculums, from which a perfume appreciated by women is obtained.
Health services:
The nearest medical post is at Mahimet. The most recurrent diseases are malaria, respiratory disturbances (bronchial pneumonia and tuberculosis) and sun-stroke ailments.
Education
No school exists in the village. He who wants access to Education, imparted up to the IV grade, must betake himself to Kassala, while who wants to continue up to the XII grade must establish himself in Tocher, both cities in sudanese territory.
New comers:
All of Karora's population, before the independence, was resident in Sudan.
Transportations:
Only a pick-up, property of the Administration, is present in the village. The cost of a trip to Asmara on a truck coming from Sudan is of 150 Birr (however the traffic on the sudanese frontier in this period is interrupted), while the cost of renting a camel for Mahimet is of 50 Birr.
Alimentary aids:
The last distribution goes back to February 1994; is has however taken the shape of food for work; in exchange rocks for another project have been gathered and cut. The previous distribution goes back to November 1993.
Market:
Before the recent limitations, Sudan was the seat of the normal commercial exchanges. However actually the markets of Nakfa have been substituted to those of Sudan (the round trip by camel takes 10 days) and of Massawa (16 days).
Problems:
- Isolation: a true and real road connecting Karora to the main eritrean centres is missing.
- Want of a school.
- Danger of inundation of the village during floods: questioned concerning this matter, the population declares itself contrary to move the dwellings in a safer zone, as, lacking transportation means, it prefers to remain closer to the hydric supply points.
- Lack of health assistance.
- Presence of locusts and parasites, which gravely damage the crops.
Advanced proposals:
- Rehabilitation of the two roadways which link Karora respectively to Massawa and to Keren.
- Construction of a dam which might deviate the river's course, whose waters threaten the habitat in case of floods.
- Construction of the school.
- Supplying the wells with working water pumps.
- Increase fishing activities, supplying the population of adequate tools.
ADOBHA
CRF Project: construction of an Health Station and of an elementary school.
Village: Adobha.
Awraja: Sahel.
District: Adobha.
Population: the residing individuals are about one thousand.
Ethnical composition: Tigre'. Principal tribes: Almada', Asfada', Bet Mahala, Hedareb.
Religious influences: Moslem.
Position: Adobha is ........................................... The village is located on a vast plain, surrounded by rocky mountains, deprived of trees and, as to what is related, infested with mosquitoes carriers of malaria of a cerebral type.
Adobha constituted itself in a village as from October 1993, and, that is, coincidently with the construction of the new edifices used as seat of the Administration, residence of the Administrator, school and Health Station: the individuals that as a matter of fact lend service, as daily workers, in the construction of the mentioned edifices, are about 150. Before the past month of October, the population, exclusively given to livestock breeding, lived scattered on the nearby mountains. Now, drawn by the opportunity of employment in the construction works and with the hope to impress a new course to their lives, through the enjoyment of the health and school services, as well as pushed by the hope to be able to undertake a type of sedentary life based on agriculture, numerous families are concentrating in the vast sunny plain where the construction of the Adobha's centre is planned.
CRF intervention:
The works for the construction of the Health Station and the school have been entrusted to a contractor from Asmara, who employed, in the site, 19 masons; two more have been recruited in the village.
10% of the cost of the works pertaining to the community has been paid in advance by the local Administration, as the economical availability of the Adobha's population is extremely exiguous. In return, it engaged itself, where of necessity requested, to lend its own labour force in future social projects.
Hydric resources:
A deep well has been dug in 1986 by the EPLF: it is related that the boring reached a depth of 125 m. Although water springs out copiously, it is retained to be insufficient for the whole district's needs. The mentioned well lacks a structure (of the sort of a catchment area) separating the zone of the animals' watering from that predisposed to satisfy human needs.
Economical activities:
- Agriculture: in the plain of Adobha no agriculture of any kind is carried out. According to what related, agricultural activities where instead practiced in 1985 by the EPLF at Baden, an area 50 km away from the plain of Adobha. In those land lots, very limited in extension, taff and sorghum were cultivated. It does however seem that agriculture fell in disuse also in Daden, due to the floods which have demolished the small dams (agm) erected to allow the irrigation of the cultivations.
