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HABTE'S CHRONICLES

My chronicles began with my first visit to Ethiopia in 1992. previous to that I was involved in the music industry, the road was often hard going, but there was always a sense of freedom as we traveled from city to city & country to country around the world.

23/ 7/1992 was the Centenary (100th Birthday) of Emperor Haile Selassie 1st of Ethiopia the modern day descendant of King Solomon & The Queen of Sheba.

I went to Ethiopia to celebrate the great occasion, and as part of a brotherhood from Birmingham to deliver the bricks and to start the building of a guest house for the Baugh family in Sheshemane.

I arrived with two other Rastafarian brethren who were actually brothers named Alus & R, we all enjoyed some great experiences together.

The Centenary Committee which was based in London organised a group to go to Ethiopia to celebrate the historic occasion.The committee had also visited Jamaica and co-ordinated the journey of some elders from the Nyahbinghi house to oversee the building of a Tabernacle (place of worship) and to lead the Rastafarian Chanting in celebration of the great event.

The elders were named Bongo Rocky, Dawta Baby I & Mama Ashanti, they were also accompanied by Ras Ivi & Ras Solo to assist them.

It was mid July & in the rainy season tents were pitched and the preparation began,

The celebration was well attended by different rasta groups and Ethiopia witnessed a spectacle to remember.

Each year I would make the pilgrimage & even twice a year when possible to keep the work going on the Sheshemane project.

1996 AXUM I caught typhoid from eating salads and was in hospital in Addis Ababa.

Two of my brethren's Therlow & R, who were brothers came to visit me in hospital, after a few days we decided to take a journey to Axum to be baptised at timket (Epiphany) we went to get a blessing before the journey so we went with an Ethiopian friend named Mussie (Moses) to Mount Entoto Mariam to receive a blessing from the monks who live around the church.

We were taken to some monks, one of them had taken a vow of silence for many years. Mussie explained our mission but the monk told us that " I cannot bless you because you have already been blessed by God, my blessing has no use, he fed the 4 of us some of his food and we left. In those days we would always stay at Debre Zeit road Pension, before it became a clinic.

Mama the owner hired us her pick-up truck and we left for the north towards Axum, somehow we found ourselves going towards the East and Ambo where the mineral water comes from, we returned to Addis and left the next morning North on the Asmara road.

We Visited Debre Birhane, Debre Libanos, Lalibela, Axum & Adwa, Gondar to name the main places, when we got to Axum it was on time for the Timket celebration but the priest would not baptise us because of the celebrations.

The journey lasted 9 days before the 3 of us returned to Addis Ababa, Therlow and his companion flew out of Ethiopia while i stayed working on the project.

The House in Sheshemane continued to grow stage by stage, the reason for building the structure was for us to play a part in Sheshemane's development even while living in England, and to create a stone house instead of the local chica (mud & straw) house as a standard mark for future construction in Sheshemane.

1996 was also the centenary of the BATTLE OF ADWA and some reggae artiste's & dub poets from Jamaica were in Ethiopia for the celebrations.

Tony Rebel, Muta Baruka, Uton Green, Yasus Afari along with sister Andrea Williams from Irie FM radio in Jamaica.

They performed a few concerts, around Addis and I helped them out when it was needed on stage or sometimes assistance with my vehicle.

We had a major reasoning with some priests about the faith, there were some good moments, but overall the group did not receive all of the blessing that were being given.

Tony Rebel impressed me the most, he showed himself to have a good understanding of the Holy Scriptures and made some valid points to the priest about not dismissing the points from the Rasta brethren because this was the time of revealments and the children shall be the teachers.

Some evenings we would all meet at sister Valerie Philpotts home for general reasoning & some food.

Give thanks to Sister Valerie Philpotts who always used the phrase "don't get involved in doubtful disputations."

1997 LALIBELA was a real experience. The journey began from Nairobi in Kenya before we landed in Ethiopia.

I had met a dreadlocks "Bahatawe" monk named Tesfa Mikeal in 1996 & he asked me to go to Mount Zequala to celebrate the life of Saint Gebre Menfes Quiddus (Abba Abbo), on that occasion it was not possible, but that monk would soon become very important in my life.

