East African roots

An Ethiopian Orthodox church featuring light blue domes topped with crosses stands under a bright blue sky with sun glare, as American and Ethiopian flags fly from tall poles above green grass and distant trees.

On my steamy cycle ride, I noticed a newcomer to South Minneapolis: the Debre Selam Medhanealem Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. While I work with Muslim Somali adult learners who lived in refugee camps in Ethiopia, I don’t recall ever meeting Ethiopian Christians. Because they first arrived in the Twin Cities in the 1960s, they are generally more established and dispersed than the Somali community, which first arrived in the 1990s.

An Ethiopian Orthodox church featuring light blue domes topped with crosses stands under a bright blue sky with sun glare, as American and Ethiopian flags fly from tall poles above green grass and distant trees.

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