Everything Ethiopian

In early October 2017, I found 160 Calder family names from Dunnet, Scotland, and surrounding villages who had not had LDS temple ordinances done for them.  I enlisted Mike and Heidi to go with me to the Salt Lake Temple to do sealings.  We treated ourselves to an Ethiopian dinner afterwards, as Mike went over the details of a proposed trip back to Ethiopia.  Back home, I looked up recipes for both Ethiopian ingera, the spongy pancake that Ethiopian meals are served from, and wat, the stew that goes on top.  I love ethnic cooking, and we will soon have our own, homemade Ethiopian dinner!

By lucky chance, I attended a Utah World Trade Center luncheon that same week (October 5) to honor Ras Mengesha Seyoum, a grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie.  He has held cabinet positions in the Ethiopian government since the Emperor was overthrown, and he is now a business consultant, helping to bring business to Ethiopia.  Ras Mengesha was in Utah to talk with BYU and the LDS Church about providing equipment and expertise to copy and archive ancient manuscripts from Ethiopian monasteries.

Ras Mangesha Seyoum, with an Amharic inscription beneath his photo.

As Ras Mengesha discussed Ethiopia, I remembered the times that my father and mother had attended parties at Emperor Haile Selassie's palace.  I was asked to introduce myself and identify my tie to Ethiopia.  I said that my father had been the first business vice president at Haile Selassie University, and that I had a continuing fascination with the country after living there for two years.

I sat next to a woman who introduced herself as Sue Osmond.  The man next to her was Alan Osmond, formerly the leader of the Osmond Brothers singers, whose younger siblings are Marie and Donny Osmond. Alan Osmond's foundation provides help to orphans in developing countries, including Ethiopia, and the foundation had sponsored Ras Mangesha's trip to the U.S.  Mrs. Osmond told me how excited the Church is about the Ethiopian monastery records.  The Osmonds and Ethiopian princes--those are people I normally do not run with.  It was a very interesting lunch.