In Memory of Abebech Gobena, the Mother of a Nation
Fisseha Adugna | July 4, 2021
“Life without a purpose was not worth living”. | Abebech Gobena Interview with the CNN, June 23, 2010
Earlier today I was saddened to learn that Ethiopia’s humanitarian icon, Abebech Gobena, passed away at St. Paul Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the age of 85.
Abebech Gobena (known in the community as “Edaye”, a term of affection in Amharic) was aptly dubbed the “Africa’s Mother Teresa” by CNN in 2010. She was a humanitarian leader who set an example of selfless service in the midst of formidable challenges and hopelessness in Ethiopia. She is an embodiment of compassion and kindness and will forever be a role model for many generations to come.
Today I spent some time reflecting on my memories with Edaye. I met her in the summer of 2002 while I was in Addis from London for business. One morning, her deputy, Ato Eshetu Aredo — who had heard that I was in town — contacted me and asked that I visit their non-profit organization (called Abebech Gobena Yehtsnant kebekabena Limatt Mahiber -AGOHELMA) that rescues and supports orphaned children. I gladly accepted. When I arrived, he and Edaye gave me a warm welcome, though to my surprise they did not take me to her office for fancy briefings as many organizations’ officials usually do. Instead, after formal greetings and a round of introductions Edaye took me straight away to her orphanage. First she took me to the school. There were three sections: a kindergarten, an elementary school and a junior high school. There were more than six hundred students in attendance, most of whom were abandoned babies who had grown up in the orphanage. Most of them were less than a year old when they were admitted to the orphanage; some had lost their parents to deadly diseases and others were abandoned on the streets due to a number of reasons and circumstances.
Next she led me to the adjacent complex where about one hundred and fifty infants and toddlers were being cared for. Edaye knew each of them by name and was able to recount the story of how they got there. Among them, there was a group of HIV positive babies whose dormitory was adjacent to her bedroom. She said she wanted to be as close as possible to these children because they were the most vulnerable and the ones who needed her the most. As we were walking through the room, she stopped abruptly, gazing at an empty bed. She told me about a boy, whose name was Sintayehu, that had passed away while she was in hospital for a heart surgery. He was an HIV/AIDS patient. Even though she knew the deadly nature of the disease he was suffering from, she was sad to know that he had passed while she was not at his bedside. He died at the age of 10. He left Edaye a written note thanking her for the love she gave him and asking her to take care of his little sister. She felt the sorrow of a mother who had lost her child, compounded by the misery of knowing that she was not there. She missed him terribly. Losing a child is terrible, she told me. She wept, and I could not withhold my own emotions.
She then took me to a hospital for mothers and children. I found this hospital to be perhaps a better facility than the average hospital in the country, both in terms of its staff and its services. In addition to providing service to the orphans, the hospital also serves the neighborhood children and women free of cost in most cases. Our next visit was to the training facility for young women. The classes were at full capacity. Edaye told me that most of these girls were abandoned and had grown up on the street without any skills, education or compassion from the society that continually rejected them. They roamed the streets exposed to all kinds of malpractices- prostitution, drugs, crime, alcohol addiction and abuse. AGOHELMA is a safe haven for them. Their training included instruction in cultural and modern food preparation, as well as training in hand craft techniques. They also received literacy and basic health education. The idea was to train these young women so they could find jobs to support themselves and their families. It was a unique program, perhaps one of its kind in the entire country, where ‘lost’ generations of young citizens received a second chance in their lives. This program, I was told, was very successful and its demand was growing way beyond the capacity of AGOHELMA.
I also visited the dining halls, recreation facilities, hand craft outlets, offices, and more. It was a day that changed my life. At that moment, I vowed to contribute, no matter how small it may be, to help the organization. Surprisingly enough, Abebech never asked me for a donation at the end of my visit. For that matter she never asked me to do anything. All she left me with was a powerful impression; the impression of human spirit, kindness and amazing grace that transformed the lives of the most vulnerable people in the society. At the end of my tour she said “thank you for visiting us, thank you for your time.” She is humble. Her humility is real. She is genuine. She appeals to your conscience. She forces you to follow her lead; to ask yourself what about me? Can I do something? These are questions that remain lodged in my consciousness today.
I returned to London profoundly impacted by Edaye’s work. Several years later, in 2019, I returned to Addis again with one of our priorities being to visit Edaye. We had heard that she was unwell and that the situation was not looking good. When we visited her at her home we found her in bed where she was unsettled; not due to her health but to her inability to be in the community helping her children. Despite that, her motherly smile, generosity and grace never wavered. All of us — my wife, my children and I — sat with her for a couple of hours and, much to our sadness for what was to come, helped to advise her leaders on the future of the organization in her absence.
This was Edaye’s nature. She gave herself relentlessly for the good of others via an unbound and unparalleled compassion for humanity. Edaye was a formidable humanitarian figure of our time. She is indeed our Mother Teresa and the Mother of our Nation. She demonstrates the best side of humanity, a symbol of love, compassion and dedication for the cause of the poor. As we celebrate her amazing life and legacy we must dedicate ourselves in helping the organization she set in motion to continue its humanitarian works in our country. I encourage you to donate to AGOHELMA and to keep Edaye’s dreams and legacy alive. As we bid farewell to Edaye, let us keep her children in our prayers. Let’s also keep the millions less fortunate in our country in our thoughts and show them that we are with them. Edaye would appreciate that gesture. This is not only our solemn responsibility but also an expression of gratitude and love to Edaye’s kindness.
Finally, my family and I would like to express our profound heartfelt sympathy and condolences to Edaye’s immediate family members, to all of her children, to all of the AGOHELMA leadership and staff members, friends and supporters of Edaye all over the world and to all whose lives were touched by Edaye’s love and kindness. Though she is not with us physically on this Earth, her memory, legacy and example will live on and nourish this Earth forever to come.
Note: The writer, Fisseha Adugna was the former Ethiopian Ambassador to Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2000–2006) and he can be reached at fisseha92@gmail.com.
