Barko talks about his family, describes his village and the local history.

As a very young child Barko learned from his father how to be a farmer, shepherd and cattle herder. As a small child he learned religious studies for a short while from the Kes of his village. He studied in the school in Wasaba in first and second grade. As the only son, with seven sisters, he had to leave his studies and help support the family.

Barko describes the community’s yearning to immigrate to Jerusalem and the hope his grandfather would imbue in him that one day he too will be able to immigrate to Israel. Barko was goal-orientated and was in contact with the members of the community who had visited Israel and returned to Ethiopia, as well as with Yonah Bugla – the leader of the community who put the Aliyah process into action.

One day, in complete secrecy, Barko set out on a journey to Israel via Sudan. He joined seven other young people, who all left secretly without informing their families. They reached the city of Gondar and in order to reach the border, signed up as governmental workers and led trucks transporting workers and merchandise to the city of Hamra on the Sudanese border. The slow journey took them four days, in which they were unable to eat or use the bathroom. They were housed in a workers’ camp guarded by the army and worked in the corn fields for a month. On one work day in the field the group escaped to Sudan.

However, almost immediately after crossing the border they were all arrested by Sudanese soldiers. They did not reveal they were Jews and claimed to have fled the forced conscription in Ethiopia and come to work in Sudan. The soldiers were convinced and released them. The group then worked in agriculture for another month and saved money to reach Tava, a city where part of the Ethiopian Jewish community lived in Sudan.

In Tava the group split up: some of them immigrated to Israel, while others, including Barko, made their way back to Ethiopia to serve as guides and lead the families and the rest of the community to Sudan, and from there to Israel.

A short time after returning home Barko became head of a group leading his family on their journey to Sudan. But, slightly before the border crossing, in the refuge villages in the Matama region, the path was closed due to a dispute between leaders and the delegation was forced to return to Wasaba.

While waiting for another opportunity, Barko decided to find a new route without endangering his family, this time via the Kawara region. He set out together with a group of young people. When he reached the Kawara region he was arrested by soldiers rebelling against the Derg regime – members of the Ehapa organization. Luckily for Barko, the commanding soldier recognized him and promised to help him and the others make their way to Sudan, in exchange for Barko joining the organization. Barko explains and describes the structure of the organization, its ideology and its activity, comparing it to the Derg regime.

Barko received military training, became an active member of Ehapa and participated in missions and battles. The membership in the organization enabled him to return to Gondar, to organize groups and to serve for three years as a guide – a euphemism for a smuggler, for the Jewish community. He led his groups to the city of Tahula in Sudan. The first time he returned to Wasaba to visit his wife, he was arrested by the Derg regime and imprisoned for smuggling Jews out of the country. Barko was held in terrible conditions and questioned under torture but refused to confess.

When his father heard that his son had been tortured, he came to the jail, bribed the commander, and the torture ceased. After nine months of imprisonment Barko was transferred without a trial to a larger more central prison. He talks about his 21 months of imprisonment in various Ethiopian jails and describes his daily fear-filled routine.

Upon his release, Barko moved to Addis Ababa, where he was reunited with his family and immigrated together with them to Israel.