There’s
no Eritrean family that has not been affected by the
30-year war for independence. Whether in the country
or in the diaspora, the struggle has altered countless
lives.” As the documentary begins, two young
women dressed in Black appear on the screen. One recounts
an earlier experience as an Eritrean-Canadian while
the other listens and nods silently in agreement.
“There’s no country here. There’s
no country ‘Eritrea’ on this map,”
says the first woman, imitating the reaction of childhood
friends when asked where she was from. “You
made it up.”“Growing up, it was a reality,
I would say, for almost every single one of us,”
says Feyrouz Abdulrahman, an Eritrean filmmaker based
in Canada. “Many of us have been told, as it
says in the beginning [of the film], that we made
up the country, that country does not exist.”
And for many people over many years, it didn’t
exist. Mis Boon: Daughters of the Horn is a short
documentary that examines some of the major events
during the nation’s 30 year war for recognition
and autonomy. In Mis Boon, viewers are invited into
an intimate ceremony to explore Eritrean history through
the personal stories told by a small group of Eritrean-Canadian
women. There are candid stories of dealing with death,
the right to self-determination and the role of women
in armed struggle – all told over coffee.
“The coffee making ceremony is a huge part of
our culture,” says Abdulrahman. “It’s
really where people, families and communities, come
together and share their stories and experiences.
You grow together, you laugh together, you cry together.
It’s really what brings us together as a community.”Abdulrahman’s
own memories of participating in the coffee making
ceremony go back to when she was only 8 years old.
“We start very young,” she says laughing.
“But not only that, when you make the coffee
you’re there for three rounds. And when you
sit there for three rounds as a child listening, you
take in so much. It’s really a very rich part
of the culture. For me, it was a way to introduce
an audience to our culture the way I was exposed to
the culture.” Abdulrahman herself was born in
Sudan while her parents were seeking refuge from the
war in Eritrea. From there, her family moved to Libya,
then Greece, and finally to Canada where they currently
reside. While she is openly thankful for the opportunities
that surround her, she notes that it is also a double-edged
sword. “If they were able to get through that,
then really, nothing should be impossible for us here,”
she explains. “My mother personally had a child
with her leaving a war-torn country when people were
literally dying left and right. You saw people being
killed, you saw your neighbour’s house go up
in flames . . . it was a completely different reality.
So it’s empowering to know that, but at the
same time, you have to be able to live up to that.”
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