Ambassador Ortiz: Lessons from a Life of Service

4: Reassignment Ethiopia: At the Emperor’s Court and Following in Burton’s Footsteps

When we learned of our assignment to Damascus, Dolores and I began intensive courses in Damascene Arabic. When our course was done, the Syrian Embassy gave us a farewell party sending us off to Syria. But just at that time there was a reduction in force, and the job in Damascus disappeared. We were assigned instead to Ethiopia— where Arabic is not a common language. We were stunned. All my career plans again seemed to be falling apart, but it turned out to be a very positive change. We set sail on the American Export Line out of New York. I ran like a madman to Macys’s to buy a top hat to go with my hand-me-down morning coat to be properly attired for the Ethiopian court, which was extremely protocol conscious. We barely made the boat on time and sailed across the Atlantic to Italy. We disembarked at Naples and traveled to Rome to visit our friends, Wells Stabler and his beautiful new wife Emily. I convinced Dolores, who was four months pregnant, to climb to the top of St. Peter’s dome—against her better judgment. We visited other sites in Rome and then boarded a plane to Ethiopia, with a stop in Cairo. When we finally landed in Addis Ababa, Dolores seemed about to  4 Reassignment Ethiopia: At the Emperor’s Court and Following in Burton’s Footsteps have a miscarriage and had to take to her bed. She held on to full term and gave birth to lovely Tina, our first child. In Addis Ababa, I assumed my position as Third Secretary of the embassy—the lowest officer rank in the Service. In addition to being the Third Secretary I was head of the consular service for Somalia and British and French Somaliland. A vast territory full of wild places comprised my parish. We were assigned quarters that had previously been horse stables. The low building, situated inside the high walls of the Embassy compound, had wide double Dutch doors and had a beautiful garden because of the deep layers of accumulated manure. Our associates at the Embassy pitied us, saying, “You poor things! They really gave you the pits.” Most of the compound houses were brand new with all the modern conveniences, and we landed in a socalled dump. But Dolores turned it into one of the most beautiful houses in East Africa. Its large, long, high-ceilinged rooms proved perfect for entertaining large groups, which we did to great success. Back then, East Africa was like a scene out of the Arabian Nights. Harar in Ethiopia was wonderful, and Kenya was still untrammeled— but unstable, I might add. I happened to be in Nairobi, on my way back to Ethiopia from Aden, during the Mau Mau rebellion. The rebels murdered members of the Leaky family that week. Addis Ababa was a very small, tranquil community without much going on. There was only one restaurant, which served terrible food, and one movie theater. It seemed the entire country was flea-ridden. When we’d go to see movies, for example, we had to take along bug spray to fend off the countless fleas in the theater seats—but when we returned to our home we still had to undress in the bathtub to contain and flush the fleas jumping off us. Ethiopia was under the reign of Haile Selassie, His Imperial Majesty, the King of Kings, Conquering Lion of Judah, Emperor of Ethiopia. The three imperial princes of Ethiopia, all sons of the Emperor, were the Crown Prince, the Duke of Harar, and Prince Sahle Selassie. I especially liked Sahle, a talented, almost effeminate person with very frizzy hair. Most Ethiopians have curly hair, but his was  REASSIGNMENT ETHIOPIA frizzier than most. One day, resolved to straighten those wild curls, he sent off for a chemical pomade. Unfortunately, the treatment caused him permanently to lose great patches of hair. He became reclusive after that. By chance I learned that Sahle loved Gourmet magazine. He had come across a copy somewhere and couldn’t get over the wonderful things he saw in it. Friends in the states sent me a stack of the magazines and I presented them to the Prince, which delighted him greatly. We found that little gestures like this helped us establish relationships with Ethiopians, who are very reserved people. They consider it improper to touch physically...