Moreover, some of the inhabitants of the village declare to possess land lots in Tocher (Sudan), as tied to some residents of such centre by parentage bonds.
- Livestock breeding: the owned animals are above all goats. The maximum number of goats owned by an individual does not exceed 50 units; however, numerous are the families that state that they do not possess any animal.
- Also practiced is the gathering of wild fruits (hanta') in the mountains surrounding the plain.
Health services:
The nearest medical post is at Zabra, a short way from Nakfa. The most recurrent illnesses are malaria, respiratory disturbances (bronchial pneumonia and tuberculosis) and diarrhea. Also present are cases of malnutrition.
Education
The building of the school edifices which will reach the IV grade of education is under way.
New comers:
Numerically insignificant are the families returned from Sudan.
Transportations:
No transportation means, either public or private, are existing.
Alimentary aids:
The last distribution goes back to middle May 1994, while the preceding to March of the same year. The alimentary aids are more regularly distributed, as compared to other villages, due to the population's worst economical condition.
Market:
An area used as market is existing in the village, with about twenty selling points lined up along a large road. For more conspicuous purchases, the nearest market is in Nakfa.
Problems:
- Lack of the means and of the knowledge of the methods of farming.
- Want of transportation means.
- Insufficient hydric availability.
Advanced proposals:
- Development of the agriculture, in such a way that the population's sedentary settling might be realized.
GHELEB
CRF project: construction of an elementary school.
Village: Gheleb.
Awraja: Senhit.
District: Elaberet.
Population: the families residing in the district peopled by the Mensa (8 villages) are 19,872, while those residing in Gheleb are 250 (1,197 individuals).
Ethnical composition: Main tribes of the Tigre': Rigbat, Sama, Dobat, Hedareb, Kebbe', Reghelle', Wokein.
Religious influences: Christian (Catholic and Protestant) and Moslem. Rare are the Coptic Christians.
Position: Gheleb, about 65 km away from Keren, is situated in a green valley surrounded by the mountains of the eastern highlands. The Mensa district embraces two morphologically diverse territories: the Kalakel (lowlands) and the Aulet (highlands), both endowed of a fertile soil apt to provide optimal conditions in respect to a diversification of the agricultural cultures and of the economical activities.
The Gheleb settlement is ancient, it probably goes back to the seventeenth century. In this settlement the first evangelical mission of the Swedish missionaries was realized. For its mild climate and the abundance of rains, during the italian period Gheleb was identified as one of the areas where to experiment the cultivation of coffee, of the agave and of fruit trees. However those cultivations, in that period already limited due to the Mensa's diffidence toward the colonial administration, were completely abandoned during the years of the conflict opposing the eritreans to the ethiopians. As a matter of fact Gheleb became the seat of the EPLF and hence was levelled down by repeated bombings. Since the independence and up to the present date, the precedent human settling has recomposed itself and the works of reconstruction of the private edifices have begun. Some land owners have undertaken again the coffee's cultivation. Indeed harder is the cultivation of fruit trees, also because missing a road directly linking the village to Keren, the selling of a commodity - like fruit, easily perishable - becomes problematic. Besides coffee, it is therefore preferred the cultivation of peppers (berbere') easily preservable through drying.
CRF intervention:
The date of the tender fixed for June 7, 1994, the works will start as from half June. However, the first load of materials has already been sent to Gheleb on 20 May 1994.
The collectivity's contribute had formerly been deposited in the bank: since last year the members of the Baito already undertook to gather the funds among all the Mensa community so as to be enabled to face the expenses for eventual development projects. A total of 70,000 Birr has been gathered, 20,000 of which derived from the contribution of natives of the village, but residing at Keren and Asmara, and the remainder gathered among the families residing throughout the district. On January 1994, with 12,000 Birr deducted from this fund, the village's population has contributed to the expenses for the construction of the road linking Gheleb to Keren, expenses sustained by the Swedish Evangelical Mission.
