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West or Bust! [Gerset]

Gerset is a town just half an our south of Tesseney. To call it a town may be a bit of an overstatement but we will give it the benefit of the doubt. Gerset is a place that has mostly been settled now by Eritrean returnees from Sudan.

Where they have decided to settled is both prime farming land but quite prone to flooding. Here though a damn is being constructed to both hold irrigable water for a test plot of 1000 hectares and prevent flooding in the area.

Tractors near Gerset
The Gerset dam project is actually three dams (as well as the conveyance systems of course) that are being constructed by the Warsai-Yikalo campaign. A photograph really cannot do justice to the size of these dams. Combined these dams will be able to hold more water than Toker dam near Asmara.

Gerset Dam
To be expected by Shaebia though a curiousity about the work occured to be. This curiousity availed itself at about 12:00AM (00:00) the following morning. During the Liberation Struggle the people of Eritrea had to do everything at night because if anything constructive was done during the day they would surely be bombed by the Ethiopian Air Force. Even today we can see the legacy of this. While a shift works during the day on the Gerset dams, another shift work at night both protecting and constructing the dams.

Gerset work at night
With these dams it is certainly hoped that Eritrea may once again realize food security and move on to other concerns; the fear of drought no longer holding us back. Though these droughts of which we hear you would never know by looking at the Gash River near Tesseney.

Gash River outside of Tesseney
This river is easily one of the largest in Eritrea and was first crossed by a foot bridge but later one for vehicles. During the war with the Ethiopian’s it was of course destroyed but has now been rebuilt. It really is an impressive site to see!

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8 Comments

  1. Senait Senait

    Ok all this food for lil ol me…..lol. That’s tight that u can cook man…..really. You dont see a lot of men out there these days that can do that. Where you been all my life?

  2. Senait Senait

    Ok all this food for lil ol me…..lol. That’s tight that u can cook man…..really. You dont see a lot of men out there these days that can do that. Where you been all my life?

  3. bahta bahta

    Wow eritrea is now a developing by isayas’s slaves. Why can not you bring a solution or think about the way out of this situation that you arrogantly created. The whole generation is lost in the desert with out education, or forming families. Let’s say a competent dam is constructed-who will work in the field and do farming. Warsay? The government? A government is not a farmer, a business enterprise and certainly the government of eritrea can not hire people to work in the field to secure food for its people. such things only bring corruption, moral decay and underdevelopment. Let’s lease arable lands to eritreans who would like to invest in the farming activity. They know what to do to stay in business and on the way will always struggle to grow and this will help eritrea have food security. The government should only collect taxes effectively, deliver services and security and uphold the law if there is a law. government can build the infrastracture but let’s for heavens sake leave development activity to Eritreans. Encourage eritreans to invest in their country. this will help you gain foreign currency, help the country eastablish strong economic base to withstand any aggression by Ethiopians, attract Eritrean intellectuals who are now very frustrated with the governments cluless blind moves aimed at only one thing, that is to control the young generation from rioting by taking them to Sawa for indefinite servitude.

    • Anonymous Anonymous

      First of all I would argue that I didn’t create the situation Eritrea is in today, rather it was circumstance, colonization and conflict (the three C’s if you will). Suggesting that the Eritrean youth working on the Wefri Warsay Yikalo are uneducated is quite simply false. Besides the vocational training that they are given (which I will get back to in a moment), their grounding in practical mathematics, science, language and history is impressive. I remember the first time I looked at the matriculation exam, I was stunned at how difficult it was!

      I respect your suggestions of libertarianism however I don’t believe that at this time those ideas are a) suited to the obstacles that Eritrea faces as a nation and b) Acontrary to the culture mores of the land. Our society has benefited from both good neighborliness and mutual benefit between brothers/sisters.

      Although private business is critical to sustainable development, if left to its own devices it may be inimical to the ultimate goal of sustainable development which is to create harmonious development. Few governments have been able to reach this goal, and some might argue that it is related to the formulation of business today. In fact I would argue that it is in precisely these situations that Government, as agent of the society it governs is responsible to fill in the gaps. A view of this in the Eritrean context may be helpful.

      Finally as it comes to Sawa, the grand experiment at the heart of our independence, I could not disagree more. The purpose of Sawa, since the very beginning was to recreate the foundry of the Sahel in which our national unity was forged. This bold goal, married with the necessities of breaking down the walls of inheritance and building a reserve was critical in saving our nation a decade ago. In the coming decade it too will be at the core of our renaissance.

      Thanks for your great comments!

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