It’s a grey and drizzly afternoon on London’s Brick Lane, but in the colorful Cereal Killer Café, the Berhane twins snap, crackle and pop with a fizzy brand of good-natured irritation.
They’re telling stories in British Sign Language about the challenges that led them to create <a href="http://beinghermonheroda.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Being Her</a>, their vibrant, globally-popular fashion blog, an internet and Instagram sensation that has propelled them to celebrity status in their native Eritrea.
“In the fashion world, we still feel a bit invisible and side-lined,” says Hermi (whose sign name is Curly Hair, a gesture like a flowing river).
“But it’s funny, because slowly their attitude has changed… They look at our story and the work that we’re doing, and it’s starting to inspire them.”
The twins fell suddenly and profoundly deaf at seven years old, on the same day, because of an undiagnosed illness, and their mother rushed them to the USA and UK in search of an answer.
It was in Brighton, on the English south coast, that their worlds eventually opened up through sign language.
“We found our identity at boarding school,” says Heroda (sign name: Long Eyelashes, the panache of an elegantly scooped finger).
“Sign language was so beautiful, and the deaf community just became our family. Within the hearing world, it can be very lonely. As soon as we were in that deaf world, we fitted in – it was where we belonged.”
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Both studied fashion design at the University of the Arts in London, but often felt isolated and misunderstood.
“We were determined to get through the course, we really wanted to stick at it, so we focused on the work,” says Heroda. “But it really affected our confidence. We were viewed as ‘less than’; they doubted we could achieve the same as them.”
After a series of knock-backs after graduation, when the twins experienced rejection at the job interview stage or being passed up for promotion, they had had enough. Their blog was born, the success of which still fazes some members of the hearing community.
“They email us telling us they can help us to hear and be more successful,” Hermi says. “And we’re like, ‘Hello? We’re successful bloggers! Can you not read?’ Just because we are deaf, they think we’re dumb.”
<div id="attachment_34970" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-34970" class=" wp-image-34970" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Hermi-Berhane-©-Aneesa-Dawoojee.jpg" alt="Hermi Berhane Being Her fashion blog" width="300" height="383" />Hermi Berhane (Photo by Aneesa Dawoojee)</div>
The blog (and its Instagram account) is a giddy celebration of joyful vibrancy and individuality; while they insist their photographs and style selections are not meticulously planned, their fashion shoots pulse with a focused understanding of contrast and color. There’s even a hilariously spooky Halloween photo story, with the undead twins accessorized with matching zombie-babies.
With representation by The Presley Group in Los Angeles recently secured, the future for the twins looks as bright as their outfits (they’re as effortlessly stunning in jeans and sparkly motorcycle jackets as in heels and flowing geometric tribal prints).
“Our aim is to have a brand, we want to have collaborations and sponsorship,” says Heroda. “And we want to do some motivational speaking for people with disabilities, just to show them that they don’t need to have low self-esteem, they can be confident in themselves.”
It is touching that almost by way of illustration, the twins turn and address each other with their signing when they respond to these questions – a sisterly feedback loop of affirmation and reinforcement.
“Within the deaf community there are so few role models that other deaf people can look up to,” Heroda says. “So we really want to be there, to be able to support people, so that they can look up to somebody and think, ‘oh yeah, in the future, I can do that, I can achieve my dreams’.”
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In tandem, they also hope for more understanding of deaf awareness in the hearing world.
“Signing is physical, it’s visual, it relies quite a lot on facial expressions and a positive vibe,” says Hermi. “So that’s one of the aims of our blog – we want to educate people on what sign language means, and give them a sense of deaf awareness. People need to be more open-minded. That’s been a problem for so long and it just still seems to be there. Not just in the fashion industry but within the work culture in offices, and all sorts of places.”
“A while ago, we met someone who told us they had seen us on Instagram, and started to learn sign language because of us,” Heroda says. “And that’s really so important. I used to be so shy. I would always hide and put my hair over my ears. Now I feel so optimistic.”
