Gashei describes his family tree, his village and the local history. As a child, he used to herd sheep and cattle. When he was a little older, he would work with his father in the family’s fields. He describes the games he used to play as a child.

Gashei relates that, when his mother fell ill, she was believed to have been possessed by an evil spirit. Tradition dictates that all the desires of the evil spirit must be fulfilled so that it will leave the person it had possessed. The evil spirit has its own desires. Gashei explains that one of its desires was to hear a traditional musical instrument called a masenqo played. When he was 15, Gashei and his siblings were given a masenqo and learned how to play it in order to expel the evil spirit from his mother. Gashei describes how the instrument is built, its history, and the role of traditional musicians. He describes the types of music played at different events.

Gashei wanted to study, but his family did not have enough manpower for farming. Nevertheless, without his family’s blessing, at the age of 25 he began to study in the school in Ambover. During busy periods, he would return home and help his family work in the fields. At school, he joined a band and learned acting and theatre. He would go with the band to perform at various events and festivals, such as weddings and the Sigd festival.

Gashei also joined the American youth movement, the Scouts. The movement helped poor families renovate their houses, collected food for the needy and sponsored field trips and competitions.

At the same time, with the help of Asnakhu Sendekie, Gashei found work on Sundays, clearing rocks and repairing the road between Teda and Ambover. For six years, he went out every Sunday with the road workers, cleared the rocks that rolled onto the road and repaired the holes. This enabled ORT employees and other governmental workers to reach their places of work in schools and clinics. At first, they did all the work by hand. At a certain stage, a tractor arrived that helped them with the work. Gashei was promoted to work manager. He kept records of the hours all the employees worked. He talks about the different work required in the summer and winter.

At that time, Gashei joined another band. When the Derg party rose to power, the band was invited to appear publicly and play songs to raise morale by praising the regime and its soldiers. Gashei notes that the band was not paid for these shows and that they were obliged to appear. Similarly, the public had to attend these shows, which were supervised by soldiers. This continued for eight years. Gashei talks about various things that happened during this period, such as his attempt to immigrate to Israel via Addis Ababa. He continued studying and performing at weddings and other events of the Jewish community, as well as events of Christian and Muslim neighbors in the province.

On one of his trips as a musician, he joined Zimna Berhani (a Mossad operative) and a group of Jews travelling to Kenya to immigrate from there to Israel. Because he had his masenqo with him, the regime’s soldiers did not stop him and allowed him free passage as a wandering musician. After arriving at a place close to the Kenyan border, the entire delegation, aside from Gashei, was arrested. He was left alone and penniless. After a night when he was almost attacked by hyenas, he turned himself in as a member of the delegation. He was tortured for nine days, until he lost consciousness. After almost being executed, Gashei was transferred to a jail in Awasa, a city in the south of the country, where the torture continued. His cellmates were executed one after the other. Geshai’s life was saved miraculously by one of the jailers, who was from the province of Gondar. He was released and returned home. When he returned to Gondar, he was appointed by the chief contractor as responsible for work on the highway between Teda and Ozava.

Geshai began his third attempt to immigrate to Israel by travelling from Gondar to Sudan. He set out with his family toward the Sudanese border, but they were arrested on the way, imprisoned, and tortured for two months. They were then taken by helicopter to the jail in the city of Gondar, where the harsh torture continued. One of the times Gashei was taken for interrogation, the investigators wanted to know whether he really plays the masenqo. His playing touched their hearts and they stopped torturing him and his family, and eventually released them. After their release, Gashei and his family set out for Sudan once again. This time Gashei did not leave the masenqo behind. He kept it with him at all time. On this attempt Gashei and his family managed to cross the Sudanese border and immigrate from Sudan to Israel.