'True shepherd'
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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — I had hardly given it a thought, but as it was scheduled on our itinerary for Friday morning, July 4, 2003, we made our way to the Alert Leprosy Hospital where Getachew B. Baye is employed as an administrator. This fine man also serves in the Church as the president of the Bekulobet Branch in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and is fondly known by everyone as "Getachew."
This is no ordinary hospital, as it is totally dedicated to those suffering from leprosy. It is difficult to understand that in the 21st century this dreadful disease still ravages the impoverished people of Ethiopia. During the morning tour, as I watched President Getachew show us the many sections of this specialized hospital, I glimpsed an intimate view of a true shepherd. I observed him speak with kindness and encouragement to the many patients suffering from leprosy; this was no hospice for the dying, rather it was a refuge full of hope and recovery.
His many years of tending these suffering people and his considerable knowledge of the disease with its grim effects have molded a character whose compassion was evident in the way he would touch the leprous parts of his patients in a kindly, tender way. He saw not the disfigurement, so obvious and evident to unaccustomed visitors, but the character and spirit beneath the lumps and sores of the people.
In the rehabilitation area, he took the hands of patients and showed us how, despite nerve damage, it was possible for claw hands to be made useful again by practiced manipulation. The patients, whose limbs could not be saved and were amputated, were fitted with homemade prostheses that restored mobility for these rural folk. The year-long treatment offers a cure for all but the most advanced diseased.
As we concluded the tour, we met with 12-year-old Gatanahe who had suffered from leprosy since he was 6 years of age. He was concealed in a white shroud wrapped around his head and body. The disease had covered his face in dreadful lumps and wealds so that his nose was not discernible, but when President Getachew took the boy's face in his hands, he beamed a most handsome smile. The president said he was recovering, and although there were many more months of treatment ahead, young Gatanahe would now fully recover without any residual nerve damage.
Since the treatment takes so long and those who are afflicted with the disease come from the very rural areas, President Getachew secured funding from some donors to build a hostel for family members of the patients so that they could stay nearby. He and his colleagues also set up a cooperative where handicrafts made by the family members can be sold; the proceeds provide a meager income for them. The women sit in groups, happily crocheting articles for the shop. Weavers make the traditional blankets on hand looms, with the men working large looms, throwing the shuttle through the cotton strands with such speed it is hard to see. All of this abundant hope is made possible because of the devoted and dedicated work of President Getachew and his colleagues.
As with so many of the saints in this mission, President Getachew has a fascinating life and conversion story to tell. Raised in a remote village in Ethiopia, he was the fifth child in a family of eight. With a thirst for knowledge, young Getachew asked his father if he could go to school. His father, a peasant farmer and a skilled builder, required him to work on the family farm to help eke out a meager family income, which he dutifully did from the age of 5 years until he turned 15. At the age of 16 his father took him to school. Unfortunately, his father died six months later. An obviously intelligent student, he somehow managed to accelerate his education up to the 8th grade, when two foreign doctors came to his school and selected some students to take an examination for a training course as a leprosy health care worker.
A year later he was employed at the Alert Leprosy Hospital where he has worked as a health assistant, a field supervisor and now as a coordinator, ensuring that patients take their essential prescribed medication. Although not professionally qualified, after 37 years of devoted service, Getachew has gleaned a wealth of practical skill, knowledge and anecdotal experience that makes him a specialist in their care.
He also served in the Ethiopia/Eritrea military conflict and was a field medic on the front line, taking care of the wounded soldiers in the government forces. Near the close of hostilities, he became a battlefield casualty and received seven bullet wounds, one bullet