Faces and Voices- Grown-Ups

H. Haile – Age 21

In Eritrea, after military service, I excelled in college. As a student I wrote several novels touching on the absence of economic opportunity in Eritrea. For that I was imprisoned and tortured, including by being painfully shackled, and much worse. After my release I returned to school and graduated with a degree in veterinary science. But there was still no economic opportunity, and no freedom for dissidents, so I fled to Ethiopia and came to this camp. Now I feel compelled to write in my journal every day about what’s wrong with Eritrea. But I also feel fortunate, through my writing, to have something to do in the camp, and to have the freedom to do it.