Elizabeth/ Elsa Chyrum: Human Rights Activist (Eritrea)
On 20 June 2009, Elsa Chyrum, a human rights activist and advocate for Eritrean refugees all over the world, has received a Distinguished Medal Award of Excellence from the Eritrean Community For Human Rights and Refugee Protection in a symposium organized by Eritrean Global Solidarity in recognition of her human rights crusade, in general, and her tireless work with refugees, in particular.
Without exaggeration, Elsa Chyrum is a one-woman institution. First and foremost, she is the one person who has been handling the plight of Eritrean refugees from all over the world single-handedly, be it from stranded Eritreans in Khartoum in imminent risk of their lives, detained and abused refugees in a prison in Libya, traumatized refugees in fear of perishing in the Mediterranean high seas, terrified refugees soon to be deported from Egypt, or refugees who have reached their destination but afraid of rejection by their host country. Calm and reassuring at times of emergency, she is known to have turned hopeless seeming cases into happy endings at the 11th hour.
The conditions in Wi’a concentration/training camp in the past 7- 9 months have worsened more than any other time. Food rations were reduced further to 3 pieces of sorghum bread per person per day without any supplements such as sauce except limited ration of tea. The shortage of food is compounded by the closure of the camp for family visits which used to facilitate the supply of food from families and relatives to the prisoners/trainees. The shortage of food combined with the very poor sanitation conditions, harsh environmental conditions, fatigue resulting from training exercises and almost non-existent health facilities and health care services in the camp has lead to sustained outbreaks of meningitis, typhoid and scabies resulting in alarming mass deaths. 
But the war, and the crisis in its aftermath, radically altered this three-pronged approach. First, the community-oriented feature of the website, although not totally abandoned, came to suffer as a result of the deep fracture within the Eritrean community that took place after the war. Second, Eritrea itself became off limits; and the dream of joining the Eritrean people in building the nation was indefinitely deferred. And third, as a result of the poisoned climate that came to prevail after the war, the idea of a greater community in the Horn and East Africa was abandoned. Instead, as is the case with most Eritreans, the political, humanitarian and existential crisis in Eritrea came to dominate the dialog in Asmarino – a debate that is still raging on. 
