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A
Farewell To Our Hero Seyoum
Part III
Nharnet Representative
Dear Readers, welcome
back and thank you for joining us again. On second part, I walked you
through the pictorial description of the events of the funeral ceremony
up to the point of gathering at the church. I left you off at the point
where the hero was being carried to the church. I am not going to try
to describe the church service arrangement and flower decoration. It
was simply impressive. I thank every one who was involved be it family
members or comrades alike. The good taste, perfection seeking mood, and
elegant and clean nature of our brother, comrade, and hero was correctly
reflected.
 
The audience flowed in
to the church and started taking their sits. Many were taking pictures
and recording using their video cameras. The priests asked for
quietness and halt of camera flashes. They did a beautiful service as
you can see from the pictures. I gave them a lot of credit for not
doing the other PFDJ members did of not showing up for the funeral or
paying respect to the dead as it customary in our culture.
 
A church service by a
Dutch Reverend was performed beautifully. Apparently
Rev. Kees
Haas knew
Seyoum and had befriended him and his family.
 
At the end of his
religious ceremony, he told a summarized life history of Seyoum. It was
unfortunate that I did not understand what he was saying. I could
gather that he was using analogy of Moses from the bible and some one
confirmed to me that was the case. He stated that Seyoum did not get to
see a democratic constitutional Eritrea like Mosses did not make it to
the mountain alive. He told the audience that Seyoum was a president as
far as he was considered as I learned from some one who understood the
language because I heard the words president and Eritrea.
Once the religious
aspect of the service was completed, a member organizer made an
announcement in which he stated that the process was going to start by
martyrs’ song. He invited those among the audience who knew the song to
join in.
 
The song set my mind in
a speedy velocity of motion through the hills and lowlands of our mother
land. It brought the memories of all my friends I left behind. I could
not control my tears. In a matter of minutes, I went back to the
second national congress of ELF remembering the song by the late Yemane
Gebremichael who sang ‘nay meqabir bxotey’ roughly translated title of
my comrades in our common tomb. I remember that almost every one
attending the second national congress cried when at Yemane’s song. My
best friends and all the heroes we left behind were competing for a
fraction of space in of tiny brain. Every one was flashing in front of
me. I then remembered what an old friend told me when we talked after
Seyoum’s passing away. She told me that she and her husband cried all
night because harestay (referring to Seyoum) brought back the images of
all of our martyrs. The hall was quiet except the song but tears were
down on almost every one’s cheeks. The true emotion came out. I
suspect every one was crying for Seyoum but also for all of those who
were left behind and their aspirations and goals have been derailed
terribly by the tyrant in Asmara.
I present to you the
verbatim of the song in Tigrinia with the hope that you will help with
translating and explaining what they mean to the young ones who do not
command the language:
It was then time for the
other aspects of the funeral ceremony to proceed. Assefaw Berhe, the
head of organizational affairs, read the short life history of our hero
in Tigrinia.
 
You can read it on
Seyoum’s page. His comrades on behalf of the organization told him to
rest in peace as they will continue the struggle until the goals they
shared with him are attained. It was a clear strong message to PFDJ and
doubters, as well as assurance to our friends that the organization will
continue with momentum and that our hero will not be let down. The
speech was then presented in Arabic by Mansour Omar, an ELF-RC member in
Germany.
A family member then
presented an emotional eulogy on behalf of all the family members. He
obviously could not control his emotion and the audience did not help
either. He summarized the selfless struggle of our Seyoum. He
reiterated that Seyoum was really Eritrea’s son and was every one’s
brother and sister. His devotion to his country took priority even
above his own children. Seyoum’s love for his country and devotion to
his people was properly reflected.
It was then the turn of
Woldeyesus Ammar, the current chairman of ELF-RC and a comrade of Seyoum
since their high school days. His message was clear, precise, and
concise in delicious lowland Tigrinia. He simply told thank you to his
comrade lying in a coffin next to him. He said that Eritrea owes Seyoum
a strong thank you for his life long struggle for liberation and
dedication for their right. He again reiterated his and the rest of his
comrades’ commitment of keeping the torch burning and the dream alive
until the goals our hero worked tirelessly. It was like Ammar, a devoted
polite Eritrean with strong convictions.
Another life long
comrade, Gherezgiher Tewolde took the stage. Ghere’s message was strong
and to the point. His message was that it is not Seyoum’s style to sit
down and cry. He told the audience his comrade’s mood was always to get
up and fight under the worst circumstances and he called on the audience
to do the same, to collect our emotions and continue the struggle. He
responded to PFDJers and others who question what Seyoum was doing in
Addis when he passed away. He reminded them that Seyoum was a proud and
courageous Eritrean that stated Badme was Eritrea’s and the Ethiopian
Army should not cross beyond the disputed border from the capital city
of Addis during the heated war time. He told them that he was doing
what he always had done fight for his people. His message was
encouragement to the opposition and a hard hit back to others. He was
the usual Gehere, a courageous fighter.
It was then announced
that time had run out for the representatives of organizations who
wanted to show their solidarity to take the stage. The schedule did not
permit for that part and a number of members who had prepared something
to say unfortunately could not.
Our hero’s body was
carried out followed by family members, and then the audience started
flowing out of the church. Police started bringing the buses around.
Extra bus was prepared for those who did not or did not want to drive.
Then, it was the sad
reality of the next part of the procession, the time to travel to the
cemetery. I rode with friends and was busy taking pictures but my mind
did not idle and reality was sinking the real good bye was not going to
be long coming.
Through it all, I would
like to express my appreciation of Seyoum’s comrades but one person in
particular. I can’t say that my account was complete if I did not
express my admiration to Geme Ahmed, Head of Social Affairs, and member
of the executive committee. He remained cool, in control, responding to
every question and every request that came along the way. A true
comrade who showed true organizational skills who did every thing he
could to see that his departing friend got the fair well he deserved. I
have admiration for his family Azmera and his young adult children for
their courage discipline and polite attitude.
I will see you on Part
IV in which I will share with you the scene on the way to the cemetery
and the final emotional burial of the hero.
See you then
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