My mother Guemesh Isaak wrote two novels, translated traditional folk stories and rewrote the lyrics for Ruhus Gama (may your wedding be blessed), a song performed by the legendary Eritrean singer Haile Gebru. It is now the most famous Eritrean wedding song, still played today all over the world.
As one of the first Eritrean women writers to publish a book in 1987, and an ex-fighter during the war of independence, I’m on a constant mission to convince her she’s already made her mark in history.
I grew up in east London. My mother was protective and often stayed up late on her Macintosh computer, typing up other people’s manuscripts, which allowed me to get away with reading past my bedtime.
My mother was among a handful of Eritreans during the 1990s with Geezsoft, software which allowed users to type in Tigrinya and Amharic. Already fluent in English, she took courses in desktop publishing and design at local colleges, and helped the local community and churches by offering translating and printing services. She’d make business cards, invitations and baptism certificates. As a child, I wasn’t fully aware why our home looked like a library and a printing shop.
She disguised the fact that she was a single mother, stateless, on benefits and living in one of the most deprived boroughs in London. Purchasing a computer was not just an opportunity to gain new skills, but a way of making herself resourceful for her family and her community as a writer, translator and editor.
Against that backdrop, it’s hardly surprising that I loved reading and writing at school. I couldn’t understand how I would be able to translate that into a ‘real’ job. Since I was an all round student, it made sense to aspire to become every African parent’s dream: a lawyer or a doctor.
Making history: Two of the books Guemesh Isaak wrote, one of the first Eritrean women writers to be published.
However, I studied social sciences and then attempted to pursue a postgraduate degree in human geography in Leeds. The course didn’t click with me but I loved the city. Unable to complete the first semester, and reluctant to return back to London so soon, I stayed up north working and volunteering with refugees. This was the first time I really had a chance to reflect on my own history.
My parents were exiled Eritrean fighters who fled to Sudan in the late 1970s, during the country’s 30 year armed struggle for liberation. I have an older brother, nine years my senior, who was born amid this war. He first met me and my younger brother when he was 14. With such a history and dynamic mother, it was only a matter of time before I’d start to unpick my own family’s narrative.
In the last few years, and after hours of interrogation, I’ve discovered how my mother expressed ideas on gender inequalities, and patriarchal Eritrean society before the armed struggle, through her literature.
My interest in research and documenting narratives comes from this rich legacy. One of the biggest challenges I face is unearthing these stories and giving them, and the people behind them, visibility and a place within history. This will not only contribute to our understanding of the world, but will allow us to consider the possibilities of using creativity to be authors of our own stories.
Lwam Tesfay is the online editor intern for Words of Colour online and Digital Women UK.
Find out more about Lwam here.