Welcome the pilgrims at Christmas

I am Ferdinand Reul from Germany and I organize this fundraising for my long-time friend Habtamu Zewdu from Lalibela, Ethiopia. He is a member of the "Saint Lalibela Youth Unity Association", which support in Lalibela the work of my German association "Hope for Ethiopia e.V." .


The "Saint Lalibela Youth Unity Association"
 is a group of young Ethiopian Orthodox Christians committed to Christian values and traditions. Among other things, they preserve forgotten churches in the mountains around Lalibela and arrange the social life on holidays in the holy city of Lalibela.

At Christmas, they welcome the pilgrims arriving in Lalibela, according to Christian tradition, washing the feet and distributing food and water. The pilgrims are partly hundreds of kilometres and several days on the way. The traditional welcome on arrival brings festive atmosphere to the streets and the pilgrims are grateful for the warm welcome and the food.

For this celebration, the "Saint Lalibela Youth Unity Association" collect money in Lalibela over the year, but it is never enough. They do not receive any financial support from the church for this activity, and without donations, there will be no food for the pilgrims coming next Christmas.

Ethiopia still use the old Julian calendar and they celebrate next Christmas (Genna) on January 7th 2018. So, we need to raise Money until end of December.

Please participate! Each euro allows food for 2 arriving pilgrims and preserves Christian traditions.

Many Thanks! Also in the name of the "Saint Lalibela Youth Unity Association" and the pilgrims at Genna.


 Genna 2016 in Lalibela

lively Christian tradition

 Tigray pilgrims singing and dancing at Genna 2016