The Orthodox Church

This past weekend, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrated Epiphany. Inside every Orthodox church there are a set of tabots, which are replicas of the tablets found in the ark of the covenant. The Ark of the Covenant holds special meaning in Ethiopia because it is believed that the original ark rests in a small town in northern Ethiopia called Aksum, where it has been for 3,000 years! It is guarded by virgin monks who are forbidden from leaving the chapel grounds until they die once they've been anointed! This is a responsibility that is taken VERY seriously! No one other than these monks is permitted to see the original Ark.

The tabot replicas serve to consecrate the church building, and are kept in the holy of holies, where only senior priests are permitted. On the day of Epiphany, every January 19th, the replica tabots from each church are paraded through the streets.

This is the only day of the year that they leave the inner sanctum of the church. It's a very joyful march, which I witnessed from the Project Mercy compound this past weekend. Everyone was singing, with both men and women wrapped in white nutelas, or scarves. The priests are under the fancy, colorful umbrellas, adorned in very ornate robes and head coverings. The main priest carried the tabots in his hands as the crowd surrounded them in their pilgrimage about 5 kilometers from somewhere in a field to their church up in the mountain. In one of the pictures, you can see that they had quite a distance to go when they passed by the Project Mercy compound.

One of these days, I hope to visit northern Ethiopia and see more of the rich history that this land possesses.

More Trees

We received another delivery of trees from ECHO this past weekend. This shipment contained 175 temperate fruit trees: apples, peaches, plums, figs, persimmons, etc. I owe a big THANK YOU to students from the Taylor University J-term class who are here teaching English and experiencing Ethiopian life for 2 weeks. They generously gave up their Sunday afternoon to help me get all these bare-rooted trees labeled and into soil. I think they had fun doing it, too. A verse was even added to their ongoing theme song in my honor!

The trees from our first shipment are really starting to take off now that the evenings are warming up and we're past the winter solstice. Today Mohammad, the farm manager, and I planted 2 passionfruit vines in the ground.

I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

~ John 15: 1-5

Ethiopian Christmas

As you all were throwing out the tree and packing up the decorations, I was celebrating round 2 of the recognition of Christ's birth. This time around was more eventful, with everyone in a communal joyful spirit. Christmas still isn't a huge deal like it is in the western world, but we had a nice celebration here on Monday.

Much of Friday and Saturday was spent in the kitchen, baking 7 different recipes of cookies for the kids' Christmas party. Sunday I, along with 2 others, spent 6 hours preparing and wrapping 85 gifts for all of the housekids.

And Monday all the work was well worth it…the kids did have a special day. But the true meaning of the holiday remained central. We were reminded how there was no room for Christ when he came to this earth. Is there room for him today? Someone here received a card that read: "They say it's my birthday, but I'm not even invited." I appreciated celebrating the holiday in a place where Christ was invited.


The kindergarten had a special Christmas program that we were invited to attend. In fact, Scott and I were the only ones in the audience, so we felt like honored guests. Picture this: 230 5 and 6 year-olds holding lit candles for over 45 minutes! Yes, these kids accomplished that feat – with no burns or tears…just a lot of melted wax on the floor. The thought running through my mind was, could kids in the States handle such a task?

Science Experiment

I'm working with the Grade 11 Biology teacher to conduct an agricultural experiment with her students. They are growing beriberi, a type of chili pepper very common in Ethiopian dishes, in 2 different soil media – one with local Ethiopian soil, and one with a bagged potting mix from the US.

Beriberi is a cash crop for this area. Three years ago, the dried red chilis cost 12 birr/kg. Today the price has jumped to over 30 birr/kg!

The students faithfully come daily and measure the plants. During their visits to the greenhouse, they check out what we're doing and often ask questions about the tree project. Hopefully we have a few arborists in the making! Either that, or they're trying to get out of the classroom a little longer. Yeah, I wasn't born yesterday, but let a girl dream!