Thirty years later: The PBF Gena celebrations in Lalibela 2025 in a larger context
As we celebrate this important anniversary, the Foundation faces new challenges in an ever-changing world. The Foundation’s goal remains to continue to bring about positive change through the power of community.
We celebrate Gena in the here and now in Lalibela. Gena, the Ethiopian Christmas, is celebrated on January 7 (Tahsas 29 in the Ethiopian calendar), the day of Jesus’ birth. Ethiopian Orthodox Christians fast for 43 days beforehand. The fast also includes abstaining from all animal products, including meat and alcohol. The fast begins on November 25 and is intended to “cleanse the body of sins” while awaiting the birth of Jesus/Gena. The event is marked by pilgrims expressing their joy through song and using the last of their strength to reach the longed-for destination of a long journey with tired bodies after days, weeks or even up to three months. They carry very little food along the way. They drink from wells, streams and springs along the way to quench their thirst. They beg for food along the way.
Since we are celebrating Gena in Lalibela this year, we have planned 4 major activities as follows: The annual Gena celebrations. One of the most important festivals of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is called Lidet or Gena, which falls in the first week of January and is known elsewhere as Christmas. The holy city of Lalibela plays a prominent role in this in several ways, firstly as a pilgrimage destination for tens of thousands, also as a family celebration and of course as a commemoration of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Our destitute beneficiaries receive food, grains and cooking utensils as well as a piece of meat from an ox that we have slaughtered for them so that they are not excluded from the cultural and religious celebrations.
The Laudato Si Village
Laudato Si is the third housing project that PBF has built in Lalibela. The construction of housing has been one of PBF’s objectives since the beginning of its work in Lalibela. Many people move from the impoverished villages in the countryside to Lalibela to beg, find work and thus seek their livelihood from pilgrims and tourists. They are more numerous than usual during the Gena period. Many of them stay to survive by begging on the streets. These are precisely the people Peter Bachmann met when he himself visited Lalibela as a pilgrim twenty years ago. PBF has since built a great many individual houses, but also the larger housing developments Peter Village, then Amanuel Village and 2024 Laudato Si Village. It will be officially inaugurated on Gena 2024, i.e. tomorrow, for 25 destitute families. The settlement was occupied earlier after its completion. The three housing blocks were built on land donated by the local government and allocated to the needy, who were previously identified by PBF and public social institutions. The majority of these impoverished families moved from the countryside to Lalibela. Others had to flee other areas due to political conflicts.
The Pearl, a Hostel
Lalibela is a holy city and a pilgrimage destination. Many pilgrims travel from all parts of Ethiopia and the world every year to meet in Lalibela and celebrate Gena. PBF noticed that there was a lack of accommodation for these pilgrims, especially the locals, as the hotels only cater to tourists and foreign pilgrims. For this reason, PBF initiated a project to build a pilgrim hostel where both local and foreign pilgrims can stay, pray and eat together. The commercial hotels only targeted upper class pilgrims and tourists.
The Pearl, the pilgrim hostel, is ready to receive pilgrims and will also be inaugurated on Gena this year in 2025. It is strongly connected to the Memorial Clinic.
The PBF Memorial Medium Clinic
The climax of this year’s Gena celebrations will be marked by the opening of the PBF Memorial Medium Clinic. PBF’s work in Ethiopia and elsewhere revolves around caring for and supporting the vulnerable, the poor of the poor in society. We built the first clinic in Gashena twelve years ago and continue to support hundreds of people there suffering from various diseases and life-threatening conditions. This year we are opening a state-of-the-art facility in Lalibela. The clinic was built in a record time of one and a half years with the support of the ever-reliable PBF donors. We, the PBF team on the ground, would like to express our deepest appreciation to all people of goodwill who contribute to our work. Every contribution counts and every life touched is a testament to the shared commitment. Thank you to everyone who made this possible.
Dan Amolo, a witness and companion of PBF in Ethiopia for two decades, and responsible for PBF in Kenya