Attending Church and Being Entertained

 

Sunday,  February 12, 2012

Just as I was posting yesterday’s message to my blog the electricity went out (It is now Monday morning about 9:30). Thus the internet connection went out, so my posting didn’t make it to cyberspace. I’ll have to see if I can get it back or posted whenever it comes back on.  Apparently today the electricity is intermittent, and with that the internet as well. Half an hour later and the electricity and internet came back on so I got it posted.

But a bit about yesterday.  We went to church at the “mother church” of the Mekane Yesus—the one built during the time of Haile Selassie, and actually on the site of the first mission by the Swedes in 1904. It was packed with people and had a very joyful spirit.  Fortunately for us, a Swedish missionary was preaching in English, with a translator into Amharic, so we could understand the sermon.  A very distinguished man, Emmanual Abraham, age 98, was present for the service with his daughter. He was the Minister of Education and then of Communication under Haile Selassie, then Ambassador to Britain, then to India  He is now being interviewed by Gemetius Desta Buba, a friend who lives in Columbus Ohio and was instrumental in arranging for us to come here. Gemetius plans to write a book and publish a DVD of these interviews about his life.  In addition to being a minister and diplomat, he was president of the Mekane Yesus Church for some 27 years. A great leader and a distinguished man! As people passed him in church they would bow to him in respect. I have included a photo of him being greeted by Jim, Gemetius and Ange Norlander.

I have an Ethiopian shawl/scarf like the one women here wear, so I wore it to church, but didn’t really know how to arrange it on my shoulders.  So waiting in the churchyard before the service, I approached a couple of women and asked them to arrange the folds for me. They laughed and happily helped me. There is a photo of me with them amused at my ignorance!  Then on the way up to communion, again one of the ends was trailing, so an usher rearranged it for me. But people were very happy to see me wear it.  I chatted with a woman (in her excellent English) after church who complimented me on my dress and scarf. It turned out she was 90 years old, and a designer who had designed the woven borders of these national dresses for the princesses during the time of the emperor. She continued in business and had many of her designed trademarked, so she is known as the founder of the Ethiopian National dress.  She said her brother was a general at the time of the Emperor, and after he was overthrown, her brother was the head of state for three months, but then there was a rebellion by the lower ranks of the military and he was shot and killed.  She has children in California and Washington, DC, so spends about 6 months a year in the US. Apparently she still drives a car (amazing when you consider how people drive here) and lives in a villa on her own with only a guard at the door, but no other help. Quite a woman! I also have added a photo of me talking to her with Karen Norlander.

We were invited to Million’s for a wonderful lunch. She served injera and several kinds of wat, and also made western food just for us.  That was a stew of meat, potatoes and carrots, along with fried rice with peppers and spices. It was all delicious!  As we were beginning to eat, many other people started arriving, about 20. She said that once a month her friends and relatives from her village in Western Ethiopia come over for dinner, and this was the Sunday. So first she served us, as they sat around the room chatting, refusing to join us.  We ate, greeted all of them, then left and they then ate. Such warm hospitality and curiosity about us!
We came home midafternoon, had coffee (of course!), took a rest and organized our photos a little bit.  About six we left with Dr. Belai, the president of the seminary and his son to go to another dinner, this time at the home of Atak, a woman we met a couple of weeks ago who had worked in New York City at the United Nations for some 19 years, except for her time on peacekeeping missions in the Middle East. She lives in a beautiful apartment on the 8th floor and wanted us to come and see it in the twilight and after the sun set. She is a wonderful warm woman and skilled conversationalist. She also invited Ruth, the daughter of Emmanual Abraham, whom I talked about earlier. Ruth is a dynamo. She also worked for the United Nations in NYC, in the international development department. She spent many years administering UN grants in Ethiopia as well, and had stories about the delicate balance of pleasing host governments and making sure they spend the grant money properly.  Ruth grew up in London and India when her father was ambassador. She left Ethiopia at the age of 2 and returned when she was 20, I think she said.  Then, she said, like many Ethiopians, she returned when she retired. She visits the US a couple of times a year and her two sons live there, one is Wisconsin and one in Washington DC.  Million also came, after her busy day of entertaining, along with her niece, who has graduated from the University in marketing and has just been accepted by Ethiopian Airlines as a flight attendant. She'll start training in a week. 
What an interesting evening!  We spoke of international development, local and national politics here, compared the "rise" of the middle class in Ethiopia to the "fall" of the middle class in the US as a result of this economic recession we are experiencing. We heard of many of their experiences working for the UN throughout the world. And we heard from Dr. Belai about his several visits to Oregon, especially Klamath Falls, where he was approached by someone who dredged the Upper and Lower Klamath Lakes for algae-rich soil to sell in California. There are only a few lakes in the world with such composition, and there are some in Ethiopia, so Dr. Belai was approached about setting up similar operations in this country. I don't think it developed into anything.  He also, in 1998, met the Oregon governor and spent a week with an Oregonian family in one of the logging areas. He wasn't sure where but he loved the area and the family and has kept in touch.  Again we had a wide variety of wats with injera and bread, as well as pasta and green salad, vegetables, and then fruit salad and chai for dessert. The evening flew. We feel so privileged to be welcomed into Ethiopians homes and to have the opportunity to get the know these people and their culture from the inside out! What a gift.

We only have four more days here. Thursday at 10:50 pm our plane is due to take off for Amsterdam, and then our second plane will bring us to Minneapolis by about noon on Friday. We will leave with excitement about getting back to the US, feeling rich from the experiences here, but also very sad to leave all of this welcome and warmth!  More tomorrow!  Thanks for keeping reading about our trip. Love, Carolyn