<div id="attachment_34971" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-34971" class=" wp-image-34971" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Heroda-Berhane-©-Aneesa-Dawoojee.jpg" alt="Heroda Berhane Being Her fashion blog" width="300" height="455" />Heroda Berhane (Photo by Aneesa Dawoojee)</div>
Their escalating popularity in Eritrea, and its neighbor Ethiopia, is also having a constructive impact.
“They are very supportive of us,” says Hermi. “Because in Eritrea, there isn’t much awareness about disabilities, and sometimes they think deafness is associated with evil. We’ve been able to show them deafness in a new light, and now they’re like, ‘oh wow! Those two twin girls!”
They are terrific company; there is an infectious air of mischief about them, and it flourishes in their blog as an essential ingredient in their charismatic energy.
“If you’re feeling a bit down, and you see somebody whose lives look happy, it draws you to them,” says Hermi. “And we hope that’s what our followers see in us every day.”
It’s time for the shoot (in which they will giggle and tease each other throughout), but they say they want to wrap up with a resolute message, a provocative takeaway for a new audience.
“Being deaf isn’t a barrier,” they say, shifting in their chairs, outwards towards the world. “And neither is being scared.”

Fashion Bloggers Signing Off In Style

It began as a squabble between Arab allies, but the standoff between Qatar and its neighbours is threatening to engulf the Horn of Africa. When Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and the Maldives declared at the beginning of June that they were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/05/saudi-arabia-and-bahrain-break-diplomatic-ties-with-qatar-over-terrorism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">severing diplomatic relations</a> with Qatar it appeared to be of interest mainly to the Arabian Peninsula – and the Gulf in particular.
The Saudis and their allies accused Qatar of backing international terrorism. The US, which has the Al Udeid air base in Qatar, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/05/world/middleeast/qatar-saudi-arabia-egypt-bahrain-united-arab-emirates.html?_r=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">looked askance</a>, but did little more than use its good offices to try to ensure that the war of words did not flare into an open conflict.
But the countries just across the Red Sea have found themselves dragged into the dispute. After prevaricating for some time, Eritrea, which had hitherto good relations with Qatar, fell into line with the Saudis and broke ties with Qatar.
A <a href="http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article62713" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">statement</a> attributed to the Eritrean government declared limited support for the rupture with Qatar. Eritrea explained that the initiative taken by the Gulf nations is among many in the right direction that envisages full realisation of regional peace and stability.
Matters might have ended there, but such are the ties between nations on both sides of the Red Sea that this was unlikely. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have been <a href="http://untribune.com/un-report-uae-saudi-leasing-eritean-port-using-eritrean-land-sea-airspace-and-possibly-troops-in-yemen-battle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">using the Eritrean port</a> of Assab in their war against the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Egypt – which is part of the Saudi alliance – is also reported to have <a href="https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/News/2017/4/29/Egypt-to-build-naval-base-in-Eritreas-Nora-island" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">plans</a> to build a major base on an Eritrean island in the Red Sea. The Eritreans are alleged to have some 400 troops fighting against the Iranian backed Houthis.
In the circumstances, a rupture between the Saudi alliance and Qatar was highly likely to spread to the Horn. And this was exactly what took place. Qatar had been a <a href="http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Full_Report_1869.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">generous donor</a> to Eritrea. It had also played a key mediating role in Eritrea’s border <a href="http://dspace.africaportal.org/jspui/bitstream/123456789/31056/1/SITREP150908.pdf?1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">conflict</a> with Djibouti, which flared in April 2008.
The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/world/africa/25iht-eritrea.4.13193224.html?pagewanted=all" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">origins</a> of the disputed border lie buried in the sands of colonial history and would never be easily resolved.
