Churchmen Aid Stranded Ethiopians
Diocesan Press Service. April 7, 1965 [XXXI-10]
Nine Ethiopian students, stranded in the U. S. two years ago without any funds, are now furthering their studies or working in this country because concerned churchmen came to their rescue.
Three of the men were ordained priests of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Two of them are now studying at St. Vladamir's. The third is at a parish in New York City. Four of the students are enrolled at the State University College, Buffalo; one is at Lincoln (Pa.) University and another at Wayensburg (Pa.) College.
They were brought to Buffalo late in 1962 by a sponsor who failed to meet his obligations. When they found themselves without finances or aid, they appealed to the Rt. Rev. Lauriston L. Scaife, Bishop of Western New York and chairman of the Council on Eastern Churches of the Joint Commission on Ecumenical Relations.
Bishop Scaife was then instrumental in placing the three priests with some scholarship aid from Church World Service. The United Presbyterian Church undertook sponsorship of one of the students and Nelson Jonnes of Minneapolis, who had been a teacher in Ethiopia, and his wife saved the remaining five men from deportation. They turned to their church -- the East Aurora Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship - for help.
Last summer the students found work teaching Amharic, their native language, to Peace Corps volunteers bound for service in Ethiopia.