AURORA -In 1999, a group of 10 Ethiopian immigrants making their homes in Aurora gathered in a small basement and formed a church.
Even in the beginning, Addis Kidan Evangelical Church wasn’t just a church - it is a community center and an educational facility for all immigrants landing in Aurora.
Almost 15 years later, that fledgling group has developed into a congregation of hundreds of community members and has had to move to larger locations at least five times.
Pastor Teame Desta, founding member of the church, thinks the congregation’s move last October into the 10,000-square-foot church at 15150 E. Evans Ave. will be their last uprooting for a while.
“There is room here to grow and expand,” Desta said.
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He said little amenities like a parking lot that holds more than 100 cars and expansive sanctuary and worship space are things members of the church find most comforting.
Addis Kidan serves Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants predominantly.
Since its creation, the church has been a refugee center for African immigrants and provides services like English classes, child care and employment tutorials.
Sometimes, new members go to Addis Kidan before they even have a place to live.
“I remember when we were still (located) in the Colfax area,” said church member Bereket Tekle.
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Tekle is also a founding member of Addis Kidan.
“We are about helping others, all people,” Desta said.
“Any communities that want to use this facility are welcome.
That’s part of our ministry and it makes us proud.
Youth services are on Saturdays and there is Sunday school every week.
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“We invited pastors from other churches,” he said.
“We’ll have choirs from a local Korean church and another from an Indian church, and lots of spicy Ethiopian food.
The Ethiopian diaspora is recognized as a more recent migration into Colorado, but Ethiopians have a longer history in the state than people may realize.
Prior to a 1974 coup, Haile Selassie had ruled the country since 1930 and engineered a fascinating relationship with various Western powers who could be, at times, both colonizers and allies.
In 1935, Mussolini’s forces invaded Ethiopia from the Italian colony of Eritrea.
In time, and with help from the British, the Ethiopians successfully expelled Italian forces.
This marked the beginning of a long history of Ethiopia’s relationship with the Allied forces, including the United States.
One of the confusing things involved in researching this issue is the fact that “Ethiopian” was a term used in the early 20th century by both African Americans and white society to refer to African Americans.
In 1903, for example, a mutual aid society was started in Pueblo called the Ethiopian Protective and Beneficial Aid Society.
This early use of the term may stem from the movement of “Ethiopianism” in Africa that began establishing distinct African churches on a continent full of churches established by colonial missionaries.
Amongst our vast collection of photos from famed Denver photographer Burnis McCloud, are a set of negatives labeled, “Ethiopian Wedding.”
The images show a traditional Ethiopian wedding attended by a number of Ethiopian airmen at what appears to be Lowry Airfield in the early 1950s.
On June 24, 1962, the Denver Post reported on Lt. Abebe Abate of the Ethiopian Air Force who had attended the Armament School at Lowry, and was about to start attending University of Colorado.
In 1977, a group of seven Ethiopian airmen were ordered home by the leaders of the Ethiopian junta.
While six returned home, Sgt. Million Assefa refused to return, as he was already enrolled at University of Colorado, Boulder.
In 1980, the United States Congress passed the Refugee Act.
Among other things, this act increased the annual admission of refugees into the country from 17,400 to 50,000.
The ensuing growth in immigration brought people from many nations, including Ethiopia.
In 1981, Denverite Tsegaye Hailu, a hydro-geologist from Tigray, Ethiopia, organized a group of other Ethiopians to help newly arrived refugees find work and adjust to their new country.
Over the next decade, Ethiopians continued to come to the US to escape political strife and famine.
By 1991, the US had further increased the number of refugees allowed to enter, but all refugees were not considered equal.
Ethiopia has some of the oldest Christian, Jewish, and Muslim sects in the world.
As immigrant families began to settle into their new communities in Colorado, they founded new Ethiopian churches like St. Mary’s Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and mosques like Bilal Masjid.
In Denver, churches like St. Mary’s served not only the need of community and religious practice for local Ethiopians, but they also organized events to aid those back in Ethiopia facing a 21st century drought.
Like for so many groups that make their way to the US, the suffering of those back home is not soon forgotten.
In 2000, Yoseph Tafari, deacon at St.
“This is a humanitarian issue that transcends other issues.
The city of Denver has also nurtured its relationship with Ethiopia in an official way.
In 1997, as part of the Sister Cities program, Clayton Park, at Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. and Cherry Street, was renamed City of Axum Park.
Axum is an ancient city in Ethiopia that also established its own Denver Park as part of the program.
In 2009, Denver invested in the local park, installing irrigation, restrooms, landscaping, and African-themed artwork.
In 2009, Metropolitan State College of Denver also established a partnership with Axum University.
By the early 2000s, the Ethiopian population of Colorado reached 30,000, with most residing in Aurora and the Denver-metro area.
As the Ethiopian community became established as a part of greater Colorado, individual success stories began to percolate to the surface.
Among them were kids like Musso Walio, who spent time in a Kenyan refugee camp, started South High School speaking no English, and went on to earn the Colorado Refugee Youth Scholarship and attend Colorado State University-Pueblo in 2010.
Notable Ethiopian refugees included social worker Shitta Damte Kassa, who served as a Unicef official in Ethiopia and worked to reunite Ethiopian and Sudanese child refugees with their families.
