Asmara- Gulai Ezekiel Nelson has found an elixir to cure the feeling of hopelessness in times of hardship.
In the middle of the night, in Asmara and in the midst of one of the most difficult times the religious man blows away all fears and worries with his golden trumpet.
Because of severe draught in some parts of Eritrea, many people fear a poor harvest and renewed famine. Nonetheless, where there is hardship hope is not far away. There is a sweet melody coming out of the Lutheran Community Centre nearby, carrying a hopeful message through the night sky and far beyond the buildings and roof tops of the Eritrean capital. The message is “Praise the Lord” from Paul Gerhardt.
Ezekiel Nelson Gulai’s composition for hope works like this: Take a trumpet, a trombone and a tenor horn, blow into it with all your force and bring the air to vibrate, then your problems will be blown away for a while. “We want to praise God with everything we have,” says the 57- year old music teacher.
An import with obstacles
This time Gulai is joined by two very special musical compatriots: Jochen Hutt, Head of a Civil Engineering Office and Gustav Faigle, Conductor of a Brass Instrument Ensemble from Germany. They brought along six other Germans who made the 3000 km journey to bring Gulai new instruments and share their passion for music.
The journey had its first small obstacles at the stopover in Yemen, a country known for its reputation of tourist hijackings. At the airport in Sanaa the Germans draw the attention of airport officials because of their odd shaped luggage with the shiny and golden content. The officials screened the luggage at a special security checkpoint and placed stickers with the label “Fragile” on it.
However, things started to get really complex with the cargo when arriving at Asmara Airport. The day aliens from Mars should invade our Earth, disembarking from a space ship with strange shaped luggage under their arms, the look on our face would not differ much from the look of three customs officers in Asmara.
They must have been prepared for a lot of things on the late arrival flight from Sanaa, but surely not for eight Germans marching with strange looking and “Fragile” labelled bags through security customs. Gustav is the first person to be stopped. You could see how baffled the customs people were, while the laid-back German opened slowely his luggage. One of the custom officers made the first move asking, “Are you Musicians?”
Even before having finished explaining that the instruments should remain in the country as gifts, the second customs officer alerts his colleagues pointing to the next three suspicious looking bags. When they found another trumpet in the private suitcase of one of the Germans it was finally over with the patience of the officials. The supervisor on duty confiscated all instruments and said, “You need to pay customs for that!”
No chance that upright officials would allow gifts to enter the country without declaring them. The Germans say that it would have been impossible to fund the journey if they would have declared all their cargo officially before starting the trip.
This tour is not the first of its kind. Already several other groups from the region have flown to Asmara to provide aid in the form of musical instruments in the past. The projects are financed through private charities which organise small ventures and events in order to raise money for a good cause.
Before the instruments could be finally handed over to Neslon Gulay he had to overcome some bureaucratic hurdles. First the president of the Evangelial Lutheran Church in Asmara had to confirm that the presents are welcome.
Further, Gulai had to get a letter signed by the religious authority in charge. Finally, after having sorted out all the formalities, paper work and a ransom of 150 Euros Nelson Gulai was allowed to pick up his gifts.
Even if the Germans would have not managed to hand over the instruments to Gulai, the visit itself was already encouragement enough for the Christian community. “That you have come from far away shows how great your love is,” says Nelson Gulai. A different member adds, “This shows us that God has not forgotten us”.
For years, about five million Eritreans live in hardship in the Horn of Africa. Eritreans wants to be self sufficient and do it better than their southern neighbour Ethiopia. Eritrea has fought for decades a long war for independence with Ethiopia and tensions are still high due to an unsolved boarder dispute.
This explains why the country has an army of 400.000 soldiers. Once the young men and woman are old enough, they will be called up for military service. On top of an already weakened economy.
Nelson Gulai’s cause is to build something lasting in times of hardship. The big politics lies in the hands of God, at least not in his. He wants to teach young Eritreans the art of music, culture and spirituality giving them a chance to express themselves and to leave a lasting mark of their own.
His music schools are schools of the generations. ”If we have enough instruments,” says Gulai, “then the older ones can teach the younger. Even if the older generation has to go the military, we will not loose all the knowledge and skills at once.”
He founded three brass choirs with German support. More than thirty instruments delivered by communities in south-west Germany have helped several students in towns such as Asmara, Keren and Barentu to perform music. The new instruments are for a new choir in the town of Mendeferra, about an hour’s drive south of Asmara.
“Things start to roll”, says Nelson Gulai with his eyes fixed to the wall and a soft smile. His dream is a big concert at Christmas with all the trombone choirs and his German friends sitting in the audience. “In order for you to see how big your plant is already grown,”Gulai says. (Article edited from Stuttgarter Zeitung.)
