For those visiting Ethiopia for the first time, the experience can hardly be described in words alone: it must be lived. It was the same for me and my two colleagues during our visit to Ethiopia.
How can you explain how deeply moved you are when people put flowers at the door for you to step on when you cross their threshold, or when they wash your feet out of the love and joy that you to visited them? We experienced Ethiopian hospitality when we were welcomed at the Franciscan monastery where we stayed with nuns in Addis Ababa, and also when we were welcomed by our dearest CNEWA Addis colleagues. The office in Addis is led by Argaw Fantu, a man of God who serves the Church and people in need with his “heart in hands.”
The Ethiopians that we met follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ, who is their model of life par excellence, not only when they are praying in the church but also in their daily lives.
The morning begins for most Ethiopians (if not all) with prayer. At 5:30 am, the bells of the church call them to mass, and when they arrive at the church, they take off their shoes.
They stand barefoot on the “Holy Land,” which is the Church, where believers unite themselves with Christ in partaking of the Holy Communion during the mass. When the mass finishes at 7:00 am, people are ready for work and children for school, carrying with them the blessings of the mass.
While in Ethiopia, we stayed with the Franciscan nuns overnights, in the mornings, we attended mass with Ethiopian faithful, and in the afternoons and evenings, we visited together with our colleagues from CNEWA Addis over 20 of the projects supported by CNEWA Canada in Ethiopia.. These projects are very dear to CNEWA, as we work through, with, and in synergy with the local Church.
CNEWA supports many Catholic schools, providing teaching programs, scholarships, and meals for children from poor families. Some children are so impoverished that they lack not only food but also drinking water. They receive bread and hot tea from the loving nuns who care for them during their time at school. The bread may not be as sweet as cake, but it is blessed and accompanied by prayers.
Many of these children have never tasted meat or chocolate, yet their beautiful, sweet faces radiate with light and joy. Where does this joy and light come from if not from God? They live in close proximity to God and believe that the entire world does the same. It is no wonder they welcomed us with joyful shouts of “sisters, sisters, welcome, welcome!”
I was very impressed by these wonderful children and many other people that I had the blessing to encounter.
The seminarians from the St. Ephraim Seminary in Addis Ababa welcomed us with liturgical chants and dances. They praised the Mother of God for taking care of us to arrive safely to Addis and visit them. The seminarians’ rooms are small. Usually, a room is shared by three seminarians, each having a bed, a desk, and many books. They are eager to learn as much as possible about the life of Saints and their writings, so as to follow their example in working for the Kingdom of God.
St. Ephraim Seminary is supported by CNEWA thanks to the generosity of Canadian donors. Words are poor to describe how thankful seminarians are for the support they receive. It is thanks to the generous donors that seminarians can study and prepare to serve God and people. Many Bishops, priests, and deacons of the Church in Ethiopia did their ecclesiastical studies at St. Ephraim Seminary. CNEWA donors help seminarians without even knowing them and without expecting to receive any reward for their generosity. Seminarians kindly asked us to thank the donors “from the bottom of their heart.” In addition, seminarians alongside professors and the Dean, who also serves as the priest of the Seminary’s chapel, offer a weekly mass for each and all donors.
On one of the days, we went to a forgotten corner of the world, to visit a tribe that had not come into contact with other people, until missionary priests reached to them, built roads for them, and taught them to build bigger houses than the mud-brick ones they used to make. Later, together they built a church where not only they learn about the Word of God at every mass, but they also welcome people from other communities who come to worship God in the new church.
On another day, I had the joyful blessing of meeting Fr. Frew Chekol, a hermit and a man of God who built a church in an extremely poor community. Although he did not manage to complete the construction, with God’s help and the generosity of donors, he hopes to have it ready one day.
Every day, he teaches about a hundred children between 5-8 years old to read. These children are brought to him by their parents, who work as day laborers on the farms in the area.
In addition to teaching, Fr. Frew Chekol also provides food for the children. He has a garden where he plants teff, the cereal from which he makes injera, the traditional Ethiopian bread, to feed the children. After the children leave and return home, Fr. Frew works the land and bakes bread until late at night to have food for the children the next day. If you would like to help Fr. Frew and, implicitly, the children of the nearby villages that he cares for, please consider donating to Ethiopia.
Finally, the encounter with Sr. Surabela impacted me the most.
A few years ago, Sister Surabela was kidnapped. One evening, seven armed men came to the monastery and wanted to kidnap all the nuns. She asked the kidnappers to take only her, and they complied. It is hard to imagine the hell that the nun went through until she was liberated. After this terrible event in her life, Sister Surabela returned to India, her home country, to seek healing.
God healed the nun completely and transformed the evil done to her into strength and fearlessness against any evildoers of this world.
She returned to Ethiopia and, together with three other nuns trained in medicine and two medical assistants, built a clinic for poor people. All the medicines are supported by funds from CNEWA, thanks to the incredible generosity of donors.
Sister Surabela is an example of a Christian with deep faith. Her face radiates light, and her warm smile and kindness bring comfort to the sick, in addition to healing their wounds. The sisters refer patients to the closest hospitals if they cannot heal them at the clinic.
I close my article with a kind request to remember our brothers and sisters in Ethiopia in your prayers. If you can and wish to donate to Ethiopia, please use the DONATE button below and visit our website at https://cnewa.org/ca/where-we-work/northeast-africa/ethiopia/ to find out more about our projects in Ethiopia.
If you wish to give a significant gift for one of the CNEWA projects in Ethiopia and would like to see the needs on the ground with your own eyes, please remember that any of us from CNEWA are ready to accompany you to the Beloved Ethiopia for a visit that would truly fill your heart with all the details words pain to describe..