|
|
Published
by International Orthodox
Christian Charities, April 29, 2004
BISHOP, ADOPTIVE
SON:
IOCC HAVING LASTING IMPACT IN ETHIOPIA
Baltimore (IOCC)
- When David Mesfin ponders the great needs in
Ethiopia, he's glad that International Orthodox
Christian Charities (IOCC) is seeking long-term
solutions for his homeland. "The help should be
not only in terms of food but also in terms of
education - teaching Ethiopians to be more
self-sufficient," he said. "Then they can pass
that legacy on to the next generation." Mesfin
remembers when he first came to America as a
13-year-old Ethiopian boy. It was 1988, and the
Ethiopian famine of 1984-1985 was still fresh in
people's minds. "People would come up to me and
ask, 'How come you don't look as skinny as they do
on TV?' " Mesfin recalled. "They thought all of
Ethiopia was a drought nation."
Fifteen years later, Mesfin, 29, of Long Beach,
Calif., doesn't worry about public perceptions of
his native land anymore. He's more concerned with
helping Ethiopians. That's why he supports the
efforts of IOCC to prevent the recurrence of
famine in Ethiopia through programs of
agricultural and vocational training.
In the face of another food crisis in Ethiopia,
IOCC currently is expanding its work with the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church and other partners. An
IOCC project supported by the Greek Ministry of
Foreign Affairs calls for the development of
small-scale farms in northern Ethiopia and the
training of young people in vocational and
agricultural skills. IOCC also is addressing the
scourge of HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia with a three-year,
$6 million project of prevention, education and
hospice care for orphans.
Mesfin, a native of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, came to
the United States after being adopted by His Grace
Bishop Dimitrios (Couchell), Ecumenical Officer of
the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and a
longtime supporter of IOCC. Bishop Dimitrios,
accompanied by the noted nutritionist Dr. George
Christakis, traveled to Ethiopia in 1985 to
deliver $160,000 in monetary assistance for the
Orthodox Church's famine relief efforts. While
there, Bishop Dimitrios learned about Ethiopian
children who were attending a Greek-run school in
Addis Ababa. "At that time, they asked me to
please try to find some parents for these orphans,
who were mostly of mixed background," Bishop
Dimitrios said.
One of those children was Mesfin, whose maternal
grandfather was Greek. "The bishop asked me if I
was interested [in being adopted], and I said,
'Oh, yeah.' It was an opportunity for me to go to
school and to turn around and help my community,"
Mesfin said. Bishop Dimitrios stayed in Ethiopia
for 10 days, visiting refugee centers and
orphanages. He laments the fact that IOCC did not
exist in 1985, and he still feels a special
connection with his adoptive son's homeland
today. "It makes me follow events in Ethiopia
more closely," he said. "Often I talk with David
about the situation, and whenever anything comes
across my desk about Ethiopia, I send it to him."
Mesfin remembers little about the 1984-1985 famine
that took the lives of nearly 1 million
Ethiopians. "I was pretty young. Where the famine
took place was primarily in the north. It didn't
affect us as severely in the city," he said. "It
was only after coming to the United States that I
found out the true scope of the famine." Dr.
Christakis, a specialist in nutrition-related
illnesses, said the beauty and fertility of
Ethiopia
belied the intense suffering he witnessed during
the 1985 trip with Bishop Dimitrios. "I came away
with the conclusion that Ethiopia, with the right
resources, could probably feed all of Africa," he
said.
Mesfin spent his teen-age years with Bishop
Dimitrios in St. Augustine, Fla. "We became like
father and son. We're best friends now," said
Mesfin, who eventually moved to Southern
California to study graphic design. Today, he is
president of Visualmorph, a graphic design firm in
Torrance, Calif. His mother, brothers, uncles and
cousins still live in Ethiopia, and his sister
moved to the United States three years ago.
Mesfin is active with the Ethiopian community in
Los Angeles, raising money for IOCC and other
organizations with humanitarian programs in
Ethiopia. "I think IOCC is doing the right thing
in working with the Orthodox Church in Ethiopia,"
he said. "You can be more effective, and you'll
have a lot more support, by working through the
Church."
IOCC, the humanitarian aid agency of Orthodox
Christians, recently joined seven other
international relief agencies in a public call for
long-term solutions to break the grip of poverty
and recurring famine in Ethiopia.
To learn more
about IOCC's relief and development programs in
Ethiopia and
14 other countries, please visit
www.iocc.org.
|
