A Red-Blue-Green-and-Yellow Day for Eritrea’s Independence Day
A Red-Blue-Green-and-Yellow Day for Eritrea’s Independence Day
By Senait
Most Eritreans know what the colors in Eritrea’s national flag stand for. Red is for the heavy sacrifice and blood we paid for during the armed struggle for independence. Blue represents the long Red Sea coastline Eritrea inhabits. Green represents its fertile agricultural land while yellow represents the bright light of independence shining over the country.Eritrea’s Independence Day is celebrated around the world by all Eritrean families ranging from toddlers to teenagers and young adults. This year, I asked my kids, nieces, nephew and my friend’s kids that we sometimes babysit for how we should celebrate Eritrea’s Independence Day? One of my precocious nieces suggested that we come up with different themes centered around the flag’s colors and choose a different activity related to the theme each year. We all accepted her suggestion and started brainstorming for ideas. Kids are very creative when it comes to these things.
One of the ideas that immediately came up and was a big hit was that we make and enjoy red-blue-green-and-yellow snacks: Mango ice cream, blueberries, kiwi fruits and strawberries. A point of contention arose when some of the kids wanted to replace mango ice cream with a blue cotton candy flavored ice cream. I had to mediate on that one. I told them it was ok. Another one of my nieces wanted to set-up a lemonade stand, like she does for her girl scout cookies, so she could pay her 2 percent. That’s a story for another time! At that point I realized I had told them too much about Eritrea. They knew too much. I told her she doesn’t have to do that yet. There will be plenty of time for her to do that later in life.
Other ideas from the kids were (1). Use blue green red and yellow as theme colors for the day and have fun competitions between the blue green red and yellow “teams” as they do in their school. (2). At our local Eritrean Community center, ask people to wear green blue red and yellow to make a human “flag” for a photo. (3). Display an Eritrean flag and have kids reproduce it with construction paper, scissors and glue sticks. Older kids can assemble the flags and younger kids can glue the collage materials.
So these are some of the ideas we came up with for a fun green blue red and yellow day for the kids on Eritrea’s Independence Day. It’s very important to get kids in the diaspora involved in Eritrea’s various community celebrations so that Eritrea continues to be relevant in their lives as they are growing up. You may want to engage in some of those activities for the kids at your local Eritrean Community Centers.
A Red-Blue-Green-and-Yellow Day for Eritrea’s Independence Day
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Reviewed by Admin
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Looks Yummy! Happy Independence Day!
ReplyDeletePUT MORE BLUEBERRIES IN IT, ..DRINK IS ON ME :) ...CHEERS TO ALL ERITREANS !!!!
ReplyDeleteAwesome Kids !!!
ReplyDeleteCheers & Happy 24th to all Eritreans.
Bravo! I appreciate the initiation.
ReplyDeleteThis is the most important thing to make a child know himself i.e where he/she belongs. I feel parents cementing the love of their beloved country at early age should be a must! I am afraid this might be missing these days. I have a great respect to my father and my mother for they cemented Eritianism in our mind. When we were children my father used to tell us where we belong ie. where our village is and he counts 17 ancestors. Though raised in Ethiopia we didn't loose our identity. My brothers teach the same thing to their children.
I remember one of my acquaintances who lost his father when he was a child. He has a great appreciation to his mother who is an Ethiopian because she kept him a note where his village is and who his forefathers are.
I stressed a child should learn his identity in a different method. The above is one of them.
Proud to be Eritrean!!!...
ReplyDeleteYes, so manyl Eritrean fathers, mothers, unmarried youngsters gave their lives to restore the human dignity the Amhara pseudo supermacists took from us with impunity.
ReplyDeleteYes, a couple of decades have passed since the Amhara had been defeated and driven out of our country. The question is, are we in any way better than we were under the colonial rule of the Amhara ?
No, we are not. As a matter of fact, by any kind of metrics, be it economic, political , social ,we are a lot worse off than we had ever been in the past.
The eulogiests of the brutal regime of isaias afewerki may shamelessly wave the Eritrean flag but they cannot hide the sad picture of Eritrean refugees bowing to Ethiopians for alms and shelters , the vey people whom they drove out in a glorious war of liberation.
To date, isaias afewerki has never admitted his crime he has been inflicting on our people. He had at least three scenarios installed to keep off the prying eyes of Eritrean people and the world community from the crimes he has been perpetrating on the Eritrean people:
1. That the United States is the cause of the problem our people have been passing through
2 the refugees are not Eritreans
3. Keeping the country in isolation
Now, let's ask him, is the United States also responsible for his autocratic tyranny, his mafia organization composed solely of tegaru descent etc. ?
If his answer is Yes, then he is confirming what many people had thought of him, an agent of CIA. Obviously, he would not admit that.
If his answer is No, then he becomes a malicious liar because he is blaming the USA for his own crimes.
With regard to the Eritrean refugees, he is also in the same predicament. After denying for so long, when the European Union dangled money before him, he readily agreed to cut the flux of eritrean refugees by half, admitting of the crime he had been accused of, Human trafficker.
Awesome article! Thank u Senait. Yes, it is very important to instill Eritrean identity in our kids from an early age. Equally important is to make sure they grow-up knowing other Eritrean kids their age and visit Eritrea at least once or twice while they are growing up. Attending Eritrean Community events and celebrations are also very important. All those things combined will cement a strong Eritrean identity in them. And when they grow-up they will become strong advocates for Eritrea. Happy green blue red and yellow day!
ReplyDeleteI smell Weyane! The lack of sane reasoning is typical of the Weyane.
ReplyDelete1st) The Amhara people were not our enemies! It was the privileged ruling class which happened to be of Amhara origin. Who are the "Amhara pseudo supremacists"? What does it mean? Sounds like a Weyane cadre wanted to impress readers!
2nd) There is absolutely no reason to feel ashamed to wave the Eritrean flag--the symbol of our sovereign nation, the fruit of the sacrifices paid for it! It doesn't matter who is in power, if the country was dirt poor, ...for any reason--as long as the country is not under the control of outside forces, like our traitors want it to be!
3rd) Ask the US president about why Eritreans are enticed to go to Ethiopia or to other places. He himself told the whole world that his people arranged it in collaboration with Eritrea's neighbors. Who are you to deny it for them--unless you are a Weyane!
4th) No one from the government denied about Eritreans that are leaving the country. In fact, our president insisted that his government has evidence of an organized operation sponsored by external forces were in operation. He even called for the UN to investigate. This was revealed at least two times. Where were you? You would have known about it if you were Eritrean!
5th) Your most deadly give-away: As soon as the war started in 1998 and ever since, the Weyane's favorite enemy has been our president! You guys have never had a convincing accusation against him. The most recent one was that he is a "unionist"! Now it is he is "CIA"? While it is clear why you attack him, it is not clear why you come up with the most outlandish accusations against him!
6th) Where did you get the agreement "to cut the flux of eritrean refugees by half"? and how is that
"admitting of the crime he had been accused of, Human trafficker"? Your Weyane sources are never known for truthful reporting!
Shame on you Weyane
Sorry y didn't stick to the point of discussion. The guy below has counter attacked yr illusion. Wake up and try to see the difference between identity crisis and the importance of parents share by explaining the identity of their children's root from the early age.
ReplyDelete