Factual Story

It was dark. It was 3am, it was dark but Misrak Tekle was glad she couldn’t see what she smelt. The air was thick with the smell of rotting corpses. It filled her lungs as she and her family, among a sea of eleven thousand ethnic Eritrean’s, were marched across the Ethiopian-Eritrean border by Ethiopian soldiers.

Misrak was born in Ethiopia in 1975, one year after the coup which ended Haile Selassie’s 44 year reign as Emperor. Despite widespread drought, several coups and uprisings and a struggling economy Misrak has fond memories of her early childhood.

“My mother and father worked very hard. Yohannes (her younger brother) and I had a happy childhood. I have lots of happy memories of growing up with Yohannes and my family. We had lots of relatives that we would always see”.

Her mother was a great cook and Misrak loved the aromas. “I loved cooking since I was little. We are native Eritreans so mother would cook Eritrean and Ethiopian foods like tsebhi (which is similar to a curry or a stew) and injera (yeast-risen bread). They were very nice”.

Eritrea’s fight for independence was recognised by the United Nations in 1993 following a referendum of Eritrean’s. However following independence there were disputes regarding the border, in particular the border town of Badme. 

Following a series of armed incidents in which a number of Eritrean officials were killed near Badme, armed Eritrean soldiers entered the disputed region on May 6^th 1998 and proceeded to engage in a fire fight with local police and militia. On the 13^th of May Ethiopia mobilised a force for an assault on Eritrea. 

Eritrean artillery engaging in cross-border firing.

The Ethiopian government made the decision to deport Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin. Misrak’s family were one of these. Not only were they to be deported but their belongings and property were to be confiscated.

“We were kept in detention in a big school with about 11,000 people. It was very scary. We didn’t know what was going to happen. Then one day they said we were going to be marched back to Eritrea.”

“We walked for five days. We didn’t get to stop very often. We just kept marching. We were surrounded by soldiers with guns.”

Ethnic Eritreans being marched across the border back to Eritrea.

It was on the fifth night, at 3am, when they officially crossed the border. There had been fierce fighting between the two armies and the border was strewn with hundreds of dead bodies left to rot.

“We could smell it. It was awful. I am glad it so dark. There was no moon and no stars so I couldn’t see anything. The soldiers just told us to keep walking in a straight line while they were on our left and our right.”

 Misrak’s family settled in Eritrea, but Misrak didn’t want to stay there. She wanted to get as far away as she could. Following the end of the Ethiopian-Eritrean War in June of 2000 she travelled to Uganda. She had a dream to open a restaurant and share the dishes that her mum had made for her as a child.

“The recipes I used were just from recipes I got from Mum. She would cook Ethiopian and Eritrean dishes. I always loved cooking and helping Mum cook from when I was small."

She worked hard, like her parents had shown her, but it was still a struggle. Uganda has one of the highest rates of poverty in the world with as many as 37% of the population living on less than $2 a day.

Misrak decided she wanted to move to Australia and arrived in 2009 as a refugee. “It was a very long flight. But it was exciting. It was such a different place to where I had grown up. I was very happy to try and start a new life here.”

Misrak started to work at Bunnings at Oxley and thrived because of her strong work ethic even though English was her fourth language. In 2010 while studying for a Certificate Two in Business Misrak was told about NEIS, a government funded initiative for people starting their own business.

“It was very exciting when I found out because it was a chance to create my own business. It was the reason I came to Australia, to cook and share the food of my homeland.”

Misrak now runs an Abyssinian Cuisine night every Monday at Cafe Checocho in West End where she cooks using the same recipes her mother did.

Misrak’s brother Yohannes manages the restaurant that Misrak opened in Uganda but he wants to join Misrak in Brisbane.

“I really like Brisbane and I am very happy to continue to try to grow my business in Brisbane. I love cooking and I have a 20 year plan for my business and I will try to apply for Yohannes to come here too.”