[dehai-news] (Cincinnati.com)West Price Hill Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo church burns


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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Feb 11 2010 - 21:09:02 EST


http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100211/NEWS01/302100005/African+immigrants++church+burns
West
Price Hill church burns

By Mark Curnutte • mcurnutte@enquirer.com • February 11, 2010

For a little more than two years, a 54-person Christian congregation made up
primarily of immigrants from the African nation of Eritrea has worshipped in
a church building in the 1200 block of Manss Avenue in West Price Hill.

A two-alarm fire damaged the church basement and altar area Thursday morning
at the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church.

Members come from a community of some 400 Eritrean immigrants in Greater
Cincinnati.

The first alarm sounded at 5:54 a.m., after a church neighbor spotted
flames.

• *Photos: Eritrean church fire
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=AB&Date=20100211&Category=news01&ArtNo=2110802&Ref=PH
*

When Cincinnati firefighters arrived, heavy smoke poured from the rear of
the two-story church building. A second alarm was sounded at 6:06 a.m.
because of the size of the building.

Forty-eight firefighters ended up at the scene, according to the Cincinnati
Fire Department.

Crews contained the fire and had it out within 20 minutes. No injuries were
reported.

“Damage is extensive,” the fire department reported. The investigation into
what started the fire continues.

Although no dollar value has been estimated for the property loss, a church
member and former congregation president said some of the damaged or
destroyed items were priceless.

They included Bibles and other books read by the priest that were brought
over from Eritrea, a nation of 5 million on the Horn of Africa, written in
the native language of Tigrinya. Chalices, vestments worn by priests and a
wooden cross, also brought here by immigrants, were damaged or destroyed.

Eritrea is on the Red Sea and borders Ethiopia and the Sudan.

“Everybody donated something,” said Huda Kebede, of Forest Park, the former
church president and current choir member, who works as a secretary at the
University of Cincinnati College of Law.

The building underwent extensive renovation after it was bought by the
congregations. Wooden doors, panels and draperies and rods were installed to
enclose the altar. A Columbus man carved a table from wood specifically to
hold the tabernacle.

The community previously worshipped from 2002 through 2006 in a church in
North Avondale.

“This was our home,” Kebede said. “We didn’t have to hurry up to get out for
other people or wait until they were finished. There was no rush. We could
be there as long as we wanted.”

No one in the congregation is wealthy, and she referred to the church as a
“poor” one. She said she hoped other churches would come to their aid.

Dawit Medhane, the current church president, said the security system
sounded alarms at 3:30 a.m. and 5:45 a.m. Thursday, the latter just minutes
before the neighbor reported seeing the fire.

“If this is just caused by fire, there is nothing we can do,” he said.

The community, though inconvenienced and saddened by the fire, will not lose
faith.

“Anytime you work for God, he will provide,” Medhane said.

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