Hydric resources:
In the area of property of the (*** Swedish ??? ***) mission a well has been dug, from which all the population can draw water. Also, a short way from the habitat, the perennial waters of the Gavana steam are flowing.
Economical activities:
- Agriculture: the cultivations sown in the lowlands are different from those sown in the highlands: in the latter (Rora Mensa) wheat, barley, sorghum, maize, some leguminous plants (beans and lentils), flax and the nihigh, an oil producing plant akin to sesame, are sown. In the lowlands (Mahazat), instead, taff, snap beans and sorghum are cultivated. In a valley on a side of the village in the Sogo locality (four hours-walk away) there are some coffee and acid-fruits gardens. They are called ghebena'. Actually the families which cultivate coffee, however in small lots of lands, are about 7: generally the yield is traded locally, with the exception of the owner of the greater plantation, who sells to traders in Keren. Every coffee plant on the average produces 1 kg of grains at gathering, and a maximum of 4 kg.
Besides dry cultures, about fifty families carry out irrigation cultivations (garden) availing themselves of water carried from the river on camel's back, or, like it happens for three families, utilizing motor water pumps. The sown products are: greens (onions, tomatoes, potatoes, potherb, small peppers, lettuce, cabbages) and fruit (banana and papaya).
The land distribution system is the Resti. The unit of measure of the soil is the Zemat. The extension of the largest owned land lot is of 15 Zemat, while the smallest is of 3 Zemat.
- Livestock breeding: the owned animals are camels, goats, cows and oxen. In the whole Mensa district 120 camels are declared, of which about 15 females. As a matter of fact male camels, insofar as utilized as a transportation mean, are more appreciated. Also, only 10% of the population declares possession of bovines, among these oxen which are more appreciated for their service during ploughing.
The maximum number of camels owned by an individual does not exceed 8 units. The largest herd is instead made up of 30 goats, while the most numerous flock includes 25 bovines.
The fertile pastures are situated in the lowlands, in the localities of Kerr, Scheed and Sogo. In those areas, at times transhumance also by herdsmen of the nearby Barka region is performed.
- widespread is the gathering of the fruits of the plentiful plants of the Opuntia ficus-indica (*** nome scientifico del fico d'india - corrispondente vocabolo popolare inglese non trovato - pregasi consultare vs. dizionario oppure Dr. Nastasi ***) (Balas) which multiply themselves in the valley and on the declivities of the mountains defending Galeb. From the end of July until the end of September, period of their ripening, they constitute a remarkable source of subsistence. Severed from the plant with a more rudimental method as compared to that used in the Hamasien's eastern declivity, they are mostly gathered by youngsters of both sexes and consumed while fresh. No process of the fruit's transformation or preservation is known, like, for example, the preparation of marmalades.
- From May to September honey is produced and gathered, contained into a sort of beehives like the kofo, small granaries kept inside the dwellings.
- Diffused, especially in the past, was male and female artisanship: utilizing, as materials, mostly goats and bovines' hides and a fibre obtained through working the agave plant's leaves, containers for water and cereals, ropes and mats were manufactured.
Health services:
Three nurses operate in the village. However insofar as they are concerned a lack of experience is lamented as well as for the medicines at disposition. For urgencies, the nearest medical centre is that of Keren.
With the funds of the Evangelical Church, the works for the construction of a medical post have been started, whose structure has been completed at the end of April 1994.
Education:
At the beginning of 1994, the Swedish Evangelical Church had finished the building of two school-edifices, however the courses have not yet started, both because teachers are wanting and because the population prefers to frequent the public school.
The frequenting students are 270, while the imparted education reaches the IV degree.
New comers:
Numerically insignificant are the families returned from Sudan.
Transportations:
Two private transportation means are present, which daily link the village to Keren.
Alimentary aids:
The last distribution goes back to November 1993.
Market:
There are no shops in the village. The nearest market is in Keren.
Problems:
- Impossibility of travelling through the road bearing to Keren during the rainy season, also due to the landslides which already occurred.
- Lack of a clinic.
Advanced proposals:
Rehabilitation of the road.
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