The Russians are Coming!

Mishka Babitchef was the very first Ethiopian pilot and was responsible for establishing Ethiopian aviation under the helm of Emperor Haile Selassie in the 1930s. His niece, his next-in-line living relative,Nadia a good friend of Winni's, and a new friend of mine, invited us to join in the festivities of the Russian government this day. Mishka was himself part Russian and part Ethiopian, the son of a Russian emigrant father and Ethiopian mother. Years after his death, the Russian government decided to honor his life and death as a Ethio-Russian hero responsible for establishing the Ethiopian/Russian diplomatic relations. The government had commissioned a team to produce a documentary around his life, his legacy, and his death memorial. The location of the filming and memorial this day was the graveyard of The Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa the highest ranking Orthodox church in the country built by Emperor Haile Selassie and still affectionately called Haile Selassie Church by many Ethiopians. Buried in the grave sites around are important dignitaries and war heros including Mishka Babitchef, and buried under the church are Emperor Selassie and his family. Nadia, Winni, and I arrived at the church ceremony to a crew of photographers and a film team. Also on hand were the local television news crews. We got out of the car and were greeted by the Director of the Russian cultural affairs and Russian diplomatic attache. A number of Nadia's friends had also already arrived in support of her and the celebration and remembrance of her uncle's life. As we waited for the rest of the guests to arrive, I struck up a conversation with the Russian attache. He told me of his connection to Africa and how he was hired as a "professional adventurist" years ago to travel through Africa and report on cultural affairs on behalf of the Russian government. I asked him if they needed another one of these anytime soon to his amusement. I was dead serious. Oh well. When the ceremony was ready to begin about 15 orthodox priests suited up in their ornate gowns, hats, and holding their coptic crosses and incense bearing trinkets arrived on the scene. Their leader, Bishop Gabriel, conversed with the Russian entourage in fluent Russian. I had agreed to be Nadia's official photographer for the event so with her camera in hand, I began snapping photos. All of the friends and priests with Nadia in front gathered around Mishka's grave, cameras rolling. The priest began his sentiments, this time in Amharic. Out of language luck again. *Sigh*. Chants and incense filled the air in response to the Bishop's words honoring the famed pilot. Since I could not understand any of it, I decided to focus on capturing the event in pictures. The other graves were in the way of me gaining the perfect position but after a quick internal ethical battle, and watching the film and news crews crawl over the other graves on behalf of artistic excellence, I decided, over their dead bodies I would be left out. So I crawled over a few graves and perched myself and my camera right next to the cameraman from the Russian movie crew and continued taking photos. The Bishop was in the middle of a long monotone Amharic
prose and everyone was entranced when one of the priests next to him muttered something under his breath. Distracted by it, the Bishop stopped right in the middle of the chanting, turned to the priest, changed his somber face to a curious one and replied, "What?" It was so random and a completely awkward break that I could not help but laugh. Unfortunately, my under-my-breath intentioned laugh came out an outburst. Shocked eyes shot my way, and I quickly recovered to a somber face while the Bishop recovered to the somber prose. Oops, I'm sure that one will be edited out. At the end of the ceremony, candles were lit, tears were shed, hugs were exchanged, more photos taken, and we went on our way to the Russian cultural center for tea with Nadia and the Russians.