About

Adhanom Hidug

Welcome to my blog!

When I was a kid, someone from our village who had to go far; had to go beyond rivers, and usually, the Anseba river was the first major river one had to go beyond. I named my blog “Beyond Rivers” for I have gone far from our village – Beyond Rivers.

My name is Adhanom Hidug Adhanom. In my culture, we don’t have the distinction of first name, middle name, and last name. Our names just follow our paternal bloodline. So the first Adhanom is my personal name. Hidug is my father’s name. The second Adhanom is my paternal grandfather’s name. If I were to give some more detail, I am Adhanom Hidug Adhanom Eyay Derir Hiyabu Yibetit. Eyay and Derir are my great grandfather and great-great grandfather respectively while Hiyabu and Yibetit are my great-great grandfather’s father and grandfather respectively. It continues like that. In fact, when I was a kid I was taught the names of my paternal bloodline until the 11th ancestor from my grandfather. Some families go beyond that. My elementary school friend Ghebremariam was able to name up to the 21st ancestor from his grandfather.

All my siblings and I relate more to the name Hidug which is my father’s name than our paternal grandfather’s name. People would say “the son of Hidug”, “the daughter of Hidug”, “the sons of Hidug” or “the daughters of Hidug”, etc. Even here in Canada, I have people of Eritrean origin calling me “Wedi Hidug, meaning son of Hidug” instead of using my personal name. In my culture, no one uses the name Adhanom (my grandfather’s name) except for official purposes such as ID cards on which one’s personal name, father’s name, and grandfather’s name have to appear. Nevertheless, when Eritreans have to adjust to the Western culture they use their personal name as their first name, their father’s name as their middle name, and their grandfather’s name as their last name. It is the same with me and my family. Apparently, you might have noticed that my personal name and my grandfather’s name are the same. In my culture having the same name as your grandfather is called “Makhus”. It is a rare naming system. I am Makhus and culturally, it is a great honor to be a Makhus. I always wanted to be called Adhanom Hidug just as I would be called back in Eritrea. So please call me Adhanom Hidug; I love it that way. But remember, my official name is Adhanom Hidug Adhanom or Adhanom Adhanom.

I  was born in Eritrea, a small country in the Horn of Africa, and now I am a Canadian from the beautiful city of Edmonton in Alberta. I am married and have two daughters. In the past, I served four years with World Gospel Mission (WGM) in South Sudan (2011-2015). To read a pdf report of the four years you can click here.

My passion is in Community Health and Development as well as taking the Gospel to least-reached and unreached people groups. I want to see individuals and communities transformed Spiritually and Physically.

In addition to this blog, you can also learn more about me and my family from the following links:

If you understand Tigrinya or Blin languages, you might also want to check the following links:

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