An Abyssinian Walking the Bible: Palestine - Israel - Egypt - Jordan - Ethiopia (Part one)

"Life is a love story you write to yourself."

Sitting in my one bedroom condo in capital hill overlooking space needle & lake union, I gave gratitude to God. I was 32yrs young, healthy, wealth, with a finance career I loved, finishing my MBA, volunteering in my community & church, board member of several powerful institutions, part of the growing professional minority groups in the PNW,  & growing with wonderful partners that were my best friends in my path, as well as serving in the society, environment, community & humanity in general in the Pacific North West. I had built a great support system, surrendered to a peaceful life in the PNW, & serving God. I was grateful for the woman I had became, manifesting the vision of a 14yr young woman that had a dream. I was awakened, self aware, & felt a deep yearning for what my purpose, passion & calling was, to serve in the global world connected to Gods universe. I was religious, focused, controlling, disciplined, driven, naive, intelligent, innocent, fearless, spirited, conservative, innocent, insecure, purposeful, & living a balanced, aligned & worldly successful life in the richest nation in the world, in solitude.

While doing my MBA, I watched a pbs documentary series on "Walking the bible" by Bruce Feiler, as well as read a book on "guns, germs & steal" by Jared Diamond, and was part of the workshop on oprah " Creating A New Earth" by eckhart tolle, as well as reading "The Fountain head & Atlas shrugged" by Ayan Rand, which changed the trajectory of my life. I had co-created a life I envisioned, worked hard to achieve my balance, & aligning to serve, as a successful woman. As part of my MBA graduation at Seattle University, I overcame so much by myself, alone, in solitude, with my vision, connected to Gods universe to achieve a milestone. I was financially, emotionally & mentally independent since I was 21yrs young, & was encouraged to take care of myself, listen to only Gods message in prayer, & to move out of my parents home with prayer & no support on how to live a spiritual purpose life in the 21st century.

By 30yrs young, I had overcome so much, to live a full life, independent, & aligned to live my life in free spirit. I was an adult woman, having gone through one lifetime, with a drive for validation of my parents, family, society & humanity. So in gratitude to Gods love within, I threw a 3days celebration weekend full of events for my MBA graduation party in gratitude to God, my church family, my teachers, my friends, my parents, community, & the family I was born into.  I gave gifts, had a couple of dinner & lunch hosted parties, as well as took care of my parents medical bills as they stayed with me for 3months. I saw the attachment, & codependency in our society, partnerships, friendships, & humanity disguised as culture, religion, & outdated institutions that did not serve me. I was curious to understand myself more, to seek & inner engineer how I was blessed with so much, & how I can serve. 

I let my family, friends, partner, society & community know from now on its my life, & that I was going to make changes to explore, & be my own person, not knowing what that looked like, fearless, awakened & with a vision to be the change I seeked, & flow with life in service. I felt gagged, clouded, & hiding deep within, as well as in survival in a world that told me I had to be masked, hiding & coded to belong, to be worthy, & enough. So my question to myself was, Why is it that an ancient civilisation like Ethiopia & most of Africa was not able to transition, transform & evolve to be our highest potential in the continent? Who am I? How can I serve? Why am I here? What is my purpose? What happens when I die? What is the cost of living an authentic spiritual life in the 21st century as a woman that knew my feminine divinity.

"TO WHOM MUCH WAS GIVEN, OF HIM MUCH WILL BE REQUIRED, AND FROM HIM TO WHOM THEY ENTRUSTED MUCH, THEY WILL DEMAND THE MORE" -LUKE 12:48

By 35yrs young, living in solitude & love, I had achieved success in the world, as well as in my personal life.  My awakening was being chosen & succeeded in being part of an innovative, impactful & intelligent team of people that revolutionised the financial industry in Ethiopia, as the youngest COO of a Commercial bank in Ethiopia . I spent 2yrs saying goodbye to my fathers, as its their legacy I stand by. I chose to give myself the gift of travelling to Palestine, Israel, Egypt, Ethiopia, & overlanding Africa, to walk the bible, seek what was seeking me, understand my past, ancestors & ask where my next venture in life was going to be. I seeked guidance to my spirit, soul & God, as well as wanted to inner engineer to evolve to by my highest potential as a human being, in love & light. I was fortunate to have great successful partners that loved my authenticity. I felt men in my life were carefully chosen by me to contribute to challenge my growth, were my friends, & came at specific moments in my life, not a final destination by force but healing eachother to be equally yoked spiritual partners for eachother or the next one.

Each phase in my life, I meditated, prayed, fasted, & allowed my spirit to seek, to transition to change myself, understand where I was going to serve, & accept the crossroad in my life, trusting Gods path. I created deldeyoch(bridges in amharic), as a business to serve, heal, & document my evolution as a free spirit, in service.

