{"id":182241,"date":"2021-03-16T10:55:44","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T10:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=182241"},"modified":"2021-03-16T10:55:44","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T10:55:44","slug":"negasi-haylu-abreha-the-ethiopian-cycling-champ-who-cant-go-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/03\/16\/negasi-haylu-abreha-the-ethiopian-cycling-champ-who-cant-go-home\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ethiopian Cycling Champ Who Can\u2019t Go Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Professional cyclists have had to overcome a number of roadblocks over the past year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has disrupted racing schedules and training. But Ethiopia\u2019s national road race champion Negasi Haylu Abreha has been challenged by an obstacle that\u2019s even more daunting than the epidemic: civil war.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\nThe 20-year-old Abreha is in his second year with Team Qhubeka\u2019s pro continental team, NTT Continental. According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/teamqhubeka.com\/negasi-haylu-abreha-the-rider-who-cant-go-home\">statement released<\/a> by the team, Abreha was in Rome on November 4, after the 2020 cycling season ended, waiting to take his flight to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. Unfortunately, fighting broke out that same day between the country\u2019s armed forces and the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily, team manager Kevin Campbell contacted Abreha before he boarded the flight and convinced him to remain in Italy. Another team staff member was able to get airport officials to have Abreha\u2019s luggage unloaded from the plane \u2013 that\u2019s how close he came to flying into a war.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-controller-wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jElKqgwscH\">pic.twitter.com\/jElKqgwscH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Negasi Haylu Abreha (@NegasiHaylu4) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NegasiHaylu4\/status\/1359251564154810369?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 9, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async data-src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>Returning home would have been disastrous for Abreha since he comes from Mek\u2019ele, the main town in the Tigray region, where the fighting is currently raging. All flights to the Tigray region had been canceled, and he would have been stuck in Addis Ababa and possibly in danger.<\/p>\n<p>Abreha returned alone to the team\u2019s house in Lucca and eventually moved in with team staff member Damian Murphy in that city, where he will continue to live until the team returns for the start of the cycling season later this month.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, all Abreha can do is worry about the safety of his family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult [to stay in touch with my family] because all the network coverage in Tigray has been shut off,\u201d he was quoted as saying in the team\u2019s statement. \u201cI am sometimes able to call my mom on a Sunday. We keep the calls very, very short.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-controller-wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EeL9L1Ok0s\">pic.twitter.com\/EeL9L1Ok0s<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Negasi Haylu Abreha (@NegasiHaylu4) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NegasiHaylu4\/status\/1371599135636389889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 15, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async data-src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>Abreha said he was frightened for his family and his friends back home. \u201cI only see pictures of what might be on social media or what people send me. I know the places in the pictures from my home region, and I can see the death, destruction and poverty happening there now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>About three million people live in the Tigray region and they are all in desperate need of assistance as the violence continues.<\/p>\n<p>The needs of people affected by deadly fighting in Ethiopia\u2019s Tigray region are \u201coverwhelming\u201d, the International Committee of the Red Cross has warned, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-56147512\">according to the BBC.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe people in Tigray&#8230; lost the harvest season,\u201d the ICRC\u2019s director of operations, Dominik Stillhart, said, adding that there were \u201cserious issues with regards to access to medical care.\u201d Thousands of people are reported to have been killed, and about two million have been displaced.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-controller-wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5z9bY25nWz\">https:\/\/t.co\/5z9bY25nWz<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Negasi Haylu Abreha (@NegasiHaylu4) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NegasiHaylu4\/status\/1367760036999610369?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 5, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async data-src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThere is no food or water,\u201d Abreha said. \u201cThere are no shops and businesses open. My parents can do nothing. My brother is older than me, he is a hairdresser, but he cannot work now. I have three younger sisters, [and] normally they should be in school, but all the schools are closed. With the help of a friend I was able to send them some money last year. But for now they all do nothing. They just survive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And Negasi Haylu Abreha is effectively a refugee.<\/p>\n<p>Unless the fighting ends and peace returns to Tigray, the promising young road racer will be starting the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/02\/22\/the-projected-2021-cycling-calendar-so-far-pandemic-edition\/\">racing season<\/a> homeless and carrying a psychological burden that might have kept even Eddy Merckx from standing up in the saddle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Professional cyclists have had to overcome a number of roadblocks over the past year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":182250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[334],"tags":[954,5023,5024,5021,5022],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-182241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-socialising-and-culture","tag-eddy-merckx","tag-ethiopia","tag-kevin-campbell","tag-negasi-haylu-abreha","tag-team-qhubeka","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Negasi Haylu Abreha: The Ethiopian Cycling Champ Who Can\u2019t Go Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Negasi Haylu Abreha, a pro cyclist, has been challenged by an obstacle that\u2019s even more daunting than the epidemic: civil war.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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