Tesfaye's Story: A Journey of Hope

This is the story of Tesfaye Negussie Anagaw. Tesfaye,which means "my hope" in Amaharic,at the age of 8 was struck with TB causing his spine to collapse. In 2003, around 13 years old,Tesfaye left his village in Gojaam Ethiopia on a journey of hope to cure his back. Through getting to know Dr. Rick Hodes I learned of Tesfaye's story one night in Addis Ababa in March 2008,and after a long process Tesfaye arrived in Vancouver on May 20,2009 for surgery to straighten his spine on June 12th.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Happy Birthday and Second Anniversary of Vancouver Arrival Tesfaye!

May 20, 2011: REMINISCING - A BIRTHDAY AND ANNIVERSARY FOR TESFAYE

It was two years ago on his birthday, on May 20, 2009 that Tesfaye finally arrived in Vancouver to start a new chapter in his life. Finally, his difficult 12 year quest for life-changing corrective spine surgery and my own year long "roller coaster" ride in trying to get it done for him here in Vancouver had become a reality, and a new exciting and emotional shared journey for Tesfaye and my family was about to begin. Reflecting back, following is a link to the beginning entries of my blog recounting what happened the first couple of days after his arrival: .http://tesfayesjourney.blogspot.com/2009/06/life-withtesfaye-during-his-first-23.html . I did not fulfill my ambition of covering all of the first 23 days of activities before the day of surgery - maybe some day for my own edification I will fill it in. In summary, it was filled with tens of hours of pre-op hospital testing and education, Vancouver sight seeing, meeting local Ethiopians, and many good meals trying to fatten Tesfaye up for his upcoming surgery.

I was able to reach Tesfaye in Addis and wish him a Happy Birthday. As usual, he was upbeat, positive and thankful. He is finishing his Grade 7 school year in a month and then is taking a summer course. His older brother Semenye came down from the village last week and stayed with him for a few days. Semenye came to escort one of his wife's brothers Wendim who is quite ill and was told by the doctors in the nearest cities to his village to make the trip to the capital Addis to seek medical help. It appears that he has a chronic kidney illness and at this time is getting some help at the Mother Theresa Mission. Tesfaye tells me that Wendim is in Grade 10 and a very good student, ranking first of second out of around 60 students, but he is very sick. As Tesfaye said in an email, " I wish to him, may God give a treatment".

Monday, January 17, 2011

A New Year begins / reflections back/Dr. Rick visits Vancouver and Denver

Our Tesfaye - loved and missed by my family. We have remained in regular contact with Tesfaye by email and occasional telephone call. He is doing well and working hard at school. He remains the most positive and happy individual I know, and so thankful for the change his spine surgery has brought to his outlook on life. I cannot stop thinking back fondly to my amazing experience last Feb./March going with him to his village in Gojaam for his first post-surgery family reunion. http://tesfayesjourney.blogspot.com/2010/03/tesfayes-family-reunion-part-ii-village.html

What a great way to start 2011 - inspired again by Dr. Rick Hodes visit to Vancouver the weekend of Jan. 7-9 2011:

Jan.7 After picking him up Friday morning the 7th and a brief stop at our home to freshen up, we went to our noon gathering at VGH for a round (actually square) table discussion with UBC medical faculty interested in global health initiatives. Rick's presentation stimulated a number of discussions about his work and challenges they all have experienced dealing with medical programs in developing countries. A couple of the big issues were developing local sustainability and cooperation between NGO's. I believe some ongoing relationship/assistance between the doctors/UBC medical faculty and Rick's Ethiopian medical programmes may evolve from this session.
   I then took Rick for an interview with the Jewish Independent newspaper, which subsequently published on January 14/11 a very nicely written article by Basya Laye   http://www.jewishindependent.ca/cover/index.html#two about Rick being an inspiring example of the Jewish concept of "Tikun Olam" - repairing the world one soul at a time.
   With barely a moment to rest, we then went to the Friday night Shabbat Scholars Dinner featuring Rick as the main speaker. After dinner the crowd of close to 200 gathered in the sanctuary where I had the honour and always great pleasure of introducing my hero Rick and his inspiring work to the large crowd of people, most of whom had never met or heard Rick before. It being the Sabbath, without the benefit of audio/visual aid, Rick kept the crowd captivated and disarmed with his great sense of humour for close to an hour, including answering a number of questions at the end.
Jan.8/9 Saturday allowed Rick to rest at our house and catch up on a few things. Sunday we had a planning session with the Seattle JDC official Michael Novick to talk about future administrative and fundraising support for Rick's activites, followed by a late afternoon presentation to a small group of invited guests to my house who were mostly familiar with Tesfaye's story and were interested in meeting Rick with a view to possibly supporting his initiatives. In fact,as expected, all who attended were inspired and touched by his selfless humanitarian work, and I am pleased by the generous donations that flowed from that session.
    Monday morning at 4:30 am I took this tireless hero, Rick, to the airport for his flight to San Diego to do more fundraising and medical presentations. I have seen Rick's hectic pace of life and work on numerous occasions in Ethiopia, and at my house and over the course of the weekend it did not slow up; he does not sleep very much, hence dozes off here, there and anywhere when there are a few minutes that might allow it.

Next Report: Attending Denver's Dinner of Unconditional Love honouring Rick

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Tesfaye's Life History

Tesfaye's path through life and mine have been very different, but fate has caused them to intersect. I met Tesfaye and learned of his plight while in Addis Ababa in March 2008 as a result of getting to know Dr. Rick Hodes and seeing first-hand the extraordinary humanitarian work he has been performing in Ethiopia since the mid 1980's.

