Memories of Lalibela
Before embarking on this Ghana/Ethiopia trip I decided to book a trip to Lalibela for
the two spine surgeons that came with me from Vancouver, Dr. Chris Reilly and
Dr. John Street, and for Tesfaye and Fanteye. I did this at the end of the first
hectic week of spending time in Ghana at Dr. Boachie’s Focos spine surgery
hospital and then being immersed over the first few days in Addis in Dr. Rick
Hodes’ extraordinary life and medical practice in Ethiopia. We flew up early
Saturday morning Nov. 7 to be back Sunday afternoon in time to meet up with the
whole JDC field trip contingent arriving that day for a 5 day fact finding
tour. This was Fanteye's first time ever flying on a plane, and the first time for both of them and the doctors to see Lalibela.
I was
previously in Lalibela during the 2008 trip with Nanci, Adam and Justin, and I
knew this was an opportunity that the doctors and especially Tesfaye and
Fanteye would enjoy and should not miss. Lalibela is the centre of Ethiopian Orthodox
Christianity with a number of remarkable below ground rock hewn Churches dating
to the time of King Lalibela some 1000 years ago. Legend has it took around 23 years to build,
but how it was accomplished truly boggles the mind and is one of those
unexplained wonders of the world.
If you click here on this Lalibela trip 2015 Highlights photo album you will see some pictures from
exploring the Churches Saturday afternoon, seeing them as the monuments they
are; but these are not mere monuments, for if you stay over for early morning
Sunday (as you really must) you see these extraordinary Churches come to life
as real places of worship gathering in devout people from all over the region
to pray. will see in these pictures
that both Tesfaye and, even more so, Fanteye are very devout. In Ethiopia they respect all religions – what
they don’t understand is people who say they have no religion.
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