Background for the North/South exchange program

Tesfa and Åsane are friendship clubs, and in 2004 two representatives from Åsane traveled to Asmara to become part of Tesfa for a year. The players were part of Fredskorpset and employed by Norsk Folkehjelp. Later, in 2006, another two representatives, also through Fredskorpset traveled to Asmara. This time two representatives were supposed to travel from Tesfa to Norway, but the paper agreements did not work out. Currently, Tesfa is working on finalizing the required paperwork to make a transfer possible in the near future.

Exchange 2006

In 2006 Tor-Eivind Karlsen and Trygve Augestad traveled to Asmara as part of the exchange agreement.

Tor-Eivind (to the left) comes from Austreheim in Hordaland and was 36 years old when he participated in the exchange program. His favorite clubs are Brann and Tesfa, and he spent the time from October 2006 to July 2007 in Asmara training and playing with the team. Please use the following link to send an e-mail to Tor-Eivind.

Trygve (to the right) comes from Nesodden in Akershus and was 35 years old when he participated in the exchange program. His favorite clubs are Odd and Tesfa, and he spent the time from August 2006 to July 2007 in Asmara with the Tesfa team. Please use the following link to send an e-mail to Trygve.

Exchange 2004

In 2004 Ole Jacob Risnes and Gunnar Norebø traveled to Asmara to coach and play with the Tesfa team. Both spent the time from October 2004 to October 2005 in Asmara.

Gunnar (second from the right) comes from Austremehim in Hordaland and was 29 years old when he participated in the exchange. His favorite clubs are Åsane and Tesfa. Please use the following link to send an e-mail to Gunnar.

Ole Jacob Risnes (first from the right) comes from Bø in Telemark and was 27 years old when he participated in the exchange program. His favorite clubs are Tesfa, Skarphedin and Åsane. Please use the following link to send an e-mail to Ole Jacob.

The two representatives traveled to Asmara together with their girlfriends. Ole Jacob with Lena Rebekka Morken and Gunnar with Elina Kreetta Mendelin. Elina was 25 at the time and had just finished her degree as Siviløkonom at NHH. Lena Rebekka was 27 and at her 4th year as a theology student.

Elina holds English lessons for the Tesfa players

Every Monday and Thursday Elina holds English lessons for the Tesfa players. Four of the players from the Super Division team join regularly to improve their language skills: Nasr, Petros, Mansour and Themesgen.

Many of the Tesfa players have not completed their degree in school, but this is not the same as assuming they are not interested in learning. For many of the players the situation has been very difficult to make ends meet, and drop out is very common in Asmara. In addition, several of the players have been selected to join National teams. The teams require a lot of attention and practice, and it is very difficult to combine all the practices with regular school. Nasr put it this way: “I really want to play football, but I would also like to study because a degree is very important for me and my family. However, the situation makes it impossible to achieve both. This is something I know a lot of players think about. I really enjoy these English classes because it helps me develop necessary skills to succeed, also outside the field”.

Back home again Ole Jakob, Rebekka, Elina and Gunnar send their greetings

Ole Jakob, Rebekka, Elina and Gunnar are now back home again after their one-year stay in the beautiful city Asmara. We all had a wonderful stay with mixed feelings about leaving but now we have been in Norway for almost one and a half month. To come back has been okay but me all miss the persons, climate and the attitude of our friends in Tesfa and Asmara. For the last month Ole Jakob and Gunnar has been travelling all over the Bergen area to tell about our experiences in Eritrea and Tesfa. That has been very good and we enjoyed it a lot. We had presentations for almost 1000 persons from Bergen, so now many more people know something about Eritrea and Tesfa.
We also hope that in the coming months and years that Tesfa will even develop more than today’s standard and continue the excellent work for kids in Eritrea.
Focus on tempo, concentration, movement, structure and you know the rest, don’t you Asmi?