The map makers of Google Maps have updated many African countries with more detailed information. Including Eritrea, Bening, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Reunion, Siera Leone, Somalia and Togo.

Many Eritrean towns and villages have been updated with names and major roads have been marked with numbers easily to spot on the map.

For the capital Asmara streets, avenues, transport stations as well as places of cultural, national and economical interest have been updated more in detail.

Navigate below satellite map:

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(Abu Dhabi) Emirates News Agency reports that the leaders of the United Arab Emirates sent their congratulation to the Eritrean President for the coming Eritrean National Day.

The World Health Organisation in Geneva (Switzerland) has published its annual WHO Health Report for 2009 on the 21.05.2009.

Life expectancy for Eritrean females has increased from 53 years in 1990 to 65 years in 2007. Amongst Eritrean males the expected life span increased from 28 years to 61 years.

The unusual jump of 33 years for males between 1990 and 2007 can be mostly contributed to the end of the war and independence struggle.

Nevertheless, the average life time for both males and females in Eritrea is 63 years. In comparison the African average lies by 52 years and is therefore 11 years lower. The average European makes it to 74 years, while the Eastern Mediterranean region with 64 years of life expectancy is comparable to Eritrea.

Moreover, the 2009 report shows, that there is a correlation between national income and life expectancy. The more disposal income people have the longer they tend to live.

In respect to child mortality in Eritrea, out of every 1000 children born 930 will make it over the age of 5. This is a good improvement compared with Japan where 996 children and Turkey where 977  out of 1000 will make it over their 5 birthday

It has to be mentioned, that between 2000 and 2007 Japan had on average 21 Physicians per 10000 inhabitants and Turkey 16, while Eritrea had only 1 Physician per 10000 of population.  Regarding, Nursing and Midwifery staff Japan had 95 personnel and Turkey 29 per 10000 inhabitants in comparison to Eritrea with 6 personnel.

According to the WHO child mortality has decreased substantially in developing countries, Ties Boerma, the director of  WHO’s Department of Health Statistics states;

“The decline in the death toll of children under five illustrates what can be achieved by strengthening health systems and scaling up interventions, such as insecticide-treated mosquito nets for malaria and oral rehydration therapy for diarrhoea, increased access to vaccines and improved water and sanitation in developing countries,”

According to the WHO Report 2009 the third smallest country in Europe, which is San Marion has the longest life expectancy for males with 81 years and the lowest child mortality in the world.  The latest available data used by the WHO for gathering these information is from the year 2007.

Police in Zurich (Switzerland) has identified a body found dead in the Lake Zurich as an 39 year old Eritrean woman. According to the medical investigation the woman died after drowning in the lake. So far the police has no indication of third party involvement, but is asking the population to aid in the investigation. Read more: (Article in German).

Being in the middle of  an economical downturn is definitely not going to be a very easy situation for many people around the world. Nevertheless, it is a periodic occurrence, which is necessary to put things right in a world living too often beyond its means.

Eritrea has been on the track of self-reliance since the independence gained from Ethiopia in the beginning of the Nineties. In many fields, such as humanitarian aid, foreign investment exposure and transport infrastructre, it chose directions apart from the norm of other African countries.

Of course this is the harder way to go for a nation and often difficult to comprehend, because it requires sacrificing in first instance. Moreover, for many years Eritreans have lived far below their means for the sake of their nation and national identity. While others, which  now have to come into terms with the bubble burst, used to know no limit.

Thus in times of recession individuals, corporates, national economies and the world tend to lay out their cards newly because it resembles a period of chance, thoughtfulness and self scrutiny.

This is also a chancel for Eritrea to enter into a new relationship in respect to international trade. Especially as a nation, which has a big tourism potential, is soon to enter into the mining industry and is opening its sea ports for free trade.

On the preparations for the upcoming Eritrean National Day on the 24th May 2009, the President of Eritrea has explained to Reuters News Agency, how the country is going to approach these challenges.

“The Norwegians would like to talk about 150 years from now. The Nigerians may want to exploit all their oil resources in 10 days or 10 hours or maybe 10 years, and that’s it, you’re finished. This is a resource of generations.” (President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea on Reuters News Agency)

The President believes that economical stimulation has to be sustainable in order to fit a nations characteristic of infrastructure. Therefore, he suggests that instead of a tempting short term approach, Eritrea should seek for a more adequate pace to manage the exposure to a free market and a influx of foreign investment. This would be the only way how to best serve Eritrea’s interests for todays and the coming generations ahead.

There is an area view of Eritrea in google earth taken via satellite, which shows a Lufthansa logo drawn into the sand (satellite picture below). The logo was placed in a field, which at that time belonged to the Seawater Farms Eritrea project near Massawa. Lufthansa was participating in the funding of  Seawater farms, before the project was dropped by the stake holders. The logo has become a guerilla marketing stunt for Lufthansa in the web world and we can be assured that Lufthansa had its return on capital employed.

