Wherever there is real love for one’s nation there is always the tendency of having strong attachment to the homeland where ever that person was born, grown and lived. As part of this sprit it is common to see many Eritrean youth living abroad initiate a number of innovative actions in order to support their homeland. This has been the case, for many Eritreans living abroad to venture into contributing directly
to their home country starting from the days of the struggle for the Eritrean Independence. With this in mind, the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students (NUEYS) have been running an attachment program for the Eritrean youth living abroad, called “Back to Eritrea”.
Dina Efrem, who is born and raised in Ottawa, Canada, is a clear example of this reality; she has decided to spend her two-month summer vacation to go back and contribute to her home country. She engaged herself in building the English language skills of the children of the disabled war veterans at Denden camp in the capital city of Eritrea, through conducting a brief summer course. She and her colleague, Rim Tsegay, have conducted such volunteer service for the last two summer holidays.Another young man by a name Aron has also joined these two during this past summer.
At the end of the course a closing ceremony took place where leaders of the NUEYS, members of the disabled war veterans and parents of the students Dina was teaching took part. During this ceremony Dina made a speech in the local language saying: “As an Eritrean my dream is to see these children do excellent achievement in education and compensate the opportunity that their parents lost for the sake of the people and the country including myself.” It was really astonishing to hear such patriotic phrases from a young girl that was born and raised away from home. Leaders from the National War Disabled
Veterans Association, who were present at the occasion, were really inspired by the overall performance of Dina and her colleagues, and with her presentation, which was filled with spirit of patriotism that is an expression of all patriot Eritreans from the Diaspora.
During this ceremony awards that were prepared by Hidri Eritrean children group from Ottawa were presented to twenty exemplar students. Dina also received a Certificate of Appreciation of NUEYS from its chairman Mr. Salih Ahmedin. While presenting this certificate, Mr. Salih gave a final address underlining that “it is an initiative that must inspire each and every young Eritreans abroad, as each and every contribution that they provide matters in the strategy of nation building.
Abeba Mehari