Ethiopia in Tanzania

---

My fascination with Ethiopia began in 2007, learning from the Rastaman in Kenya. I spent most of that year living in Kenya, and a lot of that time walking far and wide around the area north of Mombasa, reasoning with this Rastaman or that Rastaman. Some of the old "Burning Spears" I met were remnants from the Mau-Mau days and had not trimmed their locks since the war against the British began in the 1950s! These men told me many stories about Ethiopia, about Emperor Haile Selassie I, and about the ancient Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. It was because of their stories that I first went to attend an Ethiopian church service in Seattle that year.

Since then, I have come to know very many Ethiopians in my home area of Seattle, where we have a massive Ethiopian & Eritrean community. I have followed Rastafari attentively and have read many books on the life, work, teachings, and utterances of HIM Haile Selassie I. I have learned much oral history of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, and the Rastafari movement. I have attended the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church intermittently for much of that time. In 2018, I traveled to Addis Ababa and was baptized into the Beta Kristyan. Now I attend church every Sunday, even when I am abroad in places like Tanzania.

I'd been in Tanzania for the first time in 2010 and visited the splendid Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Dar es Salaam. So I was pleasantly surprised when our priest in Mombasa (Kesis Medhane) told me that the Ethiopians & Eritreans in Dar worshipped at that same church. I made a plan to go there on Sunday morning while we were in town.

Then, on the Saturday evening, I took my boys to find Ethiopian food and see if we could confirm this rumor. We discovered a lovely little portal to Ethiopia tucked-away in a dusty corner of Dar es Salaam: Rohobot Ethiopian Restaurant. It really was surprising. The street it's found on is not a busy one, it's not even a back-way or neighborhood street. It's more like an alleyway, unpaved, somewhere that the taxi drivers had a hard-time finding. But, then you go through the door into this completely different world.

It's a beautiful piece of Ethiopia, decorated with Ethiopian traditional art, with traditional Ethiopian woven dining tables scattered around. The injera and wot was fantastic and we ate our fill. I also discovered some honorable portraits of Emperor Menelik II and Emperor Haile Selassie I hanging on the counter. They confirmed that, yes, the Orthodox were worshipping at the Greek Cathedral.

The next morning, my son Nathan and I made the early-morning trod to the Greek Orthodox Church to join them (Javan slept in). We found a small, but faithful group meeting for an early prayer service before the Greeks started their own liturgical worship. Because the two churches are not formally in communion with one another, this is simply a 'loan-out' of the worship space. The Tewahedo Community (Ethiopians & Eritreans) do not have a sanctified Tabot (Ark of the Covenant) here, so they can not perform their communion services or weddings. Nonetheless, they gather to pray and sing Mezmurs (psalms or hymns).

The next day (Monday) was the feast of Archangel Michael. We were invited to a private home near Rohobot for the community event (again featuring fantastic food from Rohobot). This is where I grabbed this photo of the household icon of Virgin Mary and her Beloved Son Iesus Kristos.

What a blessing and a privilege it is to be included in this Tewahedo community and to be welcomed as family anywhere we go in the world. May God be praised at all times and at every hour. Amen.

---