Briha describes his family tree, his village, and the local history. The men in the family worked in agriculture, blacksmithing and weaving, and the women in housework and pottery. He began to herd the sheep and cattle at the age of seven. When he grew up, he began to work in farming as well. He explains that, during the regime of Emperor Haile Selassie, the Jews of the province had to rent lands as they were forbidden from owning them.

Briha’s older brother was sent to study and lived with his grandfather, who was the minister of war of the province. When his brother came home to visit, Briha used to look through his books, and learned to read and write. When he was 15, he registered himself for studies in the city of Gondar. He studied there for a year and a half, until his family forced him to return home. Despite his aspirations for an education, Briha stayed in the village out of respect for his father.

At the age of 18, he got married. A short while later, he ran away and tried to enlist in the army but did not meet the criteria. Briha travelled to his uncle in Humera. There he was appointed as a work manager responsible for the fields in the ORT agricultural project, under the management of Mr. Yonah Bugala. For two years, Briha examined and approved the quality of the sesame harvest that was picked and packaged. He was also responsible for providing his employees with written documentation that enabled them to receive their wages. Briha talks about events in the area, such as when criminals took control of lands for ransom or theft.

When the regime of the Derg party deposed Emperor Haile Selassie, its representatives burned the fields and nationalized them. They beat the workers cruelly. Briha ran away to Sudan with his uncle and stayed there for seven months. In Sudan, he joined the EDU rebel organization that supported the reinstatement of the Emperor. After completing his training, Briha was selected for a special preparatory program within the organization. This program was intended to train him for political activity with the goal of recruiting supporters inside Ethiopia.

With this mission, he returned from Sudan to the province of Armacho, accompanied by another three activists. He began to travel between the towns and villages and collect signatures of people who supported him to be the regional leader. He received enough signatures allowing, upon his return to Sudan, to be appointed as the chairman of the organization’s political activists and receive a stipend as a political refugee recognized by the U.N.

After reaching the conclusion that his organization would never manage to overthrow the Derg regime, he asked for forgiveness and returned to his parents’ village. There, he followed the endless fighting between the various rebel groups and the regime. Brihu brought his wife back from her parents’ house, built a house, and worked in agriculture and weapons trading.

When he heard that the Jewish community was immigrating to Israel via Sudan, he began to sell bulls in Sudan and to serve as a guide for groups of Jews. On each journey, he managed to cross the group over the border and to sell his merchandise. He bought new merchandise such as radios, watches, and clothes to sell in Ethiopia. During one of his journeys, he was caught in gunfire between robbers and the members of the convoy. Even after the authorities closed the route to Sudan and the large migrant groups ended, Briha continued to lead small groups of Jews to Sudan.

In 1983, he travelled with his family and another 14 families to Sudan, and from there immigrated to Israel.