Nothing beats the love of a mother and the relentlessness of an Eritrean mother to locate her long lost son has finally paid off after they were reunited after 47 years apart.
Mussie Kahsay Tesdagergis has been separated from his mother, Zenebech, since 1966 when his father left with him and his other brother to the Eritrean capital, Asmara.
The return of Mussie to his mother after nearly five decades happed after Zenebeach made an emotional appeal on an Ethiopian TV channel, EBS, to be reunited with her son. According to the mother, reuniting with her long lost baby will be an answered prayer and her biggest wish in life.
Not long after the passionate appeal on TV, Kahsay not only surprised his mother with a phone call but also got onto a flight from the United States where he lives to Ethiopia to meet her. When the long lost son landed at the airport, he was unable to control his tears.
Asked what he had brought his mother from the US, Mussie replied, ‘Myself’. Though super excited to have reconnected with his mother, Mussie admitted he had no real recollection of her but had seen her face in photos.
‘I am happy to see my mother after all these years. This is the happiest day of my life,’ he said. An ecstatic Zenebech greatly appreciated her countrymen for helping her see her son again.
Mussie’s brother, who was with the family at the reunion could equally not hide his joy as this was the first time he was meeting Mussie. He had also just seen photos of his long lost brother and had given up the hope of ever meeting him in person.
When Mussie, his brother and father left for the capital, they left their mother behind, after which she never heard from them again until the recent reunion. Zenebech says she received a letter during the Derg period with information that one of her sons was a soldier with the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) while the other two had moved abroad.
