‘Mother Teresa of Africa’ dies of COVID-19
Abebech Gobena, who escaped a forced marriage as a child bride and became one of the most prominent humanitarians in her native Ethiopia, building an orphanage, schools, a hospital for women and children, vocational training centres and wells, among other works that earned her a reputation as the “Mother Teresa of Africa,” died July 4 at a hospital in the capital city of Addis Ababa. She was 85.
Her death, from COVID-19, was confirmed by Yitbarek Tekalign, a spokesperson for Agohelma, the non-profit organization she founded in 1980.
Located in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia has suffered over the decades from drought, famine and war, including, in recent months, a civil conflict now spreading beyond the northern region of Tigray.
An observant Christian, Gobena undertook her humanitarian efforts more than 40 years ago after a pilgrimage to Gishen Mariam, a site in northern Ethiopia that contains what believers regard as a piece of the cross on which Jesus was crucified. At the time of her visit, the region was in the throes of famine, and Gobena, travelling from the capital, was profoundly affected by the suffering she witnessed.
“There were so many of these hungry people sprawled all over, you could not even walk,” she told CNN in 2010. One woman appeared to be sleeping but, as Gobena learned when she tried to wake her, was already dead. Her infant daughter was still nursing at her breast.
Gobena distributed the bread and holy water she had brought with her and took the motherless child back to Addis Ababa.
She soon returned to the region and by the end of the year, according to an account of her life published by Jimma University in Ethiopia, she had taken in 21 orphans.
Her husband at the time issued what Gobena described as an “ultimatum” — she was to choose either their marriage or the children.
Gobena chose the children. She sold her jewelry for money to support them and repurposed fabric from her dresses into clothes.
A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.
Gobena had no children of her own, but after her death, Rahel Berhanu, one of the orphans she cared for, described her in an interview with the Addis Standard as “a mother above mothers.”