Enyew reads out an excerpt from his book “A Respectable Blacksmith.” The book describes a plot by several Christians to murder a Jewish blacksmith. The blacksmith’s Christian friend hears about the plot and sends him a riddle revealing their murderous intents. The blacksmith thus manages to escape. The book uses riddles, parables and proverbs unique to the Chilga province.

Enyew talks about the history of his family, and he describes his village and local history. The village, Daru-Waha, is close to a mountain that the members of the community would ascend on the Sigd festival. Enyew talks about their relations with their Christian neighbors and the purification customs that the Jews observed. As a child, he learned shepherding, farming, blacksmithing and ironworking from his father.

Enyew talks about a neighbor of his family who was a Christian Kes. The Kes would disparage his father for not knowing how to read and write, and begged him not to leave his son in the same condition. The Kes suggested to Enyew’s father that he register Enyew for studies in the church, where he would be taught everything apart from Christian prayers. Instead of learning the prayers, he promised, a Jewish Kes would teach him Jewish religious studies. Enyew began to study in the morning and to shepherd in the evenings. He describes his studies in Amharic and Ge’ez. After three years, the classrooms were set on fire due to a dispute. As a result, Enyew ceased his studies there.

Nevertheless, he continued his studies with the Jewish Kesim. Once he knew how to read and write, he decided that he did not want to live his life in the village. He aspired to live in the city and to eventually reach Jerusalem. One day, without saying anything to his parents or wife, he left his house and travelled to the city of Asmara – from where, he had heard, it was possible to travel to Jerusalem. He reached Asmara after travelling for a month, and there he met a Yemenite Jew named Mansour who helped Jews immigrate to Israel. Mansour introduced him to Rabbi Shmuel, who had come from Israel to open a school in Asmara. He also introduced him to Professor Taamrat Emmanuel.

When a large group of students from Gondar arrived in Asmara, Enyew began to study in the new school that had been opened. They learned Hebrew from Mr. Yonah Bugala, as well as mathematics and other subjects. All the students were going to immigrate to Israel and study at the dormitory in Kfar Batya, but Enyew did not receive permission to immigrate as he was married.

When he completed his studies, he was stationed for a year as a Hebrew teacher in the school in the village of Bankar. He then went to teach Hebrew for four years in a larger school in the village of Wasaba. Enyew describes teaching in the school at length, as well as the social and cultural climate during that period.

When the school was burned down, Enyew and his family returned to his parents’ village and he went back to working as a farmer for four years. For a while, he looked for work in the city of Gondar. Eventually, he found a job selling water on behalf of the government. He explains that, at that time, it was hard to obtain clean water and the regime would price and sell water by the liter. After seven years in this position, he went to work for the electricity company. He talks about the entrance examinations and his work as a money collector in the company.

Enyew tells many riddles, parables and proverbs that teach about the customs and way of life at that time, and even demonstrates how they were used in daily life.

During the period of the Derg regime, Enyew was arrested because he was reported to have helped Jews immigrate to Israel. However, he was found innocent after several days and released. He later immigrated to Israel and worked in the Jewish Agency as an Aliyah activist during Operation Solomon.