Ethiopian

Photographer Chester Higgins Jr. has visited 30 countries to record the lives of Africans outside of Africa; his goal, in his words, is to "provide a more human view of black life." One of his projects was "Feeling the Spirit," photographs of various forms of worship, in which he included the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the Bronx, N.Y.Step out of "African Zion," the exhibit of fourth- to 18th-century Ethiopian Christian art at the Walters Art Gallery, and you step into a gallery of Higgins' Ethiopian Church photographs.

Marni loves her sparkly pink flip-flops and the daily school lessons with her host family. Soon after he arrived on a flight from Ethiopia, Sammy switched his dress shoes for a pair of trendy Nikes that he wears everywhere. Isaac has accessorized with cool sunglasses and is teaching his hosts dance moves. After dental and eye check-ups, Betty is sporting a brighter smile and a new pair of glasses. Five young children, ages 6 to 9, are the first visitors to participate in Welcoming Angels, a new international orphan hosting program, organized by America World Adoption to assist Ethiopian children.

WASHINGTON -- The State Department ordered dependents and non-essential personnel out of the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia yesterday and advised other Americans to leave after the last town between the capital, Addis Ababa, and the countryside appeared to have fallen to Tigrean rebels.Although the evacuation was ordered to avoid endangering about 600 Americans in a long-standing civil war, U.S. officials hinted that they considered the 17-year-old government of President Mengistu Haile Mariam to be in danger of falling.

Bruce Thomas Hall, a retired utilities engineer and decorated World War II veteran, died of pneumonia Saturday at a Sebring, Fla., hospital. He was 88 and lived in Rodgers Forge. Born in Baltimore and raised on Edgemere Avenue in Park Heights, he was the son of a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad engineer and a homemaker. He was a 1940 graduate of Polytechnic Institute and trained as a lineman and installer with the old Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. Mr. Hall was drafted into the Army In September 1942 and took additional training in telecommunication.

An Ethiopian political refugee was found shot to death early yesterday in a city-owned parking garage, where he was working as a cashier.The body of Yohannis Wondim, 33, who moved to this country a XTC year ago and had worked at the partially completed garage for three weeks, was found by a co-worker at 4: 16 a.m. in the garage office, police said.He suffered gunshot wounds to the head and shoulder.Jack Sugarman, office manager for Parking Management Services (PMS), the firm that manages the garage for the city, said nothing appeared to be missing.

JERUSALEM -- The 1,200 Ethiopian Jews filling every room of the Diplomat Hotel-turned-absorption-center were almost outnumbered yesterday by the Israeli volunteers who streamed through the lobby, looking for some way to get involved."

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Fighting between Ethiopian-backed government forces and Islamic insurgents in Somalia's capital has killed nearly 400 people, mostly civilians, in the past four days, a Somali human rights group said yesterday. The fighting abated long enough yesterday to allow thousands of people to flee the ruined coastal city on foot and in donkey carts, cars and trucks. About 47,000 people -- mainly women and children -- have abandoned their homes in the past 10 days, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

MEZABERT, Ethiopia -- Tsege Wolde Gebrial was 14 years old when she first crossed the border, a newlywed riding a mule beside her husband.Born Eritrean, Gebrial left her tiny hometown of Kinen to live with her husband in his hometown of Mezabert across the border in Ethiopia. At that time, Eritrea was still a region of Ethiopia.Thirty-three years later, Gebrial is separated from her hometown by more than five miles of rocky path. The two towns, Kinen and Mezabert, are preparing to attack one another in a conflict that threatens to tear apart two closely interwoven societies.

In the catalog that accompanies "African Zion: Sacred Art of Ethiopia," the groundbreaking exhibition currently at the Walters Art Gallery, historian Richard Pankhurst offers a view of the ancient kingdom as seen through contemporary eyes:"The Ethiopians were regarded by the Greeks as one of the best peoples in the world," Pankurst writes. "Homer speaks of them in the 'Iliad' as 'the blameless Ethiopians.' He claims that they were visited by Zeus, the king of the gods, by the goddess Iris, who went to their country to participate in their sacrificial rites, and by Poseidon, the sea god, who 'lingered delighted' at one of their feasts."

