Amanda Rivkin

Ethiopian Millennium

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. Women huddle together under umbrellas amidst throngs of worshippers on St. Teklahaymanot Day at the Teklahaymanot Church on August 30, 2007.
   
DEBRE BIRHAN, ETHIOPIA. A young bride and groom after their wedding ceremony at a wedding hall on September 2, 2007. As Ethiopians in the capital Addis Ababa prepare for the Coptic millennium celebrations on September 11, 2007, life in the countryside continues with little fanfare.
  
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. A model in local Ethiopian fashions for the Millennium Fashion Gala, an event attended by the diplomatic and political elite at the Sheraton that raises money for a girls school near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on September 4, 2007.
     
  
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. Runners train in Meskel Square on August 29, 2007 where "festive pigeons" and electric signs have hung for weeks announcing the millennium festivities for the Coptic new year on September 11. (Credit: Amanda Rivkin for BBC Focus on Africa Magazine)
   
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. Young Ethiopians wait in line for an Amharic-language movie at the Ambassador Theater in downtown Addis Ababa on September 10, 2007 beneath portraits of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and President Girme Woldegiorgis, among the only public portraits of the country's rulers in the capital. The 2005 elections were disrupted by mass disturbances and ended when the military fired on and killed an undisclosed number of demonstrators estimated in the hundreds. The portraits appeared only a few days ahead of the city's Coptic millennium celebrations on September 11, 2007.
   
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. The Ethiopian patriarch visits the Holy Trinity Church, where former Emperor Halle Selassie's tomb rests, on the eve of the Coptic millenium, September 11, 2007.
     
  
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. Worshippers wait in line to receive a priest's blessing and holy water at Holy Trinity Church, where the former Emperor of Ethiopia Halle Selassie is entombed, on September 11, 2007.
   
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. St. George's Day at St. George's Church on August 29, 2007. (Credit: Amanda Rivkin for BBC Focus on Africa Magazine)
   
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. A mental health care worker watches a special millennium program on Ethiopian state television in the recreation room of the addiction ward at the Amanuel Psychiatric Hospital, the only of its kind in Ethiopia, on the eve of the Coptic millennium celebrations on September 11, 2007. While Ethiopians in the capital prepare for the festivities to usher in the year 2000 in the Ethiopian calendar, many say they wish the goverment had devoted its energies and finances to health care, social welfare and poverty alleviation instead. (Credit: Amanda Rivkin for e-politik.de)
     
  
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. Women shop for grass, an Ethiopian tradition that is placed across the ground so that dirt does not fly in the air, at an outdoor market on the eve of the Coptic millennium celebration on September 11, 2007.
   
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. Men and young boys buy and sell sheep, a traditional food during the Ethiopian holidays, at one of the largest outdoor sheep markets in the capital on the eve of the Coptic millennium celebrations, September 11, 2007. (Credit: Amanda Rivkin/Associated Press)
   
NEAR DEBRE BIRHAN, ETHIOPIA. A woman rides her horse down a muddy trail during the wet season five kilometers southwest of Debre Birhan, Ethiopia on September 2, 2007. As Ethiopians in the capital Addis Ababa prepare for the Coptic millennium celebrations on September 11, 2007, life in the countryside continues with little fanfare. (Credit: Amanda Rivkin/Associated Press)
     
  
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. A man promotes a medical school at a cultural bazaar and trade fair, organized as part of the city's Coptic millennium celebrations on September 5, 2007. As Ethiopians look forward to the coming of the Coptic millennium on September 11, 2007, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said he hoped the millennium would present "the beginning of the end of the dark ages in Ethiopia." (Credit: Amanda Rivkin for e-politik.de)
   
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. The Millennium Cafe in the Piassa neighborhood was unable to light up the cafe's sign just ahead of the Coptic millennium celebration on September 10, 2007.
   
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. A performer at Club Duka, a popular night spot, on September 6, 2007.
     
  
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. Backstage at the Millennium Fashion Gala, an event attended by the diplomatic and political elite at the Addis Ababa Sheraton that raises money for a girls school near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on September 4, 2007.
   
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. The Ethiopian patriarch visits the Holy Trinity Church, where former Emperor Halle Selassie's tomb rests, on the eve of the Coptic millenium, September 11, 2007. (Credit: Amanda Rivkin/Associated Press)
   
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. An altar boy during the visit of the Ethiopian patriarch at Holy Trinity Church, where former Emperor Halle Selassie's tomb rests, on the eve of the Coptic millenium, September 11, 2007. (Credit: Amanda Rivkin/Associated Press)
     
  
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. The Orthodox bishops and priests at Saint Ragouel Church in the Merkato neighborhood celebrate the coming of the Coptic millennium on September 12, 2007. On September 11, 2007, Ethiopians ushered in the Coptic new year with fireworks and celebrations in the capital. (Credit: Amanda Rivkin/Associated Press)
   
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. Coptic worshippers at Saint Ragouel Church in the Merkato neighborhood celebrate the coming of the Coptic millennium on September 12, 2007. On September 11, 2007, Ethiopians ushered in the Coptic new year with fireworks and celebrations in the capital. (Credit: Amanda Rivkin/Associated Press)
   
NEAR DEBRE SINA, ETHIOPIA. Unpaved tunnel between Debre Sina and Debre Birhan, northeast of the capital Addis Ababa on September 2, 2007. On both sides of the tunnel, the European Union financed road reconstruction projects for several miles that do not reach the expanse of Ethiopia's longest tunnel.