It was 7am on July 9, 2004, when I woke up to my cell phone insistently ringing. I was very exhausted after covering the marathon African summit being held in Ethiopia’s capital city of Addis Ababa, preceded by ministerial meetings, after which I planned to treat myself to a few days touring that beautiful country. I was half asleep when I heard the voice of the Archbishop of the Egyptian Coptic Churches in Africa, a dear man I had come to know years before. After the usual greetings and good wishes, he didn’t waste time getting to the point.

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