Travels through Northern Ethiopia

Axum was the center of a vibrant civilization for almost 800 years. Above is a stela marking a royal burial site.
Gondor in northern Ethiopia is noted for its ancient castles. One of these is pictured above. Often each royal generation would build a new castle.
This is a monastery on the outskirts of Mekele, precariously perched on top of a tiny peak.
Here is an overview of the Mekele countryside as seen from the monastery. I photographed this during the dry season. Later, once the seasonal rains fall, this will again become some of the most productive agricultural land in Ethiopia.

Here are some of the flower gardens around the buildings of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. Dr. Catherine Hamlin, the co-founder of the hospital, has long believed that lovely gardens are an important adjunct to curing the physical and psychologic damage the patients have suffered.
In an effort to reach more women with obstetric fistula, new satellite hospital facilities are being built in five outlying areas of Ethiopia. The newest center, in Mekele, just opened in February 2006. This is a view of the new main ward. This facility was largely built with donations from both the Australian government and the Australian Hamlin Fistula Trust.
Few photos more clearly demonstate the plight of woman in Ethiopia than this picture of women carrying stones from a construction site. Women often are the ones who literally do the heavy lifting in the fields and job sites.
This woman is making gravel by smashing rocks with a hammer. She does this job all day long to supply needed aggregate for concrete mixed on the job site.

This is the new fistula hospital in Mekele. It still has a yellow ribbon that was cut later at the opening ceremony.
A patient knits as she waits outside of the hospital.
Dr. Catherine Hamlin visits with a fistula patient. This is one of the lucky few who managed to deliver a live baby. Unfortunately, the mother suffered an obstetric fistula.
Dr. Gordon Williams, one of England's most renowned urologic surgeons, has been coming monthly for years to donate his time to training local doctors in repairing some of the most complex cases. Here he meets with Dr. Hamlin outside of the operating suites.

This is a view of the newly opened ward in the Mekele fistula hospital.

Religion has sustained these people for hundreds of years, providing hope when there seemed little be be hopeful for. This is a Ethiopian Orthodox priest holding his cross.



A priest in his church.

Another castle from Gondor.

Scenes from Ethiopia

This is the main ward at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. A picture of Reginald Hamlin, co-founder of the facility, is on the wall to the right.
Catherine Hamlin reviews a patient's chart on the ward.
This is the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new facility in Mekele.
A patient and her baby wait outside the ward. She has successfully completed surgery to repair her fistula.

A wedding at one of the mololithic churches in Lalibela, Ethiopia.

This man was silently praying in the church of St. George in Lalibela Ethiopia.

This is a hermit I saw while visiting Lalibela in northern Ethiopia last October.

Queen of Sheba and King Solomon

20th-century Ethiopian painting of the Sheba/Solomon narrative from the 14th century Ethiopian manuscript, the Kabra Nagast, (Glory of Kings), the Ethiopian national saga.
Ethiopians locate Sheba in Axum, in the north. From here, according to the Kebra Nagast , she was persuaded to travel to the court of Solomon by the head of her caravans - a man much impressed by the King's wisdom and might. In Jerusalem a banquet of specially seasoned meat was given in her honour and, at the end of the evening, Solomon invited her to spend the night in his chambers.
Sheba agreed, but first extracted a commitment from the King that he would not take her by force. To this he assented, on the single condition that the Queen make a promise not to take anything in his house. Solomon then mounted his bed on one side of the chamber and had the Queen's bed prepared at the other side, placing near it a bowl of water. Made thirsty by the seasoned food, Sheba soon awoke, arose, and drank the water. At this Point Solomon seized her hand and accused her of having broken her oath; he then " worked his will with her ".
That night the King dreamt that a brilliant light, the divine presence, had left Israel. Shortly afterwards the Queen departed and returned to her country and there, nine months and five days later, she gave birth to a son - Menelik, the founder of Ethiopia's Solomonic dynasty.
In due course, when the boy had grown, he went to visit his father, who received him with great honour and splendour. After spending a year at court in Jerusalem, however, the prince determined to return once more to Ethiopia. When he was informed of this, Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and commanded them to send their first born sons with Menelik. Before the young men departed, however, they stole the Ark of the Covenant and took it with them to Ethiopia - which then, according to the Kebra Nagast, became " the second Zion ".
The notion that the Ark of the Covenant was removed from Jerusalem to Axum is central to the reverence accorded to the tablets, the Tablets of the Law, in Abyssinian Christian practices. The belief system of which the tablets are a part is, however, an unusual one. No other Christian Church gives such importance to what is, by definition, a pre-Christian - indeed a Judaic - tradition.

Not all tourists return from Ethiopia. These skeletons rest in a cave near a church in Lalibela. They are the remnants of 13th century pilgrims who died while visiting this holy site!