When Hannah Maryam TekleHaimanot came to Jamaica in December 2020, it was meant to be a two-month stop en route to Ethiopia where she had planned to settle and continue her work within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC).

But one day after arriving in her homeland, she met Aba Gebreyesus WoldeSamuel Negatu, an Ethiopian monk, head administrator for the church’s Archdiocese in the Caribbean and Latin America. He encouraged her to stay in Jamaica as director for the Abune Ysehaq Home for the Aged, located at the church’s Maxfield Avenue compound.

Fifteen years ago, she was consecrated Emahoy (female monk), the first Jamaican to receive such acknowledgement from the EOTC. The Bull Bay-born Hannah Maryam has served the movement for 40 years, discovering the faith while a student at the University of Illinois.

She considers her new as role an opportunity to expand her humanitarian outreach.

“The appointment is very significant to extend the legacy of His Eminence Abune Yesehaq, the late Archbishop of the Western Hemisphere. It means a lot to me personally, as one of his spiritual children, and I know that he had high hopes for me and my desire to follow in his footsteps to become a monk. Therefore, by the grace of God, I hope to work with others to improve the living conditions of the present elderly residents, to build and expand his vision of helping the homeless and indigent in Jamaica. This is all our duties as his spiritual children, not mine alone,” she said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

There are currently five residents at the home for the aged, which is able to accommodate nine people.

The Maxfield church is one of five active EOTC branches in Jamaica; the others are Mannings Hill Road, St Ann (Ocho Rios), Portland, and Westmoreland (Savanna-la-Mar).

The best known Emahoy was Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, an Ethiopian composer and musician whose prowess as a pianist was equally respected as her humanitarian work. She died in Jerusalem in March at age 99.

While expressing respect for EOTC’s elders and teachings, Hannah Maryam stressed that, “To be the first Jamaican-born Emahoy/Nun in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church was never my goal. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even realise it until after I was consecrated and the archbishop said it to me. My focus was simply on learning monastic life in the monastery.”

The life of an Emahoy is not entirely different from their Roman Catholic counterparts who have unbridled conviction to their faith and the poor. They fast 280 days of the year.

Hannah Maryam was exposed to religion from childhood. She was raised in Bull Bay by a Jewish grandmother who observed the Sabbath and dietary laws of the Old Testament.

“The practices of Judaism and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo faith have much in common, so the transition was very easy for me. The EOTC, though Christian, recognises both the Saturday and Sunday as holy days. Sunday being the most significant as it is the day of our Lord’s resurrection,” she stated.

One of Hannah Maryam’s priorities is to seek monetary and material assistance to establish the first Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Monastery in the Caribbean and Latin America, which she hopes will have headquarters in Jamaica. It would be the monastic home for Emahoys/Orthodox monks.