A Day in Gonder, Ethiopia

Arriving in Gonder, we are greeted with views of a beautiful city. The air feels cooler and there is more humidity in the air than there was in Lalibella and Axum. Our hotel sits atop a hill and provides us with a beautiful view of the city including the palace compound of King Fasiledes.

In fact, our first stop during our short one day stay in Gonder takes us to this compound. King Fasiledes and his family ruled in the 1600's and 1700's and the compound includes six separate castles, each built by different royals, at different times, and for different reasons. For instance, one of the castles is visibly more humble than the others and this one was built by one of the royals who had a sense of humility and intellectual pursuits, therefore he also built a library next to his humble palace.

It was almost like wandering through a medieval feudal small kingdom. Even though the castles here were not built during what the west traditionally would consider “medieval” they were built at a time when the feudal structure was similar to the feudal structure that was present in Europe during the traditional “medieval” period.

After leaving the palace compound we toured the king's bath-house. This is a small castle-like structure surrounded by a pool that is as deep as the castle is high. During the rainy season, water collects in the pool and there are also structures built in that allow water to be diverted from a local river and into the bath-house. In the present-day, there are bleachers built around the outside and the pool is filled during a certain festival and townspeople come and there is a large celebration with some swimming.

We also visited the main church that was built around the same time. The church was similar to many of the other traditional orthodox churches we have seen. One difference was that upon entering we saw a couple who had just gotten married and were taking pictures in the usual accoutrement of an Ethiopian wedding. Both the Bride and Groom wear white, and have cloaks that surround them. Each wears a distinctive headpiece, resembling a combination of both a crown and a turban.

While visiting the church, I was surprised when a group of three young children came into the church. Normally, when foreigners are present, time is spent answering their questions, taking pictures and asking for alms. However, when the three local children entered, the head Priest immediately paid attention to them, listening to them, talking with them, praying with them and ignoring our presence, allowing us to meander at our own pleasure. This was refreshing. The spiritual journey of the parishioners seemed to be the most important priority for this priest and the children seemed to be much better off in this sense, they were the priority. Is it not Christ who would ignore the needs of the cultures priorities for the sake of those without priority? Is it not Christ who would ignore the rich and powerful in order to show that God favors the poor and the outcast?

I know we say that we focus on the poor fin our churches, but sometimes I feel like that is just something we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better, especially when many of the decisions we make, many of the plans we strategize about, especially when many of the discussions we have and memories we get nostalgic about in the church are very much a reflection of the opposite of the Gospel's tendency and God's favor of the poor, the lesser, the least.