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Mass allows Ethiopian community to come together in Lebanon
The Daily Star:-BEIRUT: Lebanon is widely known to be home to 18 official religious sects, but with the steadily growing numbers of foreign workers in the country, several other religions and sects now have a critical mass, requiring places to come together for worship and fellowship.
It is estimated that approximately 60,000 to 70,000 Ethiopians are currently working in Lebanon. Many have been here for several years and don’t intend to return home to Ethiopia soon due to dismal economic and financial conditions. Overwhelmingly female, most are employed in household labor and are paid a wage that most Lebanese could never survive on. As of now, attending church on Sundays is one of the ways for the community to come together.
The current center of the Ethiopian Orthodox community is located at the church of the Convent of the Franciscaines in Badaro, where Ethiopian expatriates have been able to maintain their rich cultural and religious heritage every Sunday.
Akin to Lebanon, Ethiopia’s major religions are Christianity and Islam. It is estimated that approximately 60,000 to 70,000 Ethiopians are currently working in Lebanon. Many have been here for several years and don’t intend to return home to Ethiopia soon due to dismal economic and financial conditions. Overwhelmingly female, most are employed in household labor and are paid a wage that most Lebanese could never survive on. As of now, attending church on Sundays is one of the ways for the community to come together.
The service is in Amharic, Ethiopia’s official language. Worship typically begins at 8:00 am and concludes between 12:30 pm and 1:00 pm.
Most of the service entails the priest singing a capella canon to the congregation as they respond back in song, often bowing their heads. The inside of the church is impressive in its austere simplicity. The harsh white walls are unadorned and the wooden pews are worn, but worshipers brave the heat and humidity without air-conditioning.
The church-goers come from all over Lebanon by bus or taxi, from as close as Beirut’s suburbs to as far away as villages on the Lebanese-Israeli border. They remove their shoes before entering the church and loosely drape themselves in a matala, a thin, transparent white cloth that is symbolic of the purity and cleanliness necessary to enter the house of God. Women must wear long, modest clothing that covers their shoulders. Trousers and long skirts must cover the legs to at least the ankle.
Not all of Lebanon’s Ethiopian workers can always make it to church.
“I am lucky to be able to come worship today, my Madame doesn’t let me come always because she needs me to work on Sundays in the kitchen. Many other Ethiopians can’t come to our church at all because their Madame won’t let them have a day off,” said one attendee, who preferred to remain anonymous.
Not all of Lebanon’s Ethiopian workers can always make it to church.
“I am lucky to be able to come worship today, my Madame doesn’t let me come always because she needs me to work on Sundays in the kitchen. Many other Ethiopians can’t come to our church at all because their Madame won’t let them have a day off,” said one attendee, who preferred to remain anonymous.
Until recently, Ethiopians lacked a church of their own, as they have been renting the Convent of the Franciscaines for the past decade, and before that, services used to be held at a church in Gemmayzeh. Finally, an Ethiopian Orthodox church was built two years ago in Ain Aar, above Bikfaya.
Ethiopian workers and ordinary Lebanese citizens who wished for the community to have their own place of worship funded Lebanon’s first official Ethiopian Orthodox church. However the new church is slated to be used only during special festivities and holidays, due to its location; hence regular church services are held in Badaro. The Ethiopian Orthodox calendar, which begins on the September 11, sees 150 festivities per year.
Ethiopians continue to remain wary of the media, amid the spotlight on less-than-adequate treatment by their employers, a rash of suicides by domestics, and the workers’ fear of being deported.
Photographers and journalists are asked to keep their distance, and for now, the church in Badaro is a place where the Ethiopians of Lebanon can come together, but not a place where Ethiopians can interact with the rest of their host society.
Source:- The Daily Star
This entry was posted on July 18th, 2010 at 12:40:27 am by admin and is filed under News, Church.
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1 comment
I have never been to Lebanon but I gathered the condition of the Ethiopian women must be pittiful. I am not sure how many Ethiopian women aged between 18 and 30 board on the plane to Lebanon every other day from Bole Airport, leaving the country legally, unlike to the Bale route, as they say. I noticed these poor women come from remote parts of the country. While I was in Addis the last time, I got interested in women-in-trafficking and conducted an informal survey. The main reason I got interested was because an evangelist friend of mine and I have been supporting a group of women who abandoned prostitution to join local churches. We provide shelter with a sponsoring family and job training, counseling and mentoring. (We would like others to emulate this model).I went to a few government, NGO and intergovernmental offices collecting data to complete my survey. I interviewed very few women who just returned from some Arab countries. I also talked with some who were getting ready to leave for Arab countries, leaving behind their children or families. The obvious reason is to be able to work and support themselves and their families. Most of them do not know what they are getting into. They do not know what fate is awaiting them. What a trajedy! .... Within a year, I was told about 60 dead bodies of such women were sent back through the airport(unverified source).
Coming back to my point relevant to the subject above, the women situation crosses my mind in that why they are allowed to leave the country to begin with. Is that their "democratic" right to unknowingly face the precaurious situations they are liable to be subjected? Can the respective embassies give a clear picture of the state of affairs to these women before they make such a dangerous decision? I do not sound "political" here trying to blame anyone unless telling the truth is "political". These poor women should be rescued and repatriated if proper conditions are not met. I am not advocating for the Ethiopian women alone as it may be true with others as well. Christians should be the first to stand in the gap, I suppose! Do we know that human rights and civil rights are all extracts are biblical prinicples written by sincere theologians? Many "conservative" denominations do want to endorse them either beacuse they did not author them or they do not believe in the equality of the human race. Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery and must be stopped! We do not need a "revolutionary" democracy to denounce such a heinous act of racism and slavery; we need a might revival and crispy enlightment in the renewed mind of the believer. Let us wake up and work and pray for justice. Let us, as followers of the Christ, speak the truth at all cost!
These women need a place of worship. Their plight needs to be attended to.
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