Ro's Recz

Before Great Big Story was shut down (sad!) they produced a video called “Ethiopia’s Chapel in the Sky“. I recently came across it, and it is one of my favorite Great Big Story videos yet.

Ethiopia’s Chapel in the Sky refers to “Abuna Yemata Guh“, which is a church located in Ethiopia. It is noteworthy because the church is located at a height of 8460 feet, and it has to be climbed on foot to get there.

As you can see in the picture above, the hike to the church is not an easy one (yes, that really is the church!). If it looks treacherous from the picture, it looks even more scary when you watch the actual video. Apart from the hike being several hours each way, there are also several parts on the hike where you could easily fall thousands of feet. It is not something that I would ever consider doing, but I do respect the dedication of the churchgoers who make the trip regularly.

In the Great Big Story video, it mentions that the head priest of the church has done the hike every day for the past 50 years, which I find a crazy statistic. It does not look like a hike that would be accessible for elderly people, but I guess he has gotten so accustomed to it that his age is not a problem!