Let's Help Dekebo Help Others

This is Dekebo -- and his mom:

Etagu and I met Dekebo in late 2005 at Bishangari Lodge on Lake Langano in Ethiopia. It was a difficult time in Ethiopia. There was political unrest, and tourists were encouraged to go home. I was feeling uncertain about our safety in Addis Ababa, and so we left the city. For about a month, we were the only guests at Bishangari Lodge due to the travel warnings. That gave us lots of time to get to know the staff!

Etagu instantly found a friend in Dekebo. And I quickly came to view him as an exceptional individual. Because we were the only guests, Dekebo had time to show us the forest and introduce us to the people in the nearby village.

One day when we were out exploring, we stopped to talk to a man who was huddled in his yard with a daughter huddled near him. He had malaria, and his wife had left with their other child to sell corn to earn money for him and their sick daughter to see a doctor. That evening I asked Dekebo how much it cost to buy the malaria medication. If my memory serves me, it was about $1.25. People die regularly in this village and all over Ethiopia because they don't have money for malaria medication. So I asked Dekebo if it would be possible to purchase a quantity of malaria medication and distribute it to the people in the village. He said yes, he knew a pharmacist who could arrange it for us. I asked him if he would get in touch with the pharmacist, and he said it would be no problem. The next day, Dekebo was gone. The day after that, he was still gone until late in the afternoon when he arrived by van with the pharmacist. Dekebo had spent half a day walking to the main road, caught a bus to the nearest town, visited the pharmacist, stayed the night in a cheap hotel, and then returned with the pharmacist.

The next day we all piled in the van and drove to Awassa to buy the malaria medication. We personally delivered the medication to the man we had seen in the yard and the family who lived next door to him, with whom we had become friends. When we checked in with the sick man a couple of weeks later, he was up on his feet, smiling, and looking great! I would not have recognized him if I didn't know it was him.

Dekebo had been an outstanding student as a child, and qualified to attend a special private school for advanced students. But Dekebo's father died before Dekebo was able to graduate from high school, and there was no longer money for him to attend school. So Dekebo went to work for Bishangari Lodge. But his dream was to be a doctor.

Education in Ethiopia is dirt cheap by our standards in the US, and I was working at the time, so we decided to pay for Dekebo to finish high school and then go to college. He finished high school and then decided to go into a nursing program. He finished his nursing program, but he had no way to get around Ethiopia to find a nursing job. So he returned to his job at Bishangari Lodge and has been trying to save $800 for a motorbike, but so far has only $100.

I am asking for all of my friends who are able to please pitch in for his motorbike. I thought we needed $800, but just reread his email message and see that we only need $700! And people have already generously donated $120 so now we only need $580!!

If you would be so kind as to donate, even $3 or $5 or more if you can, you can easily make a difference, not just in Dekebo's life, but in the lives of the people he is going to care for. There is much more I could tell you; Dekebo is truly an exceptional human being. He can make a real difference if we just help him on his way.

To donate:

1. Go to www.paypal.com

2. Click on Send Money.

3. Type dekebomotorbike@gmail.com in the To email address field.

4. Complete the rest of the fields as appropriate, and click Continue.

Thank you so much!!