The Hash

The Hash is a weekly institution in Asmara, which bears little resemblance to Hashs in other parts of the world. In Asmara, Hashers meet every Saturday at 3pm and drive to some rural location outside of Asmara for a hike followed by a tailgate party featuring beer and imported snacks. Most of the Hashers are expats (like myself?), but there are a few Eritreans who regularly attend. In particular, a man named Woldu, who taught at the University of Asmara until it was closed this year, is responsible for selecting the trails and guiding the group through the Eritrean countryside.

Asmara's Hash seems to have only two things in common with Hashing in other parts of the world: it is almost exclusively an expat activity and it involves beer and food. In contrast to the Hash here, most Hashes apparently involve running on a trail marked by a "Hare" and trying to catch the Hare. Although each is different, they often involve drinking beer during the run and singing vulgar songs. Since I have no experience with other Hashes, I won't try to explain the concept further. But if you're interested, you can check out the Hash House Harriers homepage (the Asmara club is actually known as the Asmara Hash House Hikers, which is a first indication of how different we are) or the explanation of their history from Wikipedia.

(Bill, if Anchorage doesn't have a club yet, I think starting one should be your next running project. I can't think of a better Bill activity than running and singing at the same time.)



But now back to the Asmara Hash. I have now been on something like five Hashes. I would have gone to more, but I have worked at least three Saturdays since I've been here. The Hash is a great opportunity to get out of Asmara's city limits and to explore some of the countryside and small villages on the plateau. Unfortunately, since foreigners must now have travel permits to leave Asmara, many of the trails that Hashers used to frequent are out of bounds. We are limited to those trails located inside the checkpoints.



The composition of the Hash changes from week to week. On at least one Hash, we must have had at least 20 participants. But most weeks there are usually about 6 to 8 people in the group. I find that I have met some of the coolest expats in Eritrea on the Hash. For example, VSOs often come on the Hash. VSOs are volunteer teachers, mostly from the UK, who live in small villages throughout Eritrea and either teach children or train Eritrean teachers. Because they live in the villages, they all learn Tigrinya because they have to. I am very jealous of them because I will never learn Tigrinya since everyone in Asmara speaks English. The VSOs are a tough group. In addition to speaking the local language, they live in villages without electricity, little or no running water, and survive on a local teacher's salary of 500 nakfa a month (about $35 and approximately the cost of 5-10 restaurant meals in Asmara).



I learned last week that the Hash in Asmara has been in existence, off and on, for the past twenty years. Unfortunately, it may not survive to see the end of this month. Brian, the man who is currently in charge, is leaving Eritrea for good on the 23rd or 24th of December. And there is no one here who can really take over. Of the many people who occasionally attend the Hash, only a few are dependable. It seems that the best two people to take over are Woldu and this American teacher named Courtney, but neither of them has a car. And, not only does the organizer really need a car, but he or she really needs an SUV in order to transport several people over the terrible roads we often have to take to reach the trails. Unfortunately, those Hashers who do have proper vehicles are not dependable enough to be put in charge.



So, Anna and I are determined to get as much out of this institution as we can before it ends at the end of the month. So far, some of my favorite pictures have come from the Hash. The ones included here are just a sampling. The pictures I have taken of children on the Hash will be featured in a future post.