The following is an interview with a passionate patriotic young woman from the USA, regarding the ways in which she’s working towards contributing to her country.
May you briefly introduce us with yourself?
My name is Sedon Tesfamariam (aka: Seti Negus). Born to my parents, Mr. Tesfamariam Fessahaye and Mrs.
Letezion Weldehet, I am the last born of their ten children. I came to America in 1993 and grew up in Crenshaw District, Los Angeles, where the renowned artist Ermias Asgedom (Nipsey Hussle) used to live. I pursued my studies in the same city and did business and fashion design in college.
How could a nationalistic spirit be nurtured in you despite the fact that you have never lived in Eritrea?
My father was very passionate about Eritrea from the beginning. He worked as a truck driver in Sudan during the armed struggle for independence. They called him Tesfai Volvo, because he only drove Volvo trucks. As a matter of my parent’s encouragement, I come to Eritrea frequently since the age of my childhood. As active members of the Eritrean community in the US, my parents never missed any communal or social event. Since we grew up this way, I was an active member of the community since my childhood. I was equally inspired by my brother, the late Sador (Sand Man Negus)’s nationalistic purpose as he worked hard to invigorate sense of Eritrean pride among the youth members of our community through his Tigrinya hip-hop songs. His tragic death was more devastating to me. Anyway, it is pursuing his influence that I opted to work in influencing fellow youth nationals based on festivals, concerts, fashion and other activities.
What is your contribution in Eritrean community affairs like?
For many years, I have been active participant in many activities of the Eritrean community members in the USA, specially the social media activities thereof. These activities are something that I have done frequently and for many years. I started Haben Eritrea within the scope of the Eritrean community members in Los Angeles. I was mentored by Robel Afewerki and Kahsay, aka KC, in running this initiative, which aimed at generating donations to the families of Eritrean Martyrs. And it was successful. A probably exceptional thing I can also mention is a personal initiative I have taken jointly with Ahlemseghed Aumer (Ahlem), an Eritrean-American scientist with an industrious mind and many insightful personal research outcomes. Ahlem and I established Hidri Group with a view to bringing the application of soil remediation here in Eritrea. It is 100% sure that this concept is going to work well as it was tested several times over the past ten years. It is a totally new idea that, as Eritreans, we can be a standard in the Horn of Africa and the entire world with regards to how to move forward in a very robust way of producing high-quality crops. To bring such a new industrial facet means ensuring a potential for solving the problems of several countries of similarity. And Eritrea should be the first-runner in applying this idea, its citizens being the primary beneficiaries.
Please tell us a bit more about the business plan of Hidri Group and how it can contribute to Eritrea.
We look forward to opening a factory and work closely with Eritrea in a way that backs the national strategy of sustainable development. Hidri Group involves an intellectual property and we have been working on AI and other businesses, the turnover of which can now serve as a capital for an initial investment in Eritrea’s agriculture sector. Soil remediation application is very crucial especially for several African countries. There are even some African leaders who proposed Ahlemseghed regarding possibility of pioneering such mode of agriculture by their countries. But we feel that it is important to bring it to Eritrea first, because it has to do with our identity. As long as we manage to invest, we look forward to moving to Eritrea and we keep our money here.
……………….to be continued
Written by Medhanie Tsegai