I knew the early 30s is an important age as a human being, as you are suddenly an adult, your own person, & seeking your need to belong, be productive, know your purpose & procreate. Even Jesus was in his 30s when he started serving & seeking his trusted disciplines to spread light, truth, love & spiritual purpose. 

Alone, private, in solitude, empowered, chosen. & vulnerable, knowing my divine power as a female. I asked myself, "Do I venture into marriage with a partner, have children & create a powerful global family to repeat the cycle of the woman before me in safety, conformity, & security. Or do I venture into the unknown world, inner engineer, to get to know my humanity, flow, use my skills, what happened to me, & serve whereever my authentic purpose leads me, to unlock my highest potential in service.  Connected to Gods universe, to become, & evolve to be my highest potential as an authentic human being. I wanted to know who I am, my purpose, calling & passion that was empowering me, incepted in an ancient part of humanity. As I had lived a wonderful, and blessed life in the west. Yet I felt ignorant, in aversion, craving, seeking to belong, & that parts of myself was hidden in fear to be my powerful feminine divine self, knowing my worth. Why? I had an existential question.

I was, and am curious, adventurous, courageous, fearless, naive, innocent, in love, in grief, conservative, playful & eccentric. I chose to go on a pilgrimage in solitude, to walking the bible, to seek what was seeking me, to know where my spiritual purpose was. I chose to go on a pilgrimage to Egypt, Palestine, India, Jordan, Ethiopia & overland through Africa. I travelled through America, Europe, & within Ethiopia. What is my spirit telling me? My mind, & body were coded, programmed & engineered, to lead me to a successful lifestyle in being my authentic self. I needed spiritual awakening deep within to serve my purpose as my authentic self.  So began an inner & outer seeking, to get to know myself. 

 Egypt: Landing in Egypt as a young woman alone on a 2months trip walking the bible, I had planned, organised, and financed as part of a gift to myself shocked most people around me, including my partner, friends, family & society. I was excited, scared and adventurous. Like every decision I have made in private, my relationship with God & my journey within is personal, as most around me unfortunately with limited love have tried to sabotage my gift, blessings & path to cater to their fears.

Cairo's population, noise pollution, hustle, & the beauty within the famous ottoman mosques, the souks, cafes, & the pyramids as well as the richness of the museums left me in awe. Going on a 5day Nile River cruise to Luxor, tombs of the valley of kings, Aswan & Abu-Simba in solitude, as well as going sailing with a Nubian family, I broke bread with people in love. The highlight of my trip, was hiking 800steps on Mt. Sanai with a Bedouin guide, visiting the place where Moses found his Ethiopian wife Seporah, & took refuge for his people that were enslaved by Egyptian pharaohs. I chose to sleep in the desert in Mt. St. Catherine, to go hiking on Ethiopian Christmas, instead of being on the beach at sharm el sheikh. I also went overland to Alexandria, to bask on a cafe in the Mediterranean & visiting the famous library. So after a month of immersing my spirit in Egyptian history, arts, geography, & the chaos of the present male dominated society, I chose to take Elall air to Israel, another adventure of a life time.   

Continue about Egypt in part two

Israel, Jordan & Palestine: Well it all started at the airport where I was searched for 3hrs by Israel immigration police like everyone else, as well as going into the plan with Israeli woman with guns. The good thing is I was warned by so many, I was going on a pilgrimage, and I was excited, so I was chill, present & in a great mood answering their interrogative & manipulative questions, as well as invasive search. To the point where I was given tea for my patience. I read, experienced, and felt like I was traveling in the past, flowing, as my spirit lead me into a new dimension of things forgotten.  I was more powerful than I think, I was whole, enough, worthy and connected to Gods universe, that was ready to serve as my authentic self.

As an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, this was a spiritual Holly land pilgrimage to give gratitude, & walk Jesus's path, visit places like Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Dead sea, Jaffa, Nazereth, Galali, go to a Ethiopian falasha wedding, & being re-baptised in the river Jordan, resting at a Kabultz, as well as being invited to a Friday shabat by an ex-boyfriend & his family.  I also went to Bethlehem in Palestine where Jesus was born in a stable, in tears, as I got a chance to see the social tension, & truth underneath the past, with unpredictable future.  Visiting Israel & Palestine was like my spirit felt safe, & aware, as a woman traveling alone. I seeked an answer to my spiritual purpose, calling, passion, authentic power, service, & consciousness. My soul & spirit was empowered & recharged, while my mind, body & emotion was attached in survival, fear & armour to the sinful world. I needed an inner engineering, forgiveness, death, & healing, to rebirth in awareness, update, bring light to the darkness, & evolve. 

