| Tigrean |
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| Tigrean Cultural Profile |
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Tigray is the northernmost province of Ethiopia. It is flanked by the Sudan to the west, Eritrea to the north, the province of Wollo and Gonder to the south, and Afar land to the east. The Tigreans number about five million.
It is here the old Axumaite kingdom was once very powerful and had tremendous influence around present day Red sea countries. It left rich architectural and archaeological heritage of rock-hewn churches and monuments. It was a highly literate society, soon developing an alphabet, and it is from the language Geez that modern Tigrinya, the language of Tigry and Eritrea has evolved. Christianity was introduced in the fourth century to this area. Its monasteries became centers for learning, translating Greek and Hebrew books, including the Bible in the fifth century. By the end of the sixth century Islam was introduced to the area. The Axumite heritage is still important in Tigray today. The oblicks from this era are still standing in Axum today. They symbolize national consciousness for all Tigreans. Today Axum a small town in central Tigray is a tourist magnet attracting tourists from all over the world. The Tigreans also had an important role in defending and defining today's Ethiopia and Eritrea from colonial powers. Yohannes the fourth, a Tigrean king, defended the area from Egyptian, Italian and Sudanese invaders. The Italians were soundly defeated in the battle of Adwa in 1896. The first of its kind in black Africa for a modern colonial power to be defeated by a poorly armed, but determined, and ill-trained peasant army. Today not only Tigreans, but Ethiopians feel tremendous pride from this. It is one of their brightest spots in history. It has been preserved since then as a symbol of black power over colonial Europe. Present day Ethiopian leaders also started the armed instruction from western Tigray in 1974. That movement eventually ousted the brutal Megstu regime in 1991 and gave Ethiopia its first taste of democracy in centuries.
The Tigreans speak Tigrinya. It has its own alphabet. Tigrinya is derived from Geez, during the 4th century. It is spoken in Tigray and Eritrea. Tigrinya became the official language when Eritrea won its independence from Ethiopia. Tigrinya has been suppressed in Ethiopia until the country changed rulers in 1991. The Tigreans were not allowed to use their language in their local school system or judicial system prior to 1991. But Tigrinya was a medium of instruction in the Eritrean school system when it was under the British mandate in the 40s and later when it was federated with Ethiopia. But King Haile Selassie banned the use of it from the Eritrean school system altogether and replaced it with Amharic. Amharic was taught in schools throughout Tigray as a subject as well as a medium of instruction for all subjects until seventh grade. Today Tigreans are using the newly gotten freedom to use ones own language to improve Tigrinya as a written language. Most Tigreans in Seattle are bi-lingual. Most of them came to the US by way of the Sudan and the former Soviet Union and could speak Arabic and Russian, besides Tigrinya, Amharic and English.
This section has been written by a community member of Tigray Community Association and reviewed by Tsehay Demowez (Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA., January 2003.)
Naming in the Tigray province and Ethiopia, in general, is different from naming in the US. The use of a first name and a family name is unknown in Tigray and the rest of Ethiopia. Everyone in Tigray has his/her own name and also uses his/her father's name, which comes after the personal name. Occasionally, the paternal grandfather's name can be added if needed. There was a lot of confusion when newly arrived Tigrean or other Ethiopians immigrants in the US were asked for their first name and family name. When asked for a last name, many immigrants asked, " You mean my father's or my grandfather's name?" Now when they have settled in the US, most Tigreans and other Ethiopians use their fathers' name as their last name, although some use their grandfathers' name as their last name.
Traditionally, women in the US have changed their family name when they marry. If a woman remarried several times she might have to change her family name accordingly. But women in Tigray and in the rest of Ethiopia do not change their names when they get married.
