Emahoy (Great Mother) Tsige Mariam Guebru of the Kidane Meheret (Our Lady Covenant of Mercy) Ethiopian Orthodox Monastery in Jerusalem has long been recognized as a great pianist in Ethiopian artistic and musical circles, but now her compositions are attracting a wider international audience.
http://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/2013/08/rhythm-divine-the-ethiopian-nun-whose-music-enraptured-the-holy-land/
http://www.tadias.com/index.php?s=kentiba
The stories above mention her amazing family only in passing but they are an interesting one.
The Emahoy was born into a remarkable aristocratic family which played a significant role in modern Ethiopia and long time ties to the Holy Land and was one of 12 children.
Her father Kentiba (mayor) Guebru Desta, born near the city of Gondar, was converted to Protestantism as a boy by Swiss Missionary Theophilos Waldmeier who served as a craftsman at the court of Emperor Tewodros II. Following the death of that Emperor, Waldemeier took young Guebru to Jerusalem where the boy was enrolled in the Samuel Gobat Missionary School. He was then sent to St. Chrischona, near Basel, Switzerland, for four years of further education and graduated with a diploma in theology in 1876, becoming one of the earliest Ethipians to receive a western education. Guebru spoke German, French, English, Arabic, Oromigna, and Amharic. Gebru Desta returned to Ethiopia and worked to spread the Protestant faith among the pagan Oromo people in the south and campaigned against slavery, and was introduced to then King Menelik of Shewa (later Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia) who applauded his efforts. He served first as mayor of the city of Harrar (under Menelik II's cousin, Ras Makonnen who was governor of Harrarge province, and father of the future Emperor Haile Selassie) and later as the mayor of the city of Gondar. He led the delegation that negotiated the release of the prisoners of war taken by the Mahdists in the Sudan during their war with Yohannes IV, and later accompanied Ras Makonnen to attend the corronation of King Edward VII in London. In 1931 under Emperor Haile Selassie, he was appointed Vice-President of the Senate of the first Imperial Ethiopian Parliament. He went on to lead a delegation to the United States where raised awareness of Ethiopia. Imprisoned during the Italian occupation on the Italian Island of Asinara along with other Ethiopian nobles and high officies, he returned to become President of the Imperial Senate, the Upper House of Parliament after the liberation. Even though the Kentiba was educated, and had experience working in the highest echelons of society, he was very selfless, and had few possessions, giving away large amounts of land and other property to various protestant missions, and struggled with poverty in his later life until his death in 1949. Interestingly although he was a devoted Lutheran, his children would all devoutly embrace the Orthodox Church.
The Emahoy's sister Woizero Desta Guebru was a pioneer of women's education in Ethiopia, an enthusiastic fundraiser for the Women's Welfare Organization and the Ethiopian Red Cross whose patroness was the Empress Menen. She used her position as the wife of a high ranking military officer to establish the Armed Forces Wives Association in 1963 for the welfare of military wives and widows. Woizero Desta Gebru was so formidable, that the Derg found it necissary to imprison her in 1974, accusing her of almost succeeding to recruit the Imperial Artillery forces of the Army into counter-revolution. She was freed two years later, and is famous for turning away a group of armed soldiers who came to her house late one night to take away her daughter for questioning. This formidable matron told the flabergasted soldiers of a ruthless communist regime that it was an indecent hour for any lady to be taken out of her house and that they should return during daylight. Suprisingly they meekly complied. Woizero Desta survived the Derg and died in 1997.
Another remarkable family member was Woizero Senedu Guebru who was a fighter in the resistance against the Italians fighting with the "Black Lions" group of Ethiopian Imperial Guard officers, and later became Ethiopia's first woman Senator, and rose to the position of Vice-President of the Imperial Senate, a post once held by her father. She was famous for being unaffraid to berate anyone whether it was the Prime Minister, or a nobleman, or a general, if she believed it was called for. Woizero Senedu was also active in supporting women's education, having served as head-mistress of the Empress Menen School for girls previous to becoming a senator. She also served as President of the Ethiopian Red Cross and Red Crescent Society, the Secretary General of the Public Welfare Organization, and Education Attache at the Ethiopian Embassy in West Germany. She was also a prolific author. She was awarded the Order of the Queen of Sheba and the Ethiopian Medal of the Red Cross by the Imperial government. Woizero Senedu died two years ago.
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