Re: Bini, 7th in Belgium
Q & A
“Not all Things can be Expressed in words!” Titi
Luwam Kahsay H.
https://shabait.com/2023/09/13/not-all- ... ords-titi/
Sep 13, 2023
Our guest today, painter, designer, interior designer, wife and mother of three, Mrs. Nigisti Zeweldi, mostly known as Titi, is a successful woman, now living in California, USA. She is proof of those who have cut their way to success by recognizing their talent and are striving to take it to its final destination.
Tell us about your journey of art here at home, before you left for California.
When I was in Eritrea I participated in a lot of projects and festivals, had numerous exhibitions, and gave workshops and courses for the youth. I was working as a painter, an interior and external designer, wedding decorator, handcrafts maker and others. Some of my artworks are found in Sunshine Hotel, Alba Bistro, Beraki Cosmos, and people’s homes, and some others were purchased by foreigners.
Which work of yours do you remember, the most?
For almost 16 years, I worked as an artist with Idaga Hamus Administration for the national festival held on the occasion of Eritrea’s independence. There is this project, that I will never forget. It consisted of a hen protecting its nine chicks from an eagle, that was preying upon them. To make the figures seem real, I had to go to every restaurant in town to collect hens’ feathers. As that wasn’t enough, my colleagues and I had to buy several hens and use their feathers. And to make the eagle, I went to a place where there were numerous vultures. We had to kill them and use their plumes. We used alcohol to avoid the bad smell. It was very exhausting, but productive.
How did being an artist begin for you?
It all started, with the deep passion I have for painting. I’ve been able to reach this stage by exploiting my gift, from the early stages of my life. Thereafter, I decided to back my gift up with education.
How would you define, interior design?
Many people think that it doesn’t have any relation with art, but interior design is art by itself. The background to the floor color, the table arrangement, flower arrangement, color combination, color and type of glass and more have their own beauty as art. When I do an interior design, I do everything from A to Z, investing all my energy and resources to display exactly what I have in mind.
To make an event such as a wedding, baptism or engagement beautiful, I also prepare confetti that goes with the colors and type of the event.
You are also a designer!
Yes, you are right! I also design clothes which are showcased at several fashion shows, including international modeling contests. Through my designs, I love to promote the beauty of our country. I take full authority, in preparing and organizing the events.
Isn’t it hard to manage all these, simultaneously?
Honestly speaking, there are times when I even question myself “Did I really do all of that?” As I told you, it all depends on how you passionately manage your gift. Of course, all of them require time, dedication and energy, but I believe that persistence helps you achieve what you believe is yours. I always thank God, for the way he created me.
The good thing, is that I get to do it with my beautiful and smart girls. We also do some exhibitions together. Though they are still kids, and what they want to be is their choice, watching them being active and all, you can’t help thinking that they seem to take after their mother after all.
With all the responsibility that you have, how come you’re still pursuing your passion as an artist?
I love living not only for money, but also for my contentment. Though it can be acquired through knowledge, being an artist is a grace. I have my unique abilities which can leave some effect in the world, and I intend to contribute my gifts. I believe in considering and respecting your gift wherever you might be, and managing it well because you get to live it and also by it.
I believe there are two types of artists, those who paint what they see and those who paint what they feel deep down. I am one of those, who paint what they feel. Painting allows me to express my inner feelings and thoughts, accumulated from life experience. You know, not all things can be expressed in words!
From your experience, what does success require?
Faith in yourself, is the key. No one else can believe in us, if not us. You also need to have social communication skills and always be updated, especially regarding your career. And at last, finding pleasure in what you do.
Upcoming projects…
God willing, I plan on coming back to my country and open an “Art Institute” from which orphans and sons and daughters of martyrs will be the Number 1 beneficiaries.