For most of the 200 people attending the two-day International Conference on Eritrea at the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore hotel this weekend, the mountainous territory that borders the Red Sea in East Africa is not an academic pursuit. It is home.Many of them are survivors of Africa's longest armed struggle, which began 28 years ago this month when the Ethiopian government of Emperor Haile Selassie ended a federation with the former Italian colony and forcibly annexed the culturally and historically distinct territory as its northern province.

Anyone who's struggled to match the grace of a dexterous chopstick handler might think using your fingers and bread is a relative cinch. I'm not so sure. But those who need help mastering the practice will find a valuable teacher in Dukem, 1100 Maryland Ave. Slow learners who require frequent repetition will be especially rewarded. 12:23: We arrived to a more than half-filled dining room and were seated immediately. The Dukem dining room makes practical use of its irregular shape with an effect that's conducive to private conversation, though appearances might suggest otherwise.

Director Radu Miahaileanu's 2005 "Live and Become" ("Va, vis et deviens"), a drama that begins in a Sudanese refugee camp sheltering Ethiopians displaced by civil war and famine in 1984, will be the kick-off feature Saturday of this year's Columbia Jewish Film Series. The story follows a young boy, named Schlomo, who is air-lifted from Sudan to Israel, where he is adopted by a liberal Jewish family - and finds that assimilation into this new culture is harder than he thought. Complicating matters: he is not the Falasha, or Ethiopian Jew, that his adoptive family believes.

Elfegne Ethiopian Cafe is a peach. Owned and operated, pretty much single-handedly, by former mortgage broker Emu Kidanewolde, this small and tidy 20-seat storefront cafe is more than just a great place to feast on inexpensive home-cooked Ethiopian food. Elfegne also acts as a de facto community center for the residents of Washington Village (aka Pigtown). It opens at 7 in the morning for breakfast (Kidanewolde will have been there for hours already, making homemade injera, the fermented Ethiopian bread staple)

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Fighting between Ethiopian-backed government forces and Islamic insurgents in Somalia's capital has killed nearly 400 people, mostly civilians, in the past four days, a Somali human rights group said yesterday. The fighting abated long enough yesterday to allow thousands of people to flee the ruined coastal city on foot and in donkey carts, cars and trucks. About 47,000 people -- mainly women and children -- have abandoned their homes in the past 10 days, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Ethiopian troops seized towns throughout southern and central Somalia yesterday and bombed the international airport at Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, in a rapid escalation of a two-day-old offensive against Islamic fundamentalists who have controlled most of Somalia for the past six months. The better-armed Ethiopians encountered no resistance from fighters of the fundamentalist Council of Islamic Courts at Baladweyne, a strategic town on the main road from Ethiopia into central Somalia, and later seized Aadado after fighting there.

More than an hour has passed since the Ethiopian coffee ceremony began at Baltimore's Dukem restaurant, and still not a drop of coffee has been served. It is a purposely slow and deliberative process. Coffee here is not just coffee, it is a performance meant to stimulate conversation, a ritual guided by tradition and folk stories said to be as old as coffee itself. The green buna beans are roasted until flavorful smoke wafts over the diners gathered around tables or sitting on straw stools, like background music against the din of spirited chatter.

Washington-- ONE OF MY favorite historical figures by far is the Emperor Theodore of Ethiopia. He ranks down there, next to Rasputin, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Attila the Hun. A lot of people thought he was mad; we know he was mad.Indeed, in 1868, as he holed up in his Ethiopian Valhalla fortress in the wild mountains of his beautiful country, he took 30 British and Europeans hostage, holding them against the onslaught of an oncoming British invasion...

WASHINGTON -- The State Department ordered dependents and non-essential personnel out of the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia yesterday and advised other Americans to leave after the last town between the capital, Addis Ababa, and the countryside appeared to have fallen to Tigrean rebels.Although the evacuation was ordered to avoid endangering about 600 Americans in a long-standing civil war, U.S. officials hinted that they considered the 17-year-old government of President Mengistu Haile Mariam to be in danger of falling.