Here is Tesfaye's story:

Tesfaye was born in the Gojjam region of Ethiopia to farmer parents.He grew up in a one-room, thatched roof, mud hut, which he shared with parents, four brothers and one sister. His mother and father farmed grains, mostly teff and barley. About nine years ago Tesfaye's father died, leaving his mother to farm and care for the five children herself.

Several years after his father's death Tesfaye decided to come to Addis Ababa with his oldest brother to seek medical care for his misshapen spine. His back problem began when he was eight years old, a result of untreated spinal tuberculosis. Growing up, his family took him to the local healer who blessed him with curative Holy Water, but the pain and deformity did not improve. By the time he was a teenager the pain was so acute that he decided to leave his village and travel to Addis Ababa in hope of treatment. Tesfaye traveled three days by bus with his brother, neither of whom spoke any Amharic, the national language and dominant language in the capital city. Tesfaye and his family are from the Agaw tribe, a small population in the north of the country that speaks their own language, known as Agaw.

They arrived at the bus station in the large market area, the Mercato, and went immediately to Black Lion Hospital, where the hospital staff told him they could not treat him, promptly sending him and his brother away. Talking to some street children Tesfaye and his brother heard that the Alert Leprosy Hospital may be able to help him. They went eagerly, but were turned away for a second time. The brothers rented a small room for 1 birr per day, about 0.10 USD and stayed in the capital hoping for a miracle.

One day a woman stopped them on the street and asked Tesfaye what was wrong with his back. He told her that he had no idea but that he was in a lot of pain and was trying to find treatment but no one was helping. She told him that the Mother Theresa Mission may be able to help him and described directions to the mission. Tesfaye went to the mission early the next morning and the nuns admitted him swiftly and without hesitation. For two months Tesfaye lived at the mission where he received tuberculosis treatment. After two months he was discharged from the mission but returned each day for the next six months to complete his eight-month TB treatment.

After leaving the mission Tesfaye shared a room with his brother who had begun work as a day laborer in order to stay in Addis with Tesfaye. To contribute to his brother's earnings Tesfaye began pushing around a wheel-barrow filled with various novelty items, such as BIC pens, Kleenex travel packs, sunglasses and chewing gum. He peddled-almost literally-his wares around the large market place earning between 5-10 birr per day, about 0.50-1.00 USD.

Several months later Tesfaye contracted scabies, likely a result of squalid living conditions, and went to the mission to ask the nuns for treatment. He was given the proper medication and was on his way out of the compound when another nun stopped him and asked him if he knew a Dr. Rick. Tesfaye replied that he did not know any doctors, especially not a faranje-or white-one. The sister told him to return the following Saturday to meet Dr. Rick, who, she explained, helped Ethiopians with bad spines. Tesfaye came early Saturday morning and waited patiently for his turn to meet with Dr. Rick, during his usual Saturday morning clinic. Dr. Rick not only accepted Tesfaye as a spine patient but later invited him to live in his home and send him to school.

In late 2006, Tesfaye traveled to Ghana with a group of eight other spine patients to be examined by renowned Ghanian surgeon Dr. Oheneba Boachie. Dr.

Boachie felt that Tesfaye was operable, and asked him to return in 6 months. On return, he was not operated due to lack of a ventilator. On a third trip, the Ghanian anesthesiologists would not anesthetize Tesfaye, and surgery was not performed. Dr. Boachie's FOCOS staff was highly impressed with Tesfaye's attitude, and the help he constantly gave to the other Ethiopian spine patients. Disheartened, he gave up and resigned himself to the fate of living his life with a back shaped like a Brontosaurus or Quasimodo.

In the world of Rick's house, Tesfaye is everyone's favorite person, if he were to run for office, it most certainly be a landslide victory. Tesfaye is kind, patient and helpful. He is always doing his homework or helping the younger children with theirs. In anticipation of his trip to Canada Tesfaye has been diligently attending English class four days a week to supplement his 5th grade curriculum. I asked Tesfaye what he is most excited and nervous about for his trip. He answered that he is most nervous about people making fun of his back and that he is most excited about being with people who show him love.

Last fall I took a social history of each of the children living in Rick's house, Tesfaye politely told me, "I do not want to talk about my history until I know what the ending will be, I still hope thanks to God, and Dr. Rick, that my back may be healed." Now, we pray, that time has come, and so, Tesfaye has shared his story with me. We all look forward to discovering the end of the story. I know he will live happily ever after.

by Chloe Malle

Note: Over the period 2008/2009 Chloe spent a year living in Ethiopia helping Dr. Rick Hodes carry out his work. Chloe was recently featured in the January 2010 issue of Vanity Fair:Chloe Malle, Bright Young Thing Entertainment & Culture: vanityfair.com

Donations in support of Dr. Rick Hode's humanitarian work in Ethiopia

Donations to support Dr. Rick Hodes’ humanitarian work in Ethiopia (which are eligible for a Canadian donation tax receipt) can be directed to:

Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver
200-950 West 41st Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Z 2N7
Tel.604-257-5100

Instructions should be provided with payment to direct the donation to support the JDC/Dr.Rick Hodes humanitarian relief efforts in Ethiopia. 100% of the funds so directed go to Ethiopia to support those efforts.

JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) is an international relief agency which provides non-sectarian relief to Jews and non-Jews in more than 60 countries around the world, and which has been active in Ethiopia for several decades. http://www.jdc.org

Tesfaye's Story: A Journey of Hope

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Happy Birthday and Second Anniversary of Vancouver Arrival Tesfaye!

Monday, January 17, 2011

A New Year begins / reflections back/Dr. Rick visits Vancouver and Denver

Tesfaye in Vancouver pre-surgery

Tesfaye,Gary and Stephi on Granville Island

PRE-SURGERY DAYS IN VANCOUVER

Tesfaye with Haley eating Japanese sushi and using chopsticks for first time