Anything else you want to add…
I would like to convey my message, to people living outside of Eritrea. I know how challenging our situation could be, but we shouldn’t allow it to take over our identity. We must realize that what we have as a gift has the power to turn around, even the world. What we admire now, were once only desires. So, you guys should not give up on your gifts whatever your situation might be. It is not our circumstance, but our choices that determine our success and meaning of our life.
Thank you for your time, Titi. Wish you a successful life.
Re: Bini, 7th in Belgium
GENERAL
Childhood Vaccines to Promote Child Health
Dr. Fikrejesus Amahazion
https://shabait.com/2023/09/13/childhoo ... ld-health/
Sep 13, 2023
Last week, standing upon the tarmac at Asmara International Airport, Tedros Yehdego, EPI manager and a director at the Ministry of Health (MoH), proudly announced that a chartered flight bearing special cargo had just touched down. What made it so special? That it was a large shipment of childhood vaccines.
The recent arrival represents only the most recent in a longstanding biannual collaborative initiative, that has been running since 2014. Twice every year, Eritrea, with the cooperation of some of its close partners, such as UNICEF, flies in a large consignment of childhood vaccines to help local efforts to achieve national immunization goals, reduce infant and child mortality, and promote child health.
The most recent shipment, the second this year, contains several million doses of more than a dozen vaccines. Over the following several months, these will be administered to hundreds of thousands of children nationwide, ultimately providing them with immunity for an array of vaccine-preventable diseases.
Reminder of high priority accorded to children
The shipment of childhood vaccines, serves as a powerful reminder of the high priority accorded to children in Eritrea. Although the country is richly blessed with an abundance of natural resources and a long, unblemished coastline, the country’s people – and most especially its children – are regarded as its greatest resource and most precious asset. The first international convention ratified by the Eritrean government after the nation won its independence was the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, a legally-binding international agreement setting out the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of every child, regardless of their race, religion, or abilities, while it also acceded to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child in December 1999, not long after the Charter entered into force – thus reflecting the very high priority accorded to promoting and protecting children’s health, well-being, and development.
Eritrea’s National Charter, adopted in February 1994 and which provides the guiding vision for the country, also clearly articulates the prioritization of children. It strongly declares that,
(PFDJ 1994).Eritrea should strive to minimize infant mortality and to care for its children. The children of martyrs, in the tens of thousands, who were, deprived of the love of their parents, as well as other orphans, must be provided with proper upbringing and care. In Eritrea, the rights of children to education, health, love, safety, play, and to human dignity must be respected.
Central role of vaccination
Since emerging as an independent nation in 1991, one of the main tools that Eritrea has relied on to promote the health and protect the lives of its children has been vaccination.
Human beings have benefited from vaccines for more than two centuries, while the history of inoculation can be traced back even further. Routine childhood vaccination is an important health intervention that helps prevent serious illness, disability, and death in children caused by a range of dangerous diseases; including diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), influenza, measles, and pneumonia, among numerous others. Today, vaccination is widely recognized to be among the most simple, cost-effective, and successful ways to promote children’s general health and well-being.
https://x.com/uniceferitrea/status/1701 ... 36413?s=20
Over the past three decades, Eritrea has made tremendous leaps in terms of national routine vaccine coverage. In 1991, there were only six vaccines available for children and the overall coverage rate stood at less than 10 percent. Across subsequent years, however, the national routine vaccination schedule has steadily grown and it has progressed to provide young children with an array of vaccines that help to protect against a variety of serious or potentially fatal diseases. This progress, led by the MoH and recognized and celebrated by a variety of regional and global organizations, has helped allow the country to significantly reduce child mortality and promote child health.
Notably, during a working visit to Eritrea in late 2021, Mohammed Malick Fall, UNICEF Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, explained that he was,
before going on to note that there,struck by the level of immunization [of children in Eritrea],
(Over the years, Eritrea has received a number of awards from GAVI [the Vaccine Alliance, which is a public-private global health partnership] and UNICEF, for its outstanding performance in improving child health and immunization.)are many advanced countries that have a hard time reaching [those coverage levels].
