As human beings are mortal, it is an undeniable fact that no body escapes from the inevitable death. However, apparently the types of threats for humanity and dear life could be either preventable or otherwise. A global pandemic such as a viral plague remains an unseen enemy of the human race. It is happening era after era. It is causing mass death and global catastrophe. However, a plague could be preventable if only people can protect themselves by following the necessary precautionary measures and steps that health professionals and scientists recommend. Yet, recklessness, ignorance and selfcenteredness remain the real risk to humanity in this modern era. This was evidenced when the current highly contagious novel pandemic COVID-19 exploded in to a global pandemic in a very short time. Though it caused panic on people, they are showing laxity to follow instruction. They are becoming a cause for more severe collateral impact which incapacitates the world not to easily recover from the mess. After the first confirmed case of COVID -19 in Addis Ababa was announced on Friday March, 13 instead of learning from other countries and taking necessarily precautions, people are seen stubbornly ignoring social distancing and washing hands protocols. Lots of people have not yet taken corona virus seriously yet because of ignorance and lack of enough awareness. Hence, the government of Ethiopia is trying to mitigate the spread and make impact on citizens’ awareness level and keep its people safe. Another infamous life snatcher that possibly could be preventable is road traffic accident. According to the study of world health organization, the global death toll has already reached 1.24 million a year and it is predicted to reach 1.9 million by 2030 unless something is done to reverse the current trend. What is happening on the road is not a series of unlucky but somehow inevitable accidents but rather a public health crisis that is taking a catastrophic toll not only on victims but on society as a whole. Here in Ethiopia, among the many untold stories of bodies who perishes on the road, cliff, rivers and bridges due to a car crashes, the ones made by ‘Sino Trucks’ also known as ‘Sino monsters’ are greater in number and have left heartache and devastation in victims of the family and their loved ones. SelEnat Tesfaye was born on February 11, 1998 in Addis Ababa. Her father Civil Engineer Tesfaye Yalew named her SeleEnat (which roughly translated as ‘in lieu of mother’) next to his mother’s passing away ‘‘I named her Sle Enat as I got her following the passing away of my beloved mother’’ says her father Tefaye Yalew 53 . Selenat was the only child to her Father. ‘‘ SelEnat truly lived up to her name. She was my sister and my best friend as well.’’ He says. SelEnat was a bright student. According to Engineer Tesfaye SelEnat had a GPA that made her one of the top students of the batch. ‘‘She attended her Kindergarten, Elementary, and Secondary educations at Ethio – Indian, El-Bethel, and Magic Carpet Schools respectively. She used to love all subjects. Her inclination was, however, towards Structural Engineering. Observing this and her development, I used to always tell her that she would reach at her best upon joining university.’’ SelEnat joined Ambo University in 2016. Her university performance also increased exponentially paralleled with her maturity. ‘‘Her ambition was to become a professionally renowned Civil Engineer. Her target was Ph.D. She was also highly inclined towards voluntary service and philanthropy,’’ he said. On 24 November 2019 a minibus packed with Ambo University students experienced a car crash which cut the students in the flower of their youth. The accident happened allegedly after a Sino truck run over the minibus. Unfortunately, SelEnat was in that unfortunate minibus. Tesfaye remembers that grim day as follows ‘‘It was Sunday. I spent the day at home with my relatives. I saw them off around 6:30 PM, telling them as usual, to confirm their arrival. Then my phone rang shortly. I picked my phone wondering how they arrived home so fast. The call, however, was not from them. Somebody asked me whether I know SleEnat . I replied yes. He then told me that her ID Card was found amongst the victims of a car accident. He informed me her case was not confirmed and advised me to go to Abet Hospital. I went to the hospital with my neighbours. After panicking there for hours, a father of her friend, who survived the accident, told me to go to Holeta Health Centre. This gave me the hope that she might have suffered a light injury. When we arrived at Holeta Health Center, we were told to go to the nearby Police Station. I happened to know her death there.’’ He said SelEnat was a fourth year Civil engineering Student and she was coming home for a semester break. It is painful to lose one’s apple of the eye and it is a double tragedy to give away one’s one and only child to a reckless driving mistake. Despite his grief and sorrow engineer Tesfaye, who was also an instructor, has made himself committed to celebrate his daughter’s life through a memorial by initiating a tutorial service. ‘‘While I was in grief due to the shocking and untimely death of my daughter, one idea came to my mind which helped me heal, that idea was keeping the name of my daughter alive through working on her inclination and extending the tutorial, and mentorship, that I was rendering to her, to many other college students of Civil Engineering and similar Departments. I then started working towards a memorial on Voluntary Tutorial Service that has a motto “To Many Others” To many others initiative is a voluntary tutorial service which aims to motivate and encourage engineering students in higher education institutions. According to Tesfaye currently, the idea has been consulted and accepted by staffs of three higher learning institutions in Addis Ababa. ‘‘Five test sessions with a total duration of 18 hours have been conducted on three subjects, in two of the three Institutions. The feedbacks obtained were found to be encouraging. Following the cheering feedback, proposals are prepared and submitted to two of the aforementioned three to formally commence the service.’’ ‘‘I, with supporters of the idea, strongly work to expand the Service and upgrade it to an Association which includes motivation to female Engineering students exclusively,’’ added Tesfaye with great enthusiasm to keep his daughter’s dreams alive through helping other female engineering students.
The Ethiopian Herald April 5/2020
BY FASICA BERHANE