Continue about Israel, Palestine, & Jordan in part 3

Ethiopia: Going to Ethiopia, & travelling around Ethiopia, to visit my family, friends, parents, community, as well as society at that time was like travelling back in time. For a young spirited independent woman it was depressing of the level of poverty, desperation, yet the richness in spiritual growth I knew I needed. I listened to the then prime minister calling people in the diaspora to build the country, while the society of Addis was politically charged, voting 100% for the government to not govern the city.

I travelled around Ethiopia, to historical places in the north, & the richness in nature & beauty of the south that I can venture to in the south, the wonders of the East, and the adventure awaiting me in the west. My parents & family felt like they were getting older alone, the country side was desperately poor, & my friends felt stuck in their lives most of them newly in a marriage, while the continent felt like it needed to move from AidtoTrade. I felt the vibrancy, aliveness & potential of Ethiopia and the African continent, if not now when, if not you who! 

Continue about Ethiopia in part four

Being at the right place, time & moment in history, I was headhunted by a group of powerful international investors, that included an investment banker from the US, a pioneer & leader in the FinTech boom in the US, & a +50yr veteran in commercial banking in Ethiopia. They were joining forces to raise capital starting an innovative, impactful, digital, inclusive, & profitable international commercial bank in East Africa, opening the discussion of Capital Market in Ethiopia. As well as a group of pioneering investors founding the first Ethiopian marketplace for shares, after the socialist ban of capital markets. They were selling shares, & hiring senior staff at the inception stages when I was headhunted. After several interviews, I was offered a package of a lifetime, and encouraged to dream of an inspiring Ethiopia for the next generation. I would be the first Chief Operating Officer, making me the youngest in Ethiopian in the banking Industry. It was a responsibility, challenge, & personal growth to serve I was looking for. I would be part of pioneering group of people, to design, & implement new policies, structure the operational process, create a clear marketing & branding policy, hire hand selected staff & rigorous senior team with international HR policies that adhere to the labor law of the country, & build in incentives to retain employees with a CSR policy, as well as making sure Credit, Core banking, International banking & stakeholders engagement were aligned to revolutionize the Ethiopian Financial & banking Industry. 

After a 2months pilgrimage, I went back to Seattle, my comfortable life, as well as my career promotion in Washington state, & a great partner, to let Gods direction guide & flow to my next adventure. I prayed, fasted, meditated, & the next year, I had a plan, vision, purpose, calling & courage to be fearless in choosing to serve God, flow with life, choose to inner engineer, as well as excited to face all my fears. I saw this as a gift, blessing, feeling alive, scared, knowing I needed spiritual growth, & I wanted to say goodbye to my fathers. I knew all the obstacles, tests, grief & challenges within & outside that were awaiting, but was not prepared for the sacrifices, ego, trauma, bottlenecks, & grieving process. 

This was my reward for +15yrs of hard work, preparation & discipline coming to life. I would be part of a pioneering team of carefully selected innovative investors, to disrupt the financial industry in Ethiopia, & bring it to the 21st century. Creating a powerful digital economy, bringing the Ethiopian banking & financial industry to international standards, & level the playing field for the +100million citizens of Ethiopia to have access to finance, using innovative Financial technologies & payment systems to serve in a one branch system, with state of the line servers, customer service, & supporting the business ecosystem. Bringing a new perspective to private & public partnership to create jobs for the youth, creative Access to uncollateralized financing, introduce guerilla financing of selling shares in the market, as well as disrupting the existing outdated systems with unique Marketing, branding & customer service to the banking industry. 

I was ready, adventurous, fearless, sad, curious, courageous, uncertain, & envisioned to be part of serving, transforming, taking a risk in my life, & being part of the evolution of creating a new earth, seeking spiritual growth & serve God. My friends, support system, my partner & best friends were shocked but gave me several going away parties, lunches, dinners & private getaways around the pacific northwest. I was in love with my being, I rented my condo, put most of my stuff I did not give away in storage, had a candid chat with my partner at that time. I packed 12bags on a new venture of a lifetime! I knew I will be challenged, tested, & going through curves, to get to know, become, & evolve as my authentic self. 

Change is always difficult, as grieving is part of life, not knowing who you will become, especially when I believed I needed inner spiritual growth to serve God. Whatever the obstacle, challenges & risk, you are exactly where you need to be. What I did not anticipate was the pushback, fear, doubt, grief, insecurity, & intense emotions from deep within myself, family, friends, partners, community, society & humanity, as a spiritual human being choosing to serve as my authentic self. It would take me on a path & journey, to inner engineer, explore, to understand what happened to us, know our self sabotage, ego, armour, mask, trauma, habits, rituals, behaviours, & face my fears. To unchain my heart as my authentic self, in selfless love, moving out of survival, armour, force, control, & attachment. I chose to flow with life, feel alive, aware, conscious, shield with boundaries, healing, sharp, in light, & spiritually empowered in solitude, connected to Gods universe. 

"Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness."-Eckhate Tolle

To be continued in part two & three...

By Dutchess@deldeyoch