Spell bound by Ethiopia’s rich heritage

St. Mary of Zion Church is a major attraction in Ethiopia 

Axum City. We visited what is said to be the remains of Queen Sheba’s palace. Although the origins of Queen Sheba are debatable because it is also claimed that she was from Yemen, information from the tour guides, said that the gifts that Queen Sheba took to Solomon, were traced to originate from Ethiopia.
By Hilda Twongyeirwe 

When I received the invitation to attend the African Writers Conference in April, I was excited. I had not heard of any African Writers Conference since the renowned Makerere University Literature Conference at which Uganda was referred to as a literary desert. The conference organised in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Ethiopia Writers Association happened in May 2011 at Akaki University, Addis Ababa, under the theme: From the independence of the continent to the liberation of the mind: The unfinished journey.

After the conference, the writers toured Ethiopia’s most beautiful cultural sites, beginning with Emperor Haile Selassie’s magnificent palace that stands way ahead of its time. Next we visited Tigry region, the home area of H.E. Ato Meles Zenawi, 783 kilometres from Addis Ababa. I was awed by the artistic Revolution Monument spilling more than 100 feet above the ground next to Mekelle Museum.

Mekelle is a lovely quiet small city. The streets are clean and not crowded. It feels like holiday if you are from a noisy city like Kampala. I liked the well-crafted stones on the side streets. They give a sense of durability, like they will not open into gaping potholes soon. The cactus plants in Mekelle are amazing. They grow anywhere, on top of a stone fence for instance.

From Mekelle we took a bus to Axum which is 1,005 km from Addis Ababa. The journey to Axum was very adventurous. Sweet bananas that one of the professors had bought became handy when we started asking the organisers to specify the time we would have a meal. If you are used to Uganda’s roadside fruit markets, you would get disappointed. What saved the situation was the beautiful scenery; the smooth winding roads paving their way through stone, the stone hills facing each other as if they are waiting to hug and be hugged, the graceful cows looking patiently at the skies, and friendly people smiling and ready to offer their help. At one stop-over we watched donkeys, horses and camels carrying heavy loads of stone and firewood. Aduwa hills where the Ethiopian Army defeated the fascist invaders in 1896, is extremely ragged. No wonder it was a bad defeat that left Ethiopia to be one of the only two African countries that were never colonised, the other being Liberia.

We arrived in the long awaited Axum city at about 6.00pm when the sun was casting its evening hue on the tree tops on the mountains. At Yeha Hotel where we stayed, we were welcomed in style. The coffee drink prepared with utmost attention in a ritual-like manner makes coffee drinkers wait in utter anticipation. Axum is said to have been the capital city of the Axumite Empire. Third century Persian writer, Manni, listed the empire as one of the four great kingdoms in the world, along with Persia, China and Rome. As we entered the obscure city, we were greeted with spell-binding beauty of the Obelisk Monuments.

The Obelisk is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of engineering from the height of the Axumite Empire. It is a symbol of civilisation in the Axumite kingdom. It is also considered to be a symbol of national identity, and according to an undisclosed source, a symbol of male vitality. It is believed that under each obelisk, there is a tomb.

Close to this scenery is St Mary’s Church which is believed to house the Ark of the Covenant. Even when doors and windows to this church are closed, worshippers still stand outside and pray. Axum is a very spiritual city. We visited tombs of Caleb and other kings, but we were disappointed not to find anything in there.

Everything was robbed by unidentified people. Lastly, we visited what is believed to be the remains of Queen Sheba’s palace. Unfortunately, it was Sunday morning and the gateman had gone to St Mary’s Church to worship,so we were not able to go beyond the gate. However, I climbed the stone fence, directed my camera over the palace and took pictures. 
At the end of our stay, we were treated to a cultural dinner where we tasted sage, Ethiopia’s precious local gin brewed with honey. The whole experience in Ethiopia left me spellbound.
http://www.monitor.co.ug