Above: Nine-year-old Berhannu from Ethiopia had everything
stacked against him. He lost both his parents to AIDS and he
had a debilitating back deformity. A local charity discovered
Berhannu and brought him to Los Angeles, KABC reports.
WATCH
Above: Nine-year-old Berhannu from Ethiopia had everything
stacked against him. He lost both his parents to AIDS and he
had a debilitating back deformity. A local charity discovered
Berhannu and brought him to Los Angeles, KABC reports.
WATCH
The case of Berhanue is gut-wrenching. Like so many of his country men, my heart went out for him as he suffered. But it should be a sobering lesson for Ethio-American doctors. I have never heard of an Ethiopian doctor from US or Europe provide a free medical service voluntarily for the poors in Ethiopia.
There are many Ethiopian-American doctors that give their time and resources for free to help the poor in Ethiopia. Even as far back as 2005, the media was reporting about the beautiful story of an Ethiopian American medical professional giving back to his birth-country:
You may read about him at this link: Heart Surgeon Ingida Asfaw gives back to his native Ethiopia: http://nazret.com/blog/index.php?title=surgeon_gives_back_to_his_native_ethiopi&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
Not only that, there is actually an organization of Ethiopian-American doctors who travel to Ethiopia annually to conduct short-term, but very critical services, such as surgeries to repair Ethiopian children born with “a cleft lip”, a separation of the upper lip that can extend into the nose.
There are also organizations like U.S. Doctors for Africa (USDFA), established by an Ethiopian-American currently doing an extraordinary work especially creating awareness about the continent-wide chronic health care problems not only in Ethiopia, but throughout Africa.