[LINK] "Editor calls out to Eritreans"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's Debra Black writes about Aaron Berhane, an Eritrean journalist driven by state persecution to Toronto where he runs the Eritrean-Canadian monthly Meftih.

"The first thing I observed here is this community is divided in two," [Berhane] said. "Some are supporters of Eritrean government; others are opposed.

"Regardless, the challenges they face here are huge and yet they spend their time discussing Eritrean politics. Their children drop out of school. The divorce rate is high. And they don't change their lives.

"Once they start working in odd jobs, they end up doing that for the rest of their lives. They don't try to improve their lives. They just discuss Eritrean politics and what should be done and they don't contribute here at all."

[. . .]

When he arrived in Toronto he got a job as a security guard. Then Berhane, who has a degree in mass communication from the University of Asmara, won a scholarship to the Journalist at Risk program at Massey College. He studied Canadian society, the economy and politics in order to understand his new home. The following year, he got a job as a PEN lecturer at George Brown College. He launched Meftih – which means "key" in Eritrean – in September 2004. It has a circulation of about 6,000.

Some of the recent issues he has looked at include allegations of mismanagement of funds by an Eritrean community association. But he tries to keep his coverage of local issues only.

"We say: `You're in Canada. Understand how the system works. If you understand how the system works you can start to help yourself and your children.'"