When a hope of a whole nation becomes a tragedy!
Fighting for a half century!
Over 100 000 gave their life!
More than them got injured!
The nature pay a price!

I first met Joshua in 1998, when as a young graduate student, I had returned to Eritrea for a second time in preparation for the field research I would complete in 2001. We sat together at a friend’s wedding dinner, and he caught me by surprise and delight by popping a spongy morsel of bread and stew into my mouth in that quintessential Eritrean gesture of solidarity and affection. Although by no means small of stature, Joshua seemed a much bigger man than he physically was. He was gregarious and warm, with a deep and resonant laugh that flowed effortlessly from a broad smile framed by a bushy black beard. He seemed boundless in his energy and enthusiasm, not unlike many Eritreans I knew. Like them, Joshua also left me wondering how someone who had seen so much suffering could seem so hopeful.

ከምኦም ፈኲስ ኣይነበረን ጠላም ማሕላ
ንሱስ መሪጹ ክኽውን ማንዴላ
ቃልሱ ከይጓሓፍ ኣብ ናይ ታሪኽ ሓተላ
በሃገ ደኣ ክንዲ ሽሕ ንኤርትራ ሽሕ ግዜ ክሞተላ
ተካእቲ’ዉን ኣፍርዩ’ዩ ኣለና ድሕሬኻ ዝብሉላ።

ክሳብ ሕጂ ነዚ ዝሰማዕክዎ ሞት ጆሽዋ ዝገልጽ መሪር ዜና ክኣምኖ ኣይደለኹን። ሓሶት ክኾነለይ ብዙሕ ተተምንየ። ግን ትምኒተይ ማይ ዝዓሞኸ ጓንጓ ትምኒት ኮይኑ ተሪፉ። ሓደ ድሕሪ ሓደ ዝስዕብ ዜና ንስቅያታዊ ኣማውታ ጀሽዋ ጥራሕ ዘይኮነ ናይቶም ኣብ ዝሓለፈ ዓመት ዝተጠቕሱ ጋዜጠኛታት መድሃኔ ሃይለ፡ ዮሱፍ መሓመድዓሊን ስዒድ ዓብደልቃድርን ሞት ውን ዕረ እናጣዓመኒ ንክኣምን ዝድርኽ’ዩ ኮይኑ።