In Tigray women are helped through pregnancy by female family members especially the mother. In the countryside (rural) it is customary for the soon to be mother to go to her parents and have her first child under her mother's care. If a women is ready to deliver in Tigray she might notify her mother if around or a female friend, but not her husband. Men aren't involved in the delivery process. New mothers are taught how to care for their baby from their mothers and the elder ladies. Almost all countryside (rural) mothers breast feed, and they give special attention to diet, they understand a malnourished mother doesn't have too much milk to feed her child. Local Tigrean women have concerns with child birth, because they are uncomfortable with male doctors. Most are scared of C-section delivery. Most think it is an unwanted procedure. Back home a woman is suppose to rest in bed for forty days. Family members or neighbors cook and care for her and her newborn child. Locally this can't be done due to work and other factors.
Circumcision is mandatory for health, religious and other reasons for both female and male children in Tigray. It is done by a local practitioner usually under the age of one. Hospital circumcision is not available. Unlike the other East African Community in Seattle this is not a problem among the Tigreans here. Local families understand that only boys with their parents' consent get circumcised, but not girls in the US.
The mother is the main source of milk in rural Tigray. Breast feeding in public is acceptable, the majority of women breast feed, here women don't breast feed in public. Locally breast feeding has another problem because women work and can't breast feed them as they are suppose to do back at home. Children are introduced to solid food about six months of age and continue nursing until they are ready to have another child or until two years of age in Tigray. Locally women breast feed on the average of eight months, this is because of the ability of other source food for the child and other social problems.
In Tigray children are taught to respect parents, the elderly and to be honest early on by their parents. If a child misbehaves, they are disciplined by spanking and verbal advice. Locally parents are afraid of disciplining their children because CPS might get involved. Teenage dating is scary to many families because what they know back home is pre-arranged marriage, usually done by parents. Parents are also concerned about their children getting involved in drugs and gang related activities. The Tigrean community in Seattle tries to assist youths with special needs such as drug addiction, gang related activities and school dropouts. The Tigreans in Seattle have started to understand the local culture and are trying to make the best out of it for themselves and their children in the US.
Most Tigreans are Orthodox-Christians (coptic). In Tigray, about 20% of the population is Muslim. The majority of Tigreans in Seattle are followers of the Orthodox church, there are few Muslim Tigreans in Seattle. Back in Tigray, Orthodox-church followers do not eat meat, eggs or milk every Wednesday and Friday because of religious restriction. It is considered fasting. They also fast for 55 days before the Easter holiday, depriving themselves of all kinds of poultry, beef and dairy products. It's purpose is to weaken ones own physical body and strengthen ones spirit, thereby getting God's blessing for the suffering endured during fasting. Locally few Tigreans practice fasting, but go to church every Sunday. Local Tigreans adhere to their religious tradition. They fast for Ramadan. Muslims are suppose to fast all day and eat during the night and pray. Marriage between a Muslim and a Christian is rare. Muslims and Christians live with no religious problem among themselves as it is here in our Seattle community.
Abiy Tsom - The Great Lent: Dietary and Medical Implications of Fasting for followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church by Dr. Tesfai Gabre-Kidan, MD, Seattle, WA.
Most Tigreans understand what modern medicine has to offer to them, but that doesn't mean there are no traditional healers who perform minor surgeries such as tonsillectomy and uvulotomy and drainage of abscesses using a special vacuum creating local made surgical instruments called "Mahgoma" in Tigrinya. There are also wizards locally known as "Tenqalie" for men and "Tenqalite" for women, that people see them for various illnesses and misfortunes. Their healing practice includes blessing, giving patients local herbs to drink or to put on top of the affected area and other superstitious ideas such as killing a goat, chicken or sheep and make the patient cross-walk it. There are also "Defteras", a combination of religious and traditional healers. Diagnosis is usually done by referring to a holybook, and the patient is given some kinds of anti-bad spirit written material (written on leather) and bound by a leather and usually hung around the neck, shoulder, could also order herbs too. Of course most traditional healers practice is dying in Tigray due to the expansion of modern medicine today. The main emphasis on health care in Tigray today is prevention, before it was of getting patients cured, after contracting diseases or having developed one. The lack of hygienic understanding is a major problem today. Water-born parasites such as amboea, schistosomiasis and malaria, hepatitis, tuberculosis and veneral diseases are common in Tigray. AIDS also is spreading among the urban young population. The government is trying to education the public about safe sex, but the population's reluctance to follow the directives hasn't helped much.
