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Ethiopia - the GTS-Azezo Link
Part 6 - Lalibela

Readers will remember that Great Torrington Community School has made a link with a high school in Azezo near Gondar in Ethiopia. Two teachers from Azezo have been to Torrington and two teachers from Torrington made the return journey to Azezo last March. This is the story of the final leg of that initial visit.
Our final excursion in Ethiopia was to the world heritage site of Lalibela which sits in the middle of nowhere at an elevation of 2630 metres in the Lasta Mountains. Lalibela has very little to offer the tourist and were it not for one thing, it would not merit our interest. Its principal attraction, however, is classed as one of the most important historic Christian sites of the ancient world. I speak of the famous "rock-hewn" churches. We can all envisage a church built painstakingly of blocks of stone, each carefully carved and then cemented into place with mortar. A "rock-hewn" church is something altogether different and so spectacular in its conception that it is just jaw-droppingly interesting.
Take a whole landscape formed of red volcanic rock. Then dig a square-shaped trench, about 20 metres along one side, into the solid rock about 4 metres wide and 15 metres deep. From one corner carve a staircase down to the bottom of the adjacent corner. Descending this staircase would bring you to the base of an immense block of stone. Then carve a church out of this block including all the detail of the outside, the windows, the doors and inside carve as pillars to support the roof. That is a rock-hewn church and in Lalibela there are eleven of them. The most perfect is the church of St George (Bet Giyorgis), which is carved in the shape of a Greek cross. Remember that in an earlier article I mentioned that Ethiopia and England share the same patron saint.
We moved along underground passages and walkways from one church to the next in wonder at their amazing construction and detail. I remember thinking how lucky they were that it doesn't rain much in this part of the world. If it did, the churches would be swamped. We came across a priest who lived most of his life in the gloomy interiors and when we asked to take his picture he had no objection except that he first put on his sunglasses. He cut a very comical site in his ancient and austere surroundings, dressed in long robes and sporting a turban and "shades.
Lalibela was originally known as Roha and it is thought that most of the churches were carved during the reign of King Lalibela in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The town was later renamed in his honour.
Lalibela was the last destination on our historic tour of Ethiopia. We had started in Addis Ababa, moved to Bahar Dar, then to Gondar and our link-school in the nearby village of Azezo, then to Axum and finally to Lalibela before returning to our starting point in Addis Ababa for our flight home.
Next year, a group of pupils from Great Torrington School will go to Ethiopia and experience life in a "third world" school. That lucky group will also experience some of the historic places that we visited last year. I am sure that they will not be disappointed for Ethiopia is a fascinating country full of wonderful mountainous scenery and with a culture stretching back unbroken to the dawn of civilization, a thousand years before Christ. Please do everything you can to support and encourage these youngsters who must now raise the £1000 each for their Ethiopian adventure.