Amelezeud Gashaw was 11 years old when admitted to AHOPE Ethiopia with her two younger brothers. Beautiful and talented, she was a leader among the children, always ready to help whenever needed.
She was also an excellent student, earning top grades despite her frequent absences from school due to illness. She learned to speak fluent English as well as her native Amharic despite a hearing loss due to complications from AIDS.
The world lost a child of great promise when Amelezeud Gashaw died of AIDS at age 13 in September 2005, just as anti-retro-viral medications finally arrived at AHOPE Ethiopia, but too late to help her.
Amelezeud is a legend amongst AHOPE supporters and the staff in Ethiopia. Her life, in my opinion, speaks volumes to the importance of AHOPE and orphan care in general. She had many dreams and although they were not realized, her life has come to mean so much to so many.
In her own words:
“After I graduate, I want to be a professor of mathematics. In our country there are not many women pilots, so I may want to be a pilot. I want to learn quickly and I want to grow up. In the future, I want to live in my family’s house. I want to build my older brother a villa and to plant flowers on the gate to make it beautiful. I want to help children without families, like me. I am going to tell them that I like them, and help them the way Mimi and Bibi help me. More than anything, I like to read history books. This makes my life happy”
