Our
nephew, Charles Barrett, is spending a year in Addis Ababa doing development
work for Ethiopia through a NGO, and is at the end of his stay. So, while we are traveling near that part of
the world, we felt we should pay him a visit.
Ethiopia
is located in the horn of Africa and is a third world country. The Capital, Addis Ababa (meaning New Flower),
is a large city with over 4 million people.
Ethiopia is believed to be one of the oldest locations of human
life. The famous skeleton, Lucy, was
discovered in Ethiopia. 
Ethiopia is also
one of the oldest Christian nations adopting Christianity in about the 3rd
century A.D. The main religion is the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which was previously a part of the Egyptian Coptic
Church. They also believe they are of
the blood of Israel through King David and the Queen of Sheba. They also claim to have the original Ark of
the Covenant in a church there.
Traditional Ethiopian churches are built in an octagonal shape with
three concentric areas. The outer area
is for the worshipers to enter with men on one side and women on the
other. The next inner circle is the
“holy place” where the priests sing and pray.
The innermost circle is the “holy of holies” and a replica of the Ark of
the Covenant is kept there and only the priests are ever allowed to enter or to
see the ark.
Addis
(the short name) has a lot of construction going on and is rapidly
developing. But outside of the main
roads is very dusty and dirty at the end of the dry season when we were
there. The people are very friendly and
we were never made to feel that we were a minority, even though we were.
The
first Emperor to unite Ethiopia was Menelik II, who chose Addis as the Capital
and built his “palace” on the hill overlooking Addis. The palace is still standing but is not very
palatial by today’s standards but more like a glorified mud hut.
The
last Emperor was Haile Selaessie who built a more grand palace which is now the
Ethnological Museum on the grounds of the Addis Ababa University. He was
referred to as the “Lion of Judah” and worked very hard to portray an image of grandeur,
although only 5’4” tall. He drove the
Italians out of Ethiopia and was a national hero and highly respected around
the world.
We
made a daytrip some 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Addis to the Blue Nile River
Gorge. The Blue Nile is one of the two
branches that eventually become the Nile River.
The river isn’t too impressive at that stage, but I wanted to dip my
hands into the headwaters of the great Nile River. On the way back we visited a stone bridge
known as the Portuguese Bridge which led to a magnificent view overlooking the Jema
River Gorge, a tributary of the Blue Nile.
Another day-trip was to a wildlife rescue preserve known as Born Free. Their specialty is rescuing big cats,
including lions and cheetahs. The
cheetahs were most interesting. One
female came up to the fence and rubbed against it and allowed us to pet it
while it purred. I never knew a cheetah
could purr!! Now I have petted three big
cats, lions, tigers, and a cheetah.
Nearby is the oldest park in Africa (dating to the 15th
century) – a forest preserve with baboons, Colobus monkeys, and other wild
life.
Our
final excursion was overnight to the Wenchi Crater Lake. The Wenchi Crater (at about 10,000 feet) was
created by a volcano that didn't spew lava, but rather belched mega tons of
ash. Layer upon layer of extremely fine
ash built up the crater, creating very dusty trails where the vegetation was
warn away. The crater provided some of
the most beautiful scenery we have ever seen.
On the way to and from we had an opportunity to see how rural Ethiopians
live. Most people walk everywhere, and
the small ubiquitous donkeys are often overloaded. The people were wonderful, and giving a
simple ballpoint pen to the children engendered beaming smiles and great
excitement.
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