Doctor Mehret

CNN has been running a two day documentary series on being “Black in America.” The series has continued the discussion about race that the election has opened. Race continues to be America’s “original sin”. Facing it will not be easy, but it is unavoidable for progress. The disturbing statistics regarding health disparities command attention. Life expectancy for young African American men in Harlem continues to be lower than life expectancy for men in Bangladesh. The exploding prison population compounds the problem. HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death for African American women ages 24-35. The statistics go on and on.

Truth telling about race will be painful but it is the first step to healing. The time has come for this dialogue despite good intentions. Race is popping up everywhere. Check out this clip that aired on The View last week. Whoopi and Elisabeth represent two sides of a chasm. Let the healing begin.

For those who do not know the sweet sounds of Gigi… enjoy!

Please click on the link below to check out my commentary on HIV prevention and women submitted to On the Issues Magazine.

On The Issues Café: Make your voice heard.

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“I never put a price on a child”
- Abebech Gobena

Abebech Gobena’s life is a testament to the fact that a woman’s truth cannot be bought or sold. Indeed, if she holds her ground, the world can change.

Abebech Gobena is the founder of Ethiopia’s oldest orphanage. Her accomplishments stem from an act of faith. She was on a pilgrimage to Gishen Mariam in the Wollo region of Ethiopia, an important site in the Ethiopian orthodox faith. The area was famine stricken and on her way back home she found a baby laying next to her dead mother, at a feeding center. She picked up the baby and brought her home. She subsequently brought a second baby home, who was lying next to his dead father. In one year’s time, she brought home 21 children. This simple act of love grew.

She increasingly brought home more children and raised them using her own resources. Her husband soon divorced her and her husband’s family disowned her. As you listen to her tell the story, she describes the reasoning behind the divorce as her “unusual actions.” In retrospect, it’s hard to call bringing a baby home, who would have died, unusual. Would it not be more unusual to not bring the baby home? Once you let love inform your actions, the difficult part becomes stopping it. Where do you draw the line between one too many and not enough?

Abebech’s life instructs what happens when you do not stop the love. The kids soon became 200 and in 1988 she received a permit to raise the children as orphans. Her unusual actions have grown into 6 different branches of the Abebech Gobena Children’s Care and Development organization with over 12,000 children under her care.

Love is revolutionary. We often constrain it to very narrow dimensions and separate it from our work. However, when individuals integrate it in all they do, the world changes. This takes commitment. When asked about commitment, Abebech replied:

“Commitment is everything to me. The first thing I did to start with was to commit myself fully. My vision would have gone nowhere without commitment. I had no idea as to how to proceed but I was sure that the only way forward was to work hard with my children in order to be self-supportive. During those six years, I sold all my gold ornaments. I tore all my dresses and re-sew them up into the size of the children. I didn’t have any sewing machine in those days. I stayed 24 hours a day and seven days a week with them.” (Making a Difference for Population and Development: Leaders in Action, Vol.2)

Abebech also teaches us what happens when your commitment, as defined by faith, is uncompromising. In modern times, many commit to money and personal success. However, commitment to a greater good outside of yourself is what the world needs right now. The natural disasters and wars serve as a reminder that greed is killing us. It’s women like Abebech Gobena who will save us.

(As written in, Ethiopian Review )

Lillie Jackson of the National Black Alcoholism and Addictions Council made my day today! After viewing All of Us the movie she has started using Truth Circles in her work. She took it upon herself to pay me a visit on the job in West Philadelphia. I was filming a Truth Circle with a group of young women. Lillie participated in the discussion with her words of wisdom. Lillie has been engaged in HIV work since the 1990s and has much to share. She is using the TruthAIDS Truth Circles idea in her HIV prevention work with young men. I was so happy to hear the idea is spreading. It will take a village to decrease the rate of HIV in the hardest hit communities. Lillie’s visit was a reminder that many have been and are already working towards this goal. Her parting words were appropriate: “Stay strong.”