Asmara - November 28 2009

 

Mr. Tekeste of the Asmara Grande Travel Agency has invited my to visit the Techno Garden Center on the left side of the road to Kushet.

The resort is a party center surrounded by gardens and cultivated plants. It also has horse ride facilities and a playground for the children. It is an oasis of rest, where butterflies and small birds feel at ease.

The manager tells me that the party center can facilitate weddings and meetings for 700 visitors.

I have coffee with Mr. Tekeste and we watch the greenhouses.

My brother in law Feseheye told me that at 16:00 the official inauguration of Pushkin’s monument will be held near the Asmara Public Library.

Unfortunately he did not tell (I guess he did not know) the inauguration was for the happy few invited guests. I make several attempts to enter the site of the ceremony, and even succeeded to get in. But after a few minutes I was kindly asked to leave if I could not show an invitation.

I join the Eritreans, watching the event from a distance, where the Asmara police granted me a few small privileges, so I am able to sit in the front, and in the shadow, just before the road block.

Alexander Pushkin has African origins, and many countries claimed that he belonged to them. Research identified Asmara as the exact place of the origins of his maternal great grandfather Abraham Hannibal, and this fact is now confirmed by erecting a bronze statue. 

Representatives of the Eritrean Ministry of Education, a member of the Russian Parliament, the Russian ambassador, the Administrator of the Central Region and a Russian teacher cites poems and honors Pushkin in speeches.

Books are sold for 50 Nakfa to introduce his poems (translated in Tigrinya) to the public.

 

New six lane asphalt road to Kushet - Asmara Eritrea.

Signs pointing to the construction sites - Nda German Asmara Eritrea.

Bus stop - Bond Asmara Eritrea.

Ploughing the fields - Kushet Asmara Eritrea.

Techno Garden Center - Kushet Asmara Eritrea.

Mr. Teskeste - Techno Garden Center Kushet Asmara Eritrea.

Techno Garden Center - Kushet Asmara Eritrea.

Techno Garden Center - Kushet Asmara Eritrea.

Techno Garden Center - Kushet Asmara Eritrea.

Techno Garden Center - Kushet Asmara Eritrea.

Nuclear power plant or grain storage? Kushet Asmara Eritrea.

Modern residential area - Space Asmara Eritrea.

Modern residential area - Space Asmara Eritrea.

Inauguration of Pushkin’s monument - Asmara Eritrea.

Alexander Pushkin monument - Asmara Eritrea.