Afternoon hours of last Saturday, the 30th of August, the Intercontinental Hotel of Asmara hosted guests distinct from it usually does. Most of them were supposed to be in libraries or nearby shelves, where books would be at arms-length. However, Massawa Saloon had this provision. Along with “Journey from Nakfa to Nakfa” and “Mass Casualty Management Under Unique War Situation” both by Dr. Tekeste Fekadu, written in English, there was an inauguration of eight other books in our vernacular languages.

Among the speakers at the occasion was the foreign minister HE Ali Seid Abdela. He was invited to say something on the “Journey from Nakfa to Nakfa”. At the inception of the book, in 1976, he was the commander of Nakfa front-line. In the six-month warfare, the then front-line surgeon Tekeste Fekadu and Commander Ali Seid Abdela were working together for the noble cause, none of them dreaming to be read of nor to write a book. Thus it was a memorable moment for the speaker to recount briefly of the past situation after twenty-seven years.

The front-line surgical unit headed to Nakfa with handful medical instruments and few personnel. It was working in adverse situation and facing the hazards with the limited resources. A tent with hand torches for light, that was a miraculous hospital that the wounded came up to believe if they reach it alive, would never come out dead... And here the author had a chance of recounting the bitter-sweet past in a beautiful saloon full of lights and people in secure and comfortable environment.

When the author was invited to the podium to say something on the book, his sentiments gave him away that his speech was interrupted with sobs. He mentioned some of the pillars of the story like the intervention of the Soviet Union that caused the strategic withdrawal and resulted the journey to go back to Nakfa. The town, however, remained liberated once the EPLF controlled it. And it was in this town the better part of the armed struggle was completed.

Scores of people, the foreign minister included, commended Dr Tekeste for the choice he made on the setting. Choosing Nakfa and ending it there is a story perfected.

Providing books for the readership is one thing. The major portion remains, nevertheless-winning a great number of them. As one of the authors, Alemseged Tesfai, explained it, the culture of reading is not only undeveloped, but is also growing to be a taboo. He made the audience laugh with reflection giving a conditional example, “If someone is seen reading a book, let’s say at Bar Vittoria, spectators would be offended thinking that he was being boastful.”

Thus it would be customary for one to spend his waiting time staring at the walls or looking at passers-by or thinking of what to think about!

This time Alemseged Tesfai has written a “Gitano”, a book for the children, based on his vague memory of a film in his childhood. He recounted that a number of his acquaintances had asked him why he reversed his attention to kids. Among his aim was, he said he wanted to play part in laying a basement for the habit of reading. It is during childhood the habit of reading can have a ground to flourish. Perhaps King Solomon’s wisdom has something to do with it.

“But childhood doesn’t stop in our early years”, says the scholar author Alemseged, “the child in us still persists.” We can encourage our children by buying as well as reading for them for the starters. It will not be hard to do so for we may enjoy reading the children's books.