Trailblazers

Surrounded by Angels
Fund-raising for a monastery on Lake Tana, in Ethiopia

By Chantal Duke

The idea of raising funds for a particular church came to 7 of us, already friends, in 1992. At that time, we had organized a trip to the Lake Tana, an immense lake located near the west border between Ethiopia and Sudan, which was renowned for its monasteries built on separate islands (some open only for men, others only for women, and some for both genders) – and most buildings dating back to the 13th century. We were all very enthusiastic to go on this trip since that region of Ethiopia had been closed to tourists and strangers all along the 17-year communist regime which had destabilized the ancient Ethiopian empire back in 1974. We had been told that the waterfall at the extreme source of the Blue Nile river, on the northern part of the Lake Tana was absolutely spectacular after the rains, so we were also planning a visit to the source of the Blue Nile.

We had decided to visit the monastery of Debre Maryam because it was open to both men and women (our group was composed of 4 women and 3 men). We were told of the story of a woman who was so curious to visit a men-only monastery on the lake, quite famous for its paintings, that she decided to disguise herself as a man to be allowed on the island. The story says that she was soon found out by the priests who, furious of her deception, promptly killed her and threw her body to the lake.

We arrived by plane in the town of Baha Dar, in the southern part of the Lake Tana and spent the night in a rickety hotel on the edge of the lake. We rented a small motor boat the next morning to take us on the lake to the island where the monastery was erected. One of our friends chose one boat for its high sides and the fact that we could embark and disembark clear away from the waters of the lake. We knew the lake was unsuitable for swimming or bathing because of Bilharzia, a worm infecting the lake freshwater and all the inhabitants around the lake, and it would not have been pleasant catching it!

The journey onto the lake was memorable; the lake was very large, and the boat quite slow, so it seemed that we were on the water for a very long time. We were amazed to see people rowing on small canoe-type boats, called tankwas, constructed from the papyrus plants growing all around lake. The technique used was similar to the ancient technique Egyptians used for the boats built to travel on the Nile. The tankwas on lake Tana were used to carry wood and supplies to the islands for the priests who did not leave the monasteries. Our amazement was to see how low the papyrus boats were on the water and how many were left on the edge of one island or the other, apparently discarded. We were told by our guide that the papyrus would slowly get weighed down by water, and when too low on the water for safe usage, the boats were simply abandoned and new ones built.

We arrived at the island where the Debre Maryam monastery was. It was inhabited by several priests and their deacons who often depended upon the generosity of the villages around the lake to bring them staples. They grew some vegetables and raised some chicken but that was all that each tiny island could produce. All wore the traditional kaba, a white and heavily woven cloth and walked barefoot, most of the clothing patiently repaired and washed time after time. The poverty on the island was felt immediately, but more so than on each village we had passed because of the simple beauty of the intricacy of the gold paintings in the church we entered. The structure of the building was simple, solid and built in the traditional tukul shape. As soon as we entered, we were mesmerized by the paintings which were on every possible surface : the walls, doors, ceiling, in a continuous kaleidoscope of bright colours representing all characters of the bible, and angels..angels everywhere...a true feeling of being surrounded by them when we stood in the middle of the main room…

The priests showed us around and took us to a separate and smaller building, very simple built with dirt floors which seemed to be a storage place and held several wooden trunks in the middle of the room. There, they explained, they kept their bibles. Most of them were made in the ancient tradition of handwriting on leather pages with some beautiful hand paintings at the beginning or end of each bible and sometimes besides the writing in the book. The writing was made in ge’ez, the old Ethiopian writing and language which was used in liturgy and which had been taught only by priests to priests. The bibles were very simple and yet very beautiful in their simplicity, some very, very old. The leather was dark, soft and polished by years and years of priests’ hands holding them, some of the pages darkened in the corner where the page undoubtedly had been turned. We felt we were transported into the middle ages, before printing was invented, when manuscripts were handwritten on parchment. The Ethiopian bibles were handled reverently and we had finished perusing them, they were put back with love into the trunks, each one carefully wrapped in cotton cloth before the lid of the trunk would be closed. There was no door to the building, nor keys to the trunks...

Upon our departure of the island, we asked the priests and the deacons what we could do to thank them for their generosity and their time for us, we were ready to leave money for necessities but they simply said : could you help us repair our roofs on our storage building so that it does not rain in and damage our bibles? Apparently, the tin sheets over the storage had to be imported from the larger cities, therefore very expensive, and the church did not have the money for it.

We did not know what to say, and obviously the equivalent of $50.00 would not have been enough. But we were touched and we promised to do something about it.

We continued on our journey toward the northern part of the lake for our trip to the Blue Nile falls which were spectacular.
We returned to Addis Ababa the next day and decided to meet up one evening and find a way to raise funds for that church. We had done fund raising for other causes (skin graft machine for burnt children in the Black Lion Hospital, food and clothing for Mother Teresa’s residents in Addis Ababa), so we knew that we could do it again with some creativity.
We decided to offer a brunch with live entertainment and invite the international community to the event and donate a sum they felt would be appropriate.

We would provide and donate all the food and the live entertainment would be provided by a group of friends and spouses, who were budding jazz players. Invitations were prepared, with pictures of the church and explaining our project, and the location for the party would be the wonderful flowery grounds in the garden of one of our group members. We did not ask for a specific contribution but rather left it to the attendees to decide the amount they would want to contribute at the end of the event.

One of my responsibilities was preparing the invitations and details such as organizing the tables, chairs, decorations and for some of the food (I was in charge of the all the pastries and the breads). We mailed the invitations to most of the diplomatic missions in Addis Ababa as well as United Nations offices located in the capital. We called it a Brunch for a Church.

On the menu we had : homemade butter and chocolate croissants, butter rolls, with butter and homemade marmalade, large bowls of fresh fruit, bacon and eggs, meat patties, crepes, salads and homemade chocolate cakes, apple tarts, pound cakes etc.. We had no idea how many people would show up. Our jazz musicians had rehearsed every evening before the event, but were still quite nervous because it would their first official activity!

We were delighted to see the turnout. About 100 came to our Brunch, had a wonderful time sampling our goodies, and lingered well into the evening enjoying the gardens while jazz played in the background.

We had set up a table for the donations near the entrance with a booklet of more pictures showing the church and the small building to be repaired. We were readily answering any questions and there was certainly great curiosity to know more about our trip and the monasteries on the lake.

We were very pleased to be able to raise about $600.00 which was an enormous amount on those new days after the revolution. The money was delivered to the priests two months after the event. We all felt good to have been able to raise the money and fulfill our promise made in the spring.
I left Ethiopia soon afterwards but this remains one of my dearest memories of life overseas.

Chantal Duke