Most local Tigreans are accustomed to modern medicine. Majority of them come to Harborview for medical care. Most patients expect to receive medications for every illness, failure to give prescribed medicine will be considered by some patients as if the doctor didn't know the illness and will result in not patient coming again to the same doctor. Some patients are nervous about giving blood for any type of test. There is an assumption that blood is taken from them for other purposes, other than serving them. Blood transfusion is alien to most Tigreans. It could create anxiety and fear. Explaining the condition that warranted blood transfusion to the patients should diminish the patients anxiety if not totally eliminate it. Women are reluctant to discuss gynecologic issues with male doctors, nurses on their first visit. If possible a female health provider will be the best choice. Women feel very uncomfortable discussing female private parts with a male provider. It is also very important to have a female interpreter if the situation permits for reasons already discussed.
The Tigrean population in Seattle could exceed the 2,000 mark and is growing rapidly mainly due to migration from other states and newborn babies. Most come from small towns in Tigray and many had formal education, but a small number of them came from the country side where they may have had no formal education at all. There are a substantial number of Tigreans with a higher level of education, i.e. doctors, engineers, accountants, etc. They work in different capacities around the Seattle area. Unemployment is not a major problem around this community, but that does not mean university graduates have gotten jobs according to their profession. Most Seattle Tigreans came to the US during the mid 80s escaping repression from the Soviet backed regime of Mengstu. The Tigrean community in Seattle was founded in 1989 to help members and the Tigrean community at large about social issues concerning the community at large. The community has an after school tutorial program for youths and counsel them on a number of issues, i.e. drug abuse, gang related activity, and alcohol abuse and teen pregnancy. The community also assists women on health and job issues. The Tigrean community is located in the Yesler area. It hosts social gatherings and meetings. Most Tigreans live in and around south Seattle, but others also live in west and north Seattle, Kirkland, Lynnwood, and Kent.
There is a Tigrean Community Association located in Seattle, WA.
This section was written Autumn 2007 by Kara Mann, University of Washington undergraduate student. Content is based on an interview with Tsehay Haile, a Caseworker Cultural Mediator in Harborview Medical Center's Community House Calls Program and was reviewed March 2008 by Asfaha Lemlem, Board Member, Tigray Community Association, Seattle, WA.
The majority of the Tigrean population in Seattle are refugees. Most were relocated by a sponsoring organization in the late 1980s and early 1990s and therefore have had a lot of support transitioning into life in Seattle. They receive assistance with finding housing, work, enrolling in ESL classes, and registering children for school. Those who immigrated of their own accord are not eligible for many of the same benefits as refugees and may have to rely solely on their own contacts for support. Individuals coming from more rural areas in Ethiopia may find the transition more difficult than those who had lived in cities. The language barrier remains the biggest source of frustration for most.
Tigreans continue to arrive in Seattle, though the numbers are small, and almost all are now immigrants.
Youth Acculturation Issues
Youth who have immigrated live in two different cultures: the conservative, traditional culture of home, and the diverse, permissive American culture. As a result, these children may face different problems adjusting to life than their parents. Though immigrant youth learn the language better and more quickly than their parents, they usually find themselves with greater responsibility in the home. It is not surprising that youth who immigrate at a very early age generally adjust to life in the U.S. more easily than older children. In fact, it is often difficult for older teens to adjust to life at school. Children who lived in refugee camps may have gone several years without education, causing them to be placed in a grade with much younger classmates. Language barriers may also cause someone to be placed in a grade below their actual level, making them feel uncomfortable and making learning difficult. Some may choose to drop out of school and work instead. Those who do not graduate by age 19 can no longer go to high school and may pursue GED programs and attend community college.