Western Canada Festival Eritrea Concluded successfully with patriotic zeal!!

By Samuel Igbu

The annual Western Canada Eritrean Festival was officially opened on Saturday August 8 and concluded on August 9 2015, in Edmonton, Alberta. Eritrean-Canadians from Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, Vancouver, Winnipeg and more took part in athletic events, fun entertainment and family gathering and picnic at a local park. Teams from the regional cities played against each other in soccer tournaments, including youth -both boys and girls-who also participated in their own sports tournaments. Mr. Estifanos Nuguse from the Eritrean Consulate in Toronto officially opened the musical festivities in the evening by cutting the ribbon and commencing the night celebrations.

Mr. Elias Amare (Journalist and Horn of Africa expert) speaking at the seminar organized for the community. The seminar focused on relentless hostilities/ war on Eritrea over the past 18 years and the Eritrean people’s heroic popular resistance; in particular Mr. Elias Amare highlighted the latest assault on Eritrea’s dignity and civilized culture under the guise of “human right”. The baseless allegations and outright lies of the “commission of inquiry” of UNHRC were also exposed in detail and we have to have a clear understanding on the importance of being aware of the politically motivated tools to compromise the sovereignty of Eritrea reiterated Mr. Elias Amare during the Seminar that took place at the Eritrean Festival in Edmonton.

The evening kicked off with a resounding poetry reading and skit performed by Milka Debesai and her sister Haimanot from Regina. The Festival and 54th anniversary of our armed struggle witnessed the staging of cultural shows, furthermore involving children as well as youths, among others the participants pointed out that the manner through which nationals celebrated the momentous day attest to the way they cherish national independence and the heavy price paid for it. Musical artists Helen Meles, Ogbay Mesfun, Million Abraham, Sammy Ginbot and Tedro Tewolde (Rasta), entertained hundreds the rest of the night on Saturday and performed to the delight of the masses well into the night of Sunday night." Further the chairman of the community's remarked that the active communal participation demonstrated in the events attests to the fact that the societal values remain intact.

Furthermore participants expressed assurance that the spirit of Eritrean that celebrated urged to further commit in the national building process, Eritrean resident in western Canada are in higher keen to the manifestation taken place by the Government of Eritrea and the Eritrean people within Eritrea at large to build they nation economy, Educational curriculum and the nation infrastructure etc. that been said the Festivities concluded in high enthusiasm.