I was in Ethiopia and determine to continue my journey to get baptised after the journey to Axum the previous year, Therlow the lead singer of the reggae band Connecting Routes was also present.

We went to visit Saint Yared Church with sister Tiblet who owned a restaurant in Addis Ababa. She introduced us to a priest named Kesses Mengistu who said yes you can be baptised, but first I would have to cut my dreadlocks,

I answered him saying, "I have come seeking the faith of Christ not the administrative traditions and social laws of the church, Our Lord & Saviour Yesus Christ did not shave before his baptism, nor did the Apostles ask that of the early church, the required answer to the question do you believe was yes I believe. Priest Kesses Mengistu answered and said, the spirit of God has guided you here, so go and pray, God will show you the way.

We left St Yared Church and went to sister Tiblet's restaurant, she said that there was a special person that I should meet. when she showed me the monk it was the same dreadlock monk Bahatawe Tesfa Mikael who had invited me to Mount Zequala the previous year.

We discussed about baptism and the monk said that he would help us in every way and that we should all go to Lalibela, well I and my brethren rented a jeep and headed off to Lalibela for the Timket celebrations at the break of dawn along with Dawit Baugh the son of the Sheshemane elders.

The journey took 2 days with a stop off in the town of Dessie, we arrived in the ancient city of Roha (Lalibela) the next afternoon.

Bahatawe went to the high-priest of Lalibela whose name was Abba Haile Eyesus (Later to become Abuna Lukas of The Holy Synod) there was a long discussion and debating with some of the Abba's because today was Christ's baptism day and we were travelers who would leave Lalibela soon after taking the Holy Communion without having lessons with them to understand more about the faith.

Eventually Bahatawe Tesfa Mikael got the go ahead and we spent the next 18 hours fasting & praying with the priests through the night in preparation for the morning of St Mikael's day.

The baptism water was pushing me up like a float, I had to hold onto the floor to stay submerged and each of the 3 times that i was dipped in the name of The Father, The Son & The Holy Spirit. Then my name of Habte Wold (Treasures of Christ) later I returned to England & shared the good news with everyone.

In 1998 many of the brothers & sisters that had received the good news were moved by the Holy Spirit to go and be baptised in Ethiopia, I spent most of the year with my godfather Bahatawe Tesfa Mikael receiving the people as they arrived and helping them to fulfil their spiritual thirst.

January 1999 saw my own family in Ethiopia to be baptised in Lalibela & Entoto Mariam churches, Entoto mountain was the camp of Emperor Menelik 2nd & Empress Taitu, the church stands high on the mountain, now glory be to God that around 30 people from England had been baptised and a good number in Entoto Mariam church.

The Abba of the church told Bahatawe that he has noticed the numbers of people and asked about any difficulties, after I explained the journey he said that the church will give me a paper requesting the faithful to assist me in the pursuit of preaching the faith.

I asked Abba Gebre Mariama if we could build the church a new baptism pool from the fellowship in Birmingham, Abba Gebre Mariam said yes. I went back to England to raise the funds for the project from the Birmingham faithful.

June 1999 saw an Evangelical outreach when I was invited to Montpelier in France to teach the Orthodox faith & reason about Rastafari, I invited the brotherhood to come along, five men decided to join me, and after Montpelier we would head towards Ethiopia by road in our 3 vehicles.

We traveled preaching the gospel throughout Europe into Asia via Holland, Belgium, France, Monaco, Italy, one vehicle returned to England from Turkey, but the other two vehicles continued through into Syria & Jordan before we were refused a travel visa through Saudi Arabia.

The second vehicle returned to England from jordan with the two remaining brethren, I remained in Jordan another two months before I drove back to England through Greece, Switzerland & Germany into Holland then the ferry back.

