Seattle is home to 10% of the Eritrean population in the United States.
Many Eritrean immigrants found political asylum in the US in the 1980s and 1990s due to the Eritrean War of Independence.
For some young first generation Eritrean Americans like it Radioactiveby Alex Mengisteab, this story feels both close and a little out of reach. So, to better understand, Alex talked to his family friend Habtom Hagos about his experiences growing up as a child during the war.
This story discusses the realities of war and suicidal thoughts.
[RadioActive Youth Media is KUOW’s radio journalism and audio storytelling program for young people. This story was entirely youth-produced, from the writing to the audio editing.]
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Everything I ever learned about the 30-year Eritrean War of Independence is through the pages of Wikipedia. But that war is what brought my family the nearly 8,000 miles from Asmara, Eritrea to Seattle, and it’s part of what made me who I am.
I wanted to learn more about the armed struggle from someone who lived through it, so I spoke to Habtom Hagos, a family friend.
One thing you should know about Hagos: He will talk to anyone.
“I speak seven, eight languages fluently,” Hagos said. “Whatever community I associate with, it takes me six months to learn the language. I’m self-taught, self-educated. I can do everything — write and read. Because I’m a survivor. If I have to survive, I have to learn, I have to I am them.”
Hagos talks about how he survived the Eritrean War of Independence — and everything that followed.
HAMPTOM HAGUE
This story begins when Hagos was 7 years old and living in Asmara, Eritrea with his family.
The Ethiopian army attacked his village. He separated from his family and ran away. He found a revolutionary camp for the Eritrean independence movement. Freedom fighters there, members of the Eritrean Liberation Front, took him along with other orphans.
Hagos remembers Eritrean soldiers pointing guns at him. He thought it was amazing. The propaganda went so deep that it began to believe that anyone, even a family member, could be considered a traitor.
“I think if you bring my father, he’s a traitor to my country, I’ll blow his head off. No second thoughts,” Hagos said.
But it wasn’t all propaganda. Hagos said the Eritrean rebels were like a new family to him.
“They became father figures to me, [and] like mother figures to me,” she said.
A few years later, in 1979, Hagos fled to Khartoum, Sudan like many other Eritreans seeking refuge. He was 12 years old.
He needed to make money, so from Sudan, he tried to reach Saudi Arabia by loading onto a cargo ship. He was arrested and imprisoned.
“Six months I suffered. I felt alone,” Hagos said. “I tried to kill myself.”
Saudi officials sent him back to Sudan and he was brought before a judge.
“He asked me, ‘Where is your mother?’ Hague recalled the judge asking him. “I said, ‘I don’t know.’ ‘Where is your father?’ I said “I don’t know”. He felt bad, the judge. He gave me 50 rials, which is Sudanese money. He told me, “There is a bus station in Sudan. Go there. Find your family.”
When he was 17, Hagos arrived in the United States where he was reunited with some of his family members. He started working on his second day in America and was soon working three jobs.
This is a rant that many in our community know well: Work hard to provide for your family.
“We have a chip on our shoulder: responsibility,” Hagos said. “We love our family. We send money home. We don’t ask anyone else to help us. I have a poor family. They depend on me.”
After living in the US for two decades, Hagos was finally able to reunite with his mother at Sea-Tac Airport.
“I had a flower to greet her at the airport,” Hagos said. “He said hello to all my brothers, my sisters. And he asked, ‘Where’s my son?’ He called my name.”
Hagu’s mother didn’t recognize him, she said, because she hadn’t seen him since he was 7 years old.
He called it “the lowest point” of his life.
“I’ve been attached to my mother since I was a child,” he said. “[So] not recognize me? It hurts.”
Hague’s journey is full of second chances. And now, here in Seattle, he’s spent a lot of time mentoring kids from East Africa.
“Because I had a second chance — I don’t want them to be failures.”
My conversation with Hague gave me something I did not expect. It helped my mum talk about her own experiences during the war. And that’s what I wanted.
This story was created in a RadioActive Youth Media introductory workshop for high school juniors. Production assistance by Brooklyn Jamerson-Flowers. Story edited by Mary Heisey. Consulting support from Agazit Afeworki. Prepared for the web by Kelsey Kupferer.
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