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Arsema Dawit, a young Eritrean girl from London, was killed in a knife attack by her former boyfriend 22 year old Thomas Negusse in June 2008. Her relatives are awaiting the results of an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which looks into claims that the murder could have been avoided, if police would have acted more swiftly. Before the killing, Arsema and her mother went to the police to ask for help, because Negusse was aggressively stalking  and threatening to kill the girl. Negusse is unfit to plead and was transferred to a mental hospital without limit of time as he suffered brain damages, while trying to kill himself in jail. Read more: BBC.

Alem Kibreab, from the Eritrean Ministry of Energy and Mines told Reuters, that another eight companies have been awarded licences for gold mining in Eritrea.

The new entrants are named as Andiamo Exploration and London Africa from Britain, Land and Energy and Zhongchang Mining from China, The Mining Share joint venture from Lybia and Eritrea, South Boulder and Gippsland from Australia as well as Spice Minerals from India.

Further, he informed Reuters that Eritrea’s first mining project, which is the Bisha Mining venture will start producing gold around the third quarter of 2010.

Alem states, that Eritrea is well aware of the negative side effects a gold boom could cause for the country, referring to historic exploitation of Africa’s mining resources by short term focused decision making.Thus Eritrea would aim for a sustainable and long term approach in developing the mining sector, which is expected to have important multiplier effects for the development of other industrial areas in the country.

Eritrea’s gold ventures appear to be promising and first signs where the road might lead to, can be observed from Nevsun Resources and its Bisha project in the near future. In March 2009 capitaleritrea reported about Nevsun’s ownership structure as well as the financial result it made for 2008.

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According to Araia dozens of companies have already registered, because Eritrea’s ports are located along the busiest shipping routes of the world. Further, he outlined that approximately 20.000 ships loaded with 700 million tonnes of cargo, which is around 9% of the total global freight market, would pass each year the coast of Eritrea.

The country is said to have invested millions of $US for the infrastructure of the harbour and airport in Massawa. There are already around 12 companies from countries such as China, Italy, Israel, India, Djibouti, Sudan and Dubai, which have registered under the scheme.

Araia points out that the competitive advantage of Massawa or Assab lies in the low labour costs compared to ports such as Dubai, Djibouti or Aden. Although, Eritrea is aware of the fierce competition from neighbouring countries, it believes it can tap into the niche market of small scale freight operations. Because, small companies would shift away from expensive harbours in the region in favour of the less expensive Eritrean ports. Thus, the initial strategy would be to focus on small cargo business first.

Eritrea’s second and strategically better located port Assab, due to it’s closer location to the Indian Ocean, will follow Massawa into the free trade zone in 2010. Eritrea hopes with this measures to stimulate economical activities in the country as well as to lay the foundation for a good soil of future trade with the world.

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was the creator of modern Russian Literatur and therefore, one of the greatest poet in European and Russian history. Pushkin is comparable to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in terms of the cultural heritage he left behind for mankind and the world. As a person Alexander is described as a man who expressed his love for humans, nature and simplicity through his scripts, poems and written tales.

His liberal views mixed with a new style of story telling sometimes caused him trouble with the authorities of his time, nevertheless he managed to revolutionized and form Russian Literature as we know it today.

He wrote one of his biggest master pieces, the novel Eugene Onegin, around 1825. Pushkin was born in Moscow and was regarded as a talent, who published his first poem at the age of fifteen, before his academic education in Saint Petersburg had even started.

Alexander’s great grand father was Abram Petrovich Gannibal, who was born in 1696 in Loggo Sarda a place close to Dekemhare at the Mareb River in Eritrea.  Abram was brought by Emperor Peter the Great as a child  to Russia and was baptized having Peter as his godfather.

According to historians, the boy was not the only black child to be taken from his native home in Africa during this era. Monarchs in Europe thought it to be fashionable to have black children at the royal courts.

Pushkin’s grand father enjoyed academic education in science, arts and warfare in Paris, under the umbrella of the Royal Tsar family. As a high ranking monarch Abram later became a general, military engineer and governor of Reval, which is known today as Tallin the capital of Estonia.

Bergkamen, a small town in North Rhine Wesphalia, Germany sent 470 packages with school utilities such as pencils and books to the Asmara School for the Deaf last January. The packages arrived in Asmara shortly before Eritreans celebrate Christmas on January the 6th.

The director of the school Mr. Mehin Yohannes  and many pupils sent letters of gratitude back to the people of Bergkamen expressing their gratefulness for the support received. However, most of the letters arrived recently shortly before summer starts. Hence Christmas is a big issue right now in Bergkamen. The source article is in German. Read More: DERWESTEN

Grandma Tsege is a loving mother, wife and sister living in the United States. Her story is reminding me of our parents and what they had to go through to get us where we are today. She left her heart in Eritrea, as many of our parents did. Never shall we forget what losses they had to endure and what they sacrificed with dignity and pride. Read more: Brenda’s Blog.