<h2>Qatar pull-out stokes tensions</h2>
The fighting left a number of Djibouti troops as prisoners of war in Eritrea and Qatar did their best to resolve this issue by mediation. Indeed, so close were the ties that when UN monitors met the political advisor to the President of Eritrea, Yemane Gebreab, in January 2013 and enquired about the Djiboutian prisoners of war, he <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N13/361/92/PDF/N1336192.pdf?OpenElement" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">responded</a> that &#8220;all matters concerning the resolution of the conflict with Djibouti could only be addressed through the mediation of Qatar, and that no other intermediary was necessary&#8221;.
Qatar went further, deploying some 200 of its own troops along the Eritrea-Djibouti border in an attempt to reduce the tension. The Qatari peacekeeping force only supervised a small sector of the border near Ras Dumeira. It was therefore not in a position to observe or interdict cross-border movements further to the south, but its presence was symbolically important.
So when Qataris pulled their troops out on June 12th and 13th, there was something of a vacuum, which Eritrea is reported to have promptly filled. Djibouti <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-djibouti-eritrea-border-idUSKBN1971JR" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">accused</a> the Eritreans of moving their troops into the disputed territory. Djibouti’s Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf declared that his country’s military had gone into “alert”.
A senior Eritrean diplomat at the African Union <a href="https://apnews.com/243ba2f8ef5841a5a2eeeb3c9e6edccf?utm_content=bufferaf0de&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a> the move came after Eritrea cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and his country sought no confrontation with Djibouti.
But a <a href="http://www.shabait.com/news/local-news/24188-press-statement" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">terse statement</a> from the Eritrean Ministry of Information issued days later described Qatar’s withdrawal as “hasty”. It said Eritrea had refrained from commenting because it was not privy to the action but would do so once it had all the information about the event.
The African Union, seldom swift to comment or intervene in any disputes effecting its members, finally made a move. Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the African Union Commission, tweeted that the AUC would send a delegation to Djibouti border to <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2017/06/17/au-deploys-fact-finding-mission-to-eritrea-djibouti-border-calls-for-calm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">monitor</a> developments and work with all parties.
<h2>More uncertainty for The Horn</h2>
These events appear to have fallen well for Ethiopia, which has been at loggerheads with Eritrea since their own border war of 1998-2000. While Eritrea and Djibouti are daggers drawn following the Qatari withdrawal, Ethiopia has refrained from taking sides between the Saudis and Qatar. Both parties have sent delegations to Addis Ababa, no doubt asking for <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/qatar-crisis-eritrea-saudi-arabia-625356" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ethiopian support</a>, but so far Ethiopia has sat on the fence.
Ethiopia recently announced that it would reveal a <a href="https://www.ezega.com/News/NewsDetails/4157/Ethiopia-to-Have-New-Policy-Direction-on-Eritrea-" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new policy</a> towards Eritrea, but none has appeared to date. With its troublesome northern neighbour locked in a fresh controversy with Djibouti, Ethiopia may find it’s more likely to receive a sympathetic hearing for any initiative from the international community.
It will not be difficult, for instance, for Addis Ababa to portray Eritrea as a regional troublemaker, always willing to exploit a neighbour’s weakness. It should not be forgotten that since independence in 1993 Eritrea has been involved in conflicts with Yemen, Djibouti and Ethiopia &#8211; hardly a proud record.
The UN and the African Union are now engaged in trying to mediate between Eritrea and Djibouti. Meanwhile, the ongoing conflict in Yemen continues to have implications for the Horn, as the Saudis and UAE continue to use Eritrea as a rear base. The UAE is in fact seeking a further base in nearby <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-africa-39051551/why-is-uae-building-a-military-base-in-somaliland" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Somaliland</a>.
As ever, it’s difficult to predict how events will unfold, but sparks from Arabia can easily set the Horn alight.
&#8211; Written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/martin-plaut-319416" target="_blank" rel="author noopener noreferrer">Martin Plaut</a>, Senior Research Fellow, Horn of Africa and Southern Africa, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study
Originally published in <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Conversation</a>
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Tag: Eritrea

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Fashion Bloggers Signing Off In Style

Qatar’s conflict with its neighbours can set the Horn of Africa alight