Six or seven years ago when I was first signing up for Facebook, I filled up the boxes honestly, as exactly as facebook demanded. Six years ago one can easily find a missing person if the person happened to have a Facebook address, and gets automatically connected. Having Facebook was serving the purpose of getting connected to loved ones, relatives, co-workers and etc. Today, another use of Facebook is being unfolded.
Of late, finding a missing person who has got a Facebook account has at least become a tedious job. Not only because the profile picture is not of the intended person but also the name. Since quite a few years, a Facebook account owned by Eritrean has been a narrator of his life history, ideas, wishes, hopes, fears, desires, frustrations and everything related to him in a Maxim. If you are thinking I am referring to the box where it displays a short bio of a facebook owner, I am sorry you are wrong.
Recently, I was looking up for an old friend in Facebook which I gave up after an exhaustive search, and was able to connect with him after being helped by another dear friend. The reason was simply the person has not followed the basic rules in Facebook, for reasons he himself only knows what exactly, and others could guess after his name was revealed to them. His Facebook account displayed neither his photo nor his name. “YHalf do yKewn” accompanied by a real photo of high waves(this account has been deactivated, in case you try to search it) was what my old friend submitted to Mark Zuckerberg’s corporation: Facebook. Zuckerberg shouldn’t be blamed for not guessing the real name of my friend. My old friend too shouldn’t be blamed for not being able to follow the basic rules in Facebook because he has only opted to creatively say something that is within him through the boxes which were allotted for another important reason too.
Since this incident, I purposely started searching for names on Facebook that would match with my situation to steal one for myself. However, I found each one of them explaining and representing my situation exactly. Thrown in thousands of choices, I couldn’t pick one, and opted to remain with my name.
ተመስገን ኣምላኸይ
ኣነ ናትካ’የ
ብሓይልኻ ተሰጊሩ
ጽቡቕ ገበረለይ
These are only few of the many names which pay tribute to God for being there in hard times which also tell that the person is in the west in general. Putting this name the owner feels with a relief that he has thanked his God for everything. A certain area in his turbulent life has settled, at least for a while.
እዚ’ውን ክሓልፍ’ዩ
ጨኪነላ ነደይ
ኣሕ እዚስ ነዓይ
The above are some of the names you find in Facebook, probably when somebody is in a hard situation somewhere. Not content with the life he has or the decision he has taken in leaving his homeland but it happened any way.
If I am to list all of the names used by Eritrean Facebook users, I think, this article wouldn’t be postable, in Facebook at least. I picked the above names to show how Eritrean FB users are using this platform to communicate their concerns succinctly.
In putting up this article here, I am only trying to usher people into noticing how our people have been engulfed with agony, sadness and depression that they leave prints and traces on everything they passed through and touched, starting from on walls of Sawa, on walls of rental rooms in Khartoum, walls in Sinai, in Libya to name boxes and walls on Facebook. I am also trying to bring attention to that most of the names we see in Facebook while are funny, annoying, seemingly meaningless, at the same time they also are indicative of the Eritrean situation and the Eritrean mental state in a panoramic view. Therefore, whenever, we see that let us try our best to put ourselves in that person’s shoes to see the world from his point of view. We might see something we haven’t seen before.
Here are some of the many Facebook names Eritreans use. Let us understand them!!
ቀስተ ደበና
ናፊቐ ኣነስ
ተስፋዩ ስንቀይ
ከም ኩነታቱ
ወፍሪ ጸሓይ ዕራብ
ፍትሒ ይንገስ
ሰላም ይንገስ
ስደት መከራ
ምንባር ጭንቀት
ጸገም ሓላፋይ
ራህዋ ድሕሪ ስቓይ
ፍሽኽታ ኣመለይ
ኤርትራ ናይ ኢየሱስክርስቶስ
ኣጆኻ ኤርትራዊ
ክወግሕ’ዩ ጽባሕ
ፈቃር’ዩ ልበይ
ጸዋር’ዩ በልዋ
ይኣክል ስቓይ… ወዘተ።
I think, if you pick any one of these, it will say something about you. So not making it your name doesn’t imply that you are not experiencing it but rather may be do not want to show it, at least on Facebook. Therefore, those who are explicitly but briefly expressing themselves in the Facebook platform, as long as their codified names speak some truth within us, they are heroes, and admittedly, their stories are ours too. Shall we laugh them off or make them reminders of what is going on? Who knows, given an attentive heed, they might end up being an impetus for taking off that misery wagon placed in Eritrea.
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