@brittarnhild
In 1999 and 2001 I visited friends in Eritrea. The fightings between Ethiopia and Eritrea was a hot topic, especially during my first stay. Many of the people I met had sons and daughters down at the border, fighting for their country. Many had lost kids down there, or their kids had fled to Sudan, away from the conflict, away from the fights.
In 2001 I remember driving south in Eritrea, down to the border of Ethiopia. The fighting had ended then, and I remember looking south, seeing a country unknown to me. Wondering about its people, its traditions, its customs.
Today, more than a decade later, I am up north in Ethiopia, in Lalibela. On the other side of the border. I look north and know that I have friends up there, somewhere.
We have a guide here in Lalibela. When we passed these old traditional houses, he told us that he used to live in one as a child. I continued to ask him about his life, and he told me that during the last conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia he was a border soldier. A terrible time. A time of fights and the death of friends.
Two countries, though many various people. Similarities and differences.
Peace is fragile. Our world is filled with conflicts.
How can it be?
Isn't life, isn't people the most precious we have?