At present, Eritrea administers 14 vaccines (which protect against numerous diseases) to young children and routine coverage rates are nearly universal, hovering in the high 90s. Furthermore, the country’s average coverage across BCG, DTP1, DTP3, Polio3, MCV1, MCV2, HepB3, Hib3, Rota, and PCV3 is 94.3 percent, as compared to 66.5 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa and 73.4 percent worldwide. Through the MoH and the National Immunization Programme, 301 health facilities in the country (out of a total of 349) provide routine vaccination services six days per week. In addition, vaccination service is provided at 450 outreach sites nationwide, while nomadic groups and those residing in extremely remote or difficult to reach areas receive service through the “Reach Every District” approach, along with mobile health units and mass vaccination campaigns organized in close cooperation with community coordinators, volunteers, and local contacts.
Cooperation based on common principles, trust, and locally-defined priorities and needs
The fact that the latest shipment of vaccines was possible as a result of close cooperation between the Eritrean government and several partners, such as UNICEF, underscores another important, yet often overlooked, point about Eritrea more broadly. Eritrea’s approach to foreign assistance and development, perhaps somewhat unique or less common, has often been maligned and misjudged, with the country frequently (and incorrectly) being labeled as “isolationist”.
Instead, as the recent shipment of lifesaving vaccines exemplifies, a fundamental pillar of the country’s development agenda has been the establishment of cooperative frameworks and close partnerships with a range of international organizations, specialized agencies, and other partners. Many of these relationships are robust and longstanding, dating back to the earliest years of the country’s independence. Meaningful engagement and cooperation have been built upon a platform of common principles, transparency, and trust, with concerted efforts being based on complementarity and guided by locally-defined development priorities and needs.
Re: Bini, 7th in Belgium
Peace in Sudan: al-Burhan’s Important Meeting with Eritrea’s Isaias
By Larmbert Ebitu
https://africainterest.org/peace-in-sud ... as-isaias/
September 12, 2023
Peace in Sudan remains elusive, and in recent weeks, the war has seemingly faded from the public consciousness outside Sudan. Despite its devastating humanitarian toll, mainstream media and usually active international organizations and partners have recently fallen silent, to the point where the conflict was becoming a ‘forgotten war’. However, that is no longer the case, and thanks are due to President Isaias of Eritrea. As he has done before, President Isaias provided a platform yesterday to rekindle regional concern and prioritize the conflict by hosting a Sudanese delegation.
The Eritrean president received General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the Chairman of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, and his delegation, which arrived in Asmara for a working visit. His delegation, consisting of Sudan’s Minister of Finance and Planning and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was warmly welcomed by President Isaias upon their arrival at Asmara International Airport. Subsequently, the two leaders and their delegations engaged in high-level discussions before the Sudanese delegation departed in the early afternoon.
While the details of the meeting remain limited, the Eritrean Minister of Information has indicated that the extensive talks primarily centered on bilateral relations and efforts towards peace in Sudan. President Isaias reaffirmed Eritrea’s stance on the Transition to Safety, a position submitted before the eruption of the conflict. He also highlighted potential challenges arising from the proliferation of various initiatives, emphasizing the necessity for effective coordination and harmonization of these efforts. In response, General Burhan expressed gratitude for Eritrea’s position and concurred with the views of the Eritrean president.
Thus, yesterday’s meeting between Sudan’s al-Burhan and President Isaias, if looked at from a broader perspective, can be located within the context of Eritrea’s expanding role as a stabilizing force and a guarantor of peace and stability in the region. The country’s historical role in fostering, facilitating, and mediating dialogues among rival groups in various conflict zones across the horn, starkly contradicts the portrayal by Western mainstream media which often preposterously label Eritrea as a ‘troublemaker,’ merely because the country chooses to pursue an independent foreign policy rather than a subversive one.
All evidence in the last two decades however points to a peaceful country, which when it has been involved in war, has only done so in self-defense. Moreover, the country has played a crucial role in hosting and mediating some of the region’s most significant peace agreements and processes, including negotiations among warring groups in Somalia. President Isaias has equally been instrumental in peace initiatives in South Sudan, contributing significantly to the current level of stability, making him highly popular in South Sudan.
It’s no wonder that last week, President Kiir of South Sudan couldn’t pass up the opportunity to meet with him on the sidelines of the Africa Climate Summit in Kenya, where the two updated each other on various matters, including the situation in Sudan. During the meeting, President Isaias reiterated his commitment to the resolutions of the summit in Egypt and the ministerial meeting in Chad.
The ongoing Sudan crisis, of course, has concerned President Isaias, so much so that, even from before the escalation of the conflict, he has provided leadership in addressing it. Ever the man who doesn’t care about taking credit even when it’s due to him, he, unlike others, has discreetly proposed pragmatic solutions for resolving the conflict.
His proposals have been prompted not by a desire to join the bandwagon of proliferating initiatives or to introduce shallow, run-of-the-mill templates that are alien to the objective realities and political trajectories of Sudan, but by a genuine desire to bring about peace and stability to a neighboring country with which Eritrea shares much in common. All of this he has done without interfering in the internal affairs of Sudan, despite Eritrea bearing the brunt of the conflict, including an influx of refugees fleeing.
Instead, he has consistently stood by Sudan, working not only to resolve the conflict but playing a key role in addressing the humanitarian crisis that the conflict has created. Indeed, yesterday’s meeting came on the backdrop of another meeting involving high-level delegations of Sudan’s political parties and entities, which arrived in the Eritrean capital of Asmara on Sunday. Upon their arrival, the leaders of the delegation engaged in intensive discussions to address critical issues, with the agenda primarily focused on efforts to halt the ongoing conflict, alleviate the humanitarian crisis, and facilitate Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue.
Eritrea has open borders and will continue to receive, without fanfare, Eritrean and Sudanese civilians, as well as others, affected by the current conflict and share with them whatever it has,
he said at the height of the Sudan conflict in May, speaking in Arabic to stress the solidarity of Eritrea with and convey a message to, the people of the Sudan who had offered sanctuary to Eritreans as full citizens during the dark decades of the country’s own liberation struggle.
Indeed, his position was stressed in a May 2023 interview. https://shabait.com/2023/05/01/intervie ... the-sudan/
Whilst conveying Eritrea’s solidarity with the Sudanese people, he stressed that the responsibility for resolving the costly conflict rests with the people of Sudan. He further emphasized that Sudan’s neighbors, including Eritrea, can only play a supportive role, individually and through IGAD, in facilitating an enabling environment for the Sudanese people as they work towards establishing the new political dispensation they desire.
So, whatever the outcomes of yesterday’s meeting, which we can only speculate about, one thing is certain, it was convened in the spirit of providing an ‘enabling environment’, and guidance to the warring sides of the Sudan conflict to resolve their differences. It is therefore bound to have a positive impact on the quest for peace and stability in Sudan. Similar meetings preceded the conflicts in South Sudan and Somalia, ultimately contributing to the return of peace.
I’m confident, that achieving peace and restoring normalcy to the people of Sudan was the primary goal of this meeting. And President Isaias’s hosting of the Sudanese delegation was not only timely, but also highly significant. It underscores Eritrea’s commitment to regional stability and affirms President Isaias’s role as a bridge builder and advocate for peaceful resolutions and Eritrea’s role as a stabilizing country in the Horn of Africa.
Re: Bini, 7th in Belgium
I woke up and pinched myself. I live, in the African capital city of peace.
ኣስመራ - literally as its name implies
@0to1infinity______________
ጽቡቕ ዘራእቲ፡ ከባቢ ዓዲ ገብራይ፡፡ @GhideonMusa