Trip to Eritrea, first step: meeting with institutions

Smile Project has always worked in agreement with the Eritrean Ministry of Labour and Welfare to proceed in a coordinated manner and with shared and effective actions. It is therefore natural that the first step of our journey was a visit to Minister Luul Gebreab

It does not happen to everyone to enter a ministry and be received by the minister himself, but that is what happened to us during our trip to Eritrea. The meeting had been organised for some time, both to share Smile Project’s projects with Eritrean institutions and to find out what needs had emerged in the area in recent months. Punctually at 9 a.m., we arrived in front of the building housing the Ministry in the city of Asmara. A little excited and perhaps intimidated by the official role we were playing on this occasion, we reached the office of the Minister. After the (very informal) welcome greetings, the minister welcomed us into a large room and immediately put us at ease, offering us a cup of tea.  The mutual esteem with Elsa, who translated the presentation for us, is evident.

The Minister told us about the difficulties the country still faces today following 30 years of war: between 1961 and 1991, Eritrea fought for its independence from the Ethiopian government, which was sanctioned by a referendum in 1993. Another 30 years have passed since that time, but the country still suffers from the wounds of war, and the aim of the Ministry of Welfare is precisely to improve the living, health and working conditions of the entire population, which often lives in poverty. The intention of the institutions is to preserve the Eritrean culture and economy and to ensure that support actions do not end with a handout, but flow into a path of strengthening economic and social structures for structural and long-term action. During the meeting, the Minister told us that 80 per cent of the population is rural, so there is a lot of work to be done to provide everyone with adequate preparation and education.

Also present at the meeting were two other authorities from the Ministry who told us about the need to re-establish the production of orthopaedic prostheses in an institute on the outskirts of Asmara that is experiencing major difficulties due to the lack of raw materials. As promised during the meeting, a few days later we accompanied Amaha Kide, Financial Manager of the Ministry of Welfare, for a visit to this facility, in order to understand its needs and, if possible, to organise a new project that could support its aims. After the visit, we took action and are now working to support production at this factory by installing solar panels that can provide the necessary electricity.