The Eritrean connection

By Mytelus news   It was four years ago when Herman Tesfaghebriel and Aymen Nurhusien became basketball buddies at New Westminster secondary school. One day, when Tesfaghebriel was fooling around at Nurhusien's house, he heard some unusual utterings that were strangely familiar. He could've sworn Nurhusien and his mom were speaking Tigre, a dialect spoken in Eritrea, the homeland of Tesfaghebriel's parents.   "I asked him, 'Are you Eritrean?' and he said, 'Yeah' and I'm 'What I'm Eritrean.' What a coincidence," recalled Tesfaghebriel, a 6-foot-8 post player considered one of the best high school hoop players in the province.   Coincidence indeed. Two of the biggest stars on the high-powered New West Hyacks senior boys team are from families that left Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. It's a country of 4.4 million on the northeast coast of Africa running along the Red Sea tucked between Sudan and Ethiopia. Eritrea was taken over by Ethiopia in 1952 but regained its independence in 1993 following an ugly civil war, the after shocks of which are still being felt. Fifty three per cent of the population live below the poverty line with 80 per cent employed in agriculture.   Tesfaghebriel, who understands Tigre