For this special March 8 #WomensDay edition of #Yiakl#SundaySpotlight, we have chosen a very special person – a living heroine who embodies everything that is inspiring about #Eritrea's women: Mama Abeba Tesfagiorgis Baatai.
Mama Abeba’s awe-inspiring activism and work of more than six decades, starting from the rebellious Asmarino young school-girl of the 1960s to the exiled gracefully greying grandma of today, provides a much-needed inspiration for all #Eritrean girls & women.
In the following thread, we will attempt to do the impossible by focusing on a few milestones taken out of the impressive fat dossier of Mama Abeba.
And, in so doing, we hope to shed some light on the life-time engagement of this living legend, to commemorate her unbroken dedication to Eritrea & its people, and to praise a focused and uplifting struggle that, come what may, has been defined by the following...
principled ethical and moral codes of conduct:
✅A preoccupation devoted towards the just cause of the Eritrean woman, her family & children
✅An untiring voice that tries to bridge the gulf across 3 generations of Eritrean women
✅A ceaseless yearning for knowledge, understanding & perspective
✅Wise words that are a salve to the festering wounds of a nation
✅An unwavering integrity for the cause of human dignity
✅Love & kindness for the Eritrean people
✅Humbling honesty & humility
✅Amazing grace!
Abeba Tesfagiorgis Baatai is an author and commentator of Eritrean social and political issues. She was always active socially and politically since she was young in high school. bbc.com/tigrinya/news-…
Some of her prominent activities include:
Co-founder and two terms president of the Eritrean YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association), 1996-1970
Co-Founder & 1st President of the Relief & Rehabilitation Association of Eritrea – 1974-75. This was the only one that provided relief & rehabilitation for Eritreans affected by drought run by civil society & indigenous Eritrean org outside of Gov't (Derg) & religious institution
Co-founder and Deputy Director of the Regional Center for Human Rights and Development, Asmara, February 1993-December 1994. The only ever human rights organization of and in Eritrea so far.
Abeba has authored two books in Tigrigna and one in English፡
“ዋይ ኣነ ደቀይ ሰኣን ምምልካት’ዶ” 1969
“ንመን’የ ዝነግሮ” 1972 and
One in English – “A Painful Season and A Stubborn Hope- The Odyssey of an Eritrean Mother” – 1992.
Abeba continues to actively participate in the Eritrean affairs and inspires #Eritreans to be active agents of change. She's written several articles on Eritrean websites & many radio presentations.
Follow her work on Asmarino.com & @AtvAsena
Thank you, Mama Abeba for your compassionate, inspiring and unwavering activism. We love you!
Lidiya is a 21 years old prominent activist & organizer who has been passionately involved with her Eritrean community from a very young age.
Ever since she witnessed the daunting & overwhelming plight of Eritrean refugees in Libya, Lidiya got determined not to sit back & watch.
Instead, she picked up the slack left by the organizations which simply abandoned these refugees, and found a way to provide financial and moral support to these refugees and make meaningful contributions to help ease their suffering.
Today’s #Yiakl#SundaySpotlight goes out to Habtom Yohannes (@Kinzareb) in acknowledgment of his long-standing unwavering advocacy for Eritrean Prisoners of Conscience and his passion to support Eritreans with his expertise in journalism.
Habtom Yohannes is an Eritrean-Dutch human rights activist, a senior editor with extensive experience within the Dutch media, lecturer, advisor & moderator. He continuously raises the issues of #Eritrea|n prisoners & uses every opportunity/platform to demand that they get justice
As a passionate activist, he has been putting the violation of human rights in #Eritrea on the agenda of the Dutch parliament, the European Parliament, the African Union and the United Nations. @Europarl_EN@_AfricanUnion@UN
Today’s #Yiakl#SundaySpotlight goes out to the organizers of @RemEPOC in acknowledgment of their important initiative to help keep the memories of disappeared Eritreans alive until they get justice.
Remembering Eritrean Prisoners of Conscience @RemEPOC is a social media campaign that is dedicated to daily remembering at least one Eritrean Prisoner of Conscience and an accompanying daily narrative of the human rights situation of #Eritrea.
#Eritrea today is a country where its best daughters & sons, including its sheiks, priests, pastors, ministers, diplomats, civil servants, army leaders, teachers, conscripts, poets, newspaper editors, singers, merchants, veterans and faith communities are illegally disappeared.
Today’s #Yiakl#SundaySpotlight goes out to Tsedal Yohannes in acknowledgment of her perseverance, commitment and courage to advocate for #Eritrean prisoners of conscience.
Despite the emotional toll, Tsedal is a very determined woman who is oftentimes seen in the streets of London, Geneva, Brussels and other parts of the world campaigning for the rights of #Eritrea|n prisoners.
Today’s #Yiakl#SundaySpotlight goes out to Ahmed Raji in acknowledgment of his consistent work as a citizen journalist and his commitment to highlighting and archiving the stories of disappeared #Eritrean|s.
Ahmed as a citizen journalist and a strong advocate for #Eritrean prisoners of consciences is a frequent writer at @awate2 and archives disappeared Eritreans stories on his Facebook page - "Eritrea's Disappeared".
Ahmed started writing at @awate2 in 2003 while still living in Asmara, #Eritrea. In order to protect his identity, the Awate Team gave him the name “Events Monitor”.
Today’s #Yiakl#SundaySpotlight is dedicated to Eritrean activists and campaigners who have actively been addressing the very urgent issue of famine happening in #Eritrea.
This is an acknowledgment to the organizers of #EritreanHiddenFamine and #SaveDenkalia of their quick action in raising awareness to the famine brought by the Eritrean government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the government of Eritrea announced a lock down of many parts of the country due to COVID-19, reports of people starving and pleading families in the diaspora for help started surfacing. #EritreanHiddenFamine#SaveDankalia