2001 I returned to Ethiopia to build the baptism pool in Entoto Mariam church, Bahatawe Tesfa Mikael & I showed the design plans to Abba Gebre Mariam and we got the go ahead to build,

During the same time I went to visit the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church Abuna Paulos, we had a good discussion and I told about the journey, the Abuna told me that I had more work to do and commanded me to study in the theological college in Addis,

I explained that I was on a mission in Ethiopia & studying for a few years was not feasible. Abuna Paulos then called for the teacher from the theological college named Seife Selassie, when he arrived the Patriarch ordered the teacher to conduct my studies in the Patriarch's own palace on a 3/4 day basis over about 2 months.

I enjoyed the experience very much, and on some day's I would eat with the Patriarch & the Abuna's of the Holy Synod at lunchtime.

The lessons went well and Seife Selassie my teacher was very happy with the level of understanding that he found his new student at, we talked about my journey's and I asked lots of questions.

At the end of the studies I returned to the Patriarch's office and we spoke a while before he sent me to his deputy Abuna Garima's office to receive a certificate of study to further teach in the name of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church.

Thanks to Almighty God the baptism pool in Entoto was almost finished, we had been using the non studying days and the evenings to complete the work, the pool was eventually completed before I left Ethiopia and I was able to bring the pictures of the pool for all to see and to give God the glory.

2003 I was a best man at one of my Godson's wedding in Ethiopia.

November 2005 I was in Ethiopia again and this time i stayed until June 2006, thanks to Jah I & a brethren was able to start an agricultural company called H&G Agro Industries plc.

2006 We developed the market gardening on the land around the house in Sheshemane and created employment.

2007 The making of the Mysteries of Zion DVD really marks a pillar in my preaching of the faith, sometimes when obstacles arose, and trust me there were many, I had to reflect on the great men of old and use their struggles as an example of how to carry on. PRESS TO SEE MYSTERIES of ZION

2008 I was invited to a Rastafari Family day organised by Yasua Afari after the University of Birmingham expressed an interest in establishing a course on Rastafari after coming across Yasus's book 'Overstanding Rastafari -Jamaica's gift to the world".

We founded the R.S.C "Rastafari Study Centre" and began meeting as a large group at the university every 2 weeks to discuss ways of creating resources for the course and to uplift Rastafari name in the academic world, after a while we had to refine the open group to a management group of 15 before eventually coming to a smaller advisory group. More Info RASTAFARI STUDY CENTRE

2008 - 09 in conjunction to the R.S.C at the university I was engaged in a project called "Rastafari Roots & Development in the West Midlands" which aimed to collect and archive the history of the Rastafari growth and influence in the Midlands.

This project was funded by the "Heritage Lottery" for one year. and there is a duel purpose for the resource collected and created for the project. because Rastafari is now being taught in Birmingham schools but they lack resources.

The project brought together Rastafarians from different parts of the west midlands and helped to create events to highlight the musical and artistic talent among Rastafarians.

Habte Wold the lead Trainer & Ras Moqapi Selassie the lead researcher led the project on the ground and the "Rastafari Heritage Research & Training Team" is an outcome of the project.

2009 Saw the 10th anniversary of my son Yohannes Baptism in Lalibela, he decided to revisit Ethiopia again and asked me make the trod with him, which was a great blessing as most 21 year olds are on a different road to their parents.

Then he decided to go again after 3 months as he wanted to re-visit Lalibela in particular, so we rented a land-crusier and took to the road on-route to the ancient capital and the world famous rock-hewn churches. the journey north lasted 5 days as we went to Bahir Dar the location of Lake Tana which is the source of the Blue Nile where we visited some of the island monasteries and the waterfalls, then to Debre Libanos the monastery of Tekle Haimanot one of Ethiopia greatest Saint. Then we went on a 3 day trod to Sheshemane, Lake Awasa, & Wondo Genet's hot mineral springs.

After returning I found myself being approached by a number of people who had wished to visit Ethiopia for a very long time and some of whom had discussed the posibility of travelling when I going again.

So at the end of the year I agreed to make the journey again with a sistren who has an autistic son and who had always desired to trod Ethiopia, the trip was for 2 weeks and we spent 10 days on the road visiting many historical sites like Debte Birhanes Selassie Church amongst other wonderful places, like Harrar city and Kulibi Gabriel monastery.

. More Info RASTAFARI ROOTS & DEVELOPMENT

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