TENAFLY—The Presbyterian Church at Tenafly launches its 2024 series of free arts and cultural outreach events with an author event featuring Tenafly local and church member, Martha Reid Paradis, on Sunday Jan. 21 at 4 p.m. in the main sanctuary, 55 Magnolia Ave.
The 2,000-year-old country of Ethiopia has long fascinated the world. Renowned as an early Christian kingdom (called Abyssinia in the Bible), Ethiopia resisted European colonization, and its 20th century Emperor Haile Selassie was a celebrated figure on the world stage. Ethiopia had barely changed for millennia—semi-feudal, remote, and poor—when Martha Reid Paradis’ father moved his family there in the mid-1950s to become official advisor to the emperor.
The arc of her story, as she grows from child to young teen, is set against increasing unrest that leads to the eventual downfall of the emperor.
The end of the innocence of childhood begins for six-year old Martha with a terrifying car ride through the streets of Addis Ababa with her parents, older sister Nancy and younger brother Tim as they seek refuge at the American Embassy during an attempted coup d’etat.
This event sets the stage for the unfolding of her young life as she is confronted by and tries to make sense of a series of traumatic events—the kidnaping of her larger than life, adored father by a group of hostile villagers while out hunting, the terror of being in a movie theatre when a grenade explodes, the numb panic as she and her brother hide all the guns and ammunition in the family compound from possible kidnappers.
Yet throughout it all her deep connection to Ethiopia and the Ethiopian people comes to life as she and Tim explore the capital city and surrounding countryside under the guidance of a young Ethiopian boy, Sileshi, who had come to their aid during an altercation with a group of neighborhood bullies. From this gentle teenager, the children learn about the age old mysteries of Ethiopian society and its deep religious traditions.
As the world outside the compound opens up for Martha, horseback riding, show jumping and running track become sources of solace and joy. Her deep love for the Ethiopian caregivers is exemplified when her beloved nanny, Beleinish (who is being beaten by her husband) goes into labor in a back bathroom of her family’s home with only Martha in attendance.
And her relationship with a young girl, Sofiya, who lives in an orphanage and lost both her hands to a landmine, is the catalyst for Martha’s emerging social conscience and increasing awareness of the inequities in life.
The book was written about a seminal time in Ethiopian history and the downfall of a 2,000-year-old dynasty is foreshadowed as the children flee an attack by a swarm of locusts that devastates the countryside. But this is also the story of a family, what brought them to Ethiopia and Martha’s growing awareness of the complex relationships within her family, a family comprised of a powerful father, a gentle yet distant mother, rebellious older sister and very close bond with her younger brother.
The book ends with the family’s departure from Ethiopia before the revolution and the devastating loss Martha experiences in leaving the only home and world she has ever known.
Martha was a toddler when her family moved from New York City to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1957 where her father served as an advisor to Emperor Haile Selassie. She has a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University and for over 30 years has been a psychotherapist specializing in trauma resolution.
She lives in Tenafly and maintains her lifelong interest in world cultures, and still considers Ethiopia the home of her heart.
Martha will be in conversation with another Tenafly local and church member, Debbie Abitante, as they discuss the book and offer the chance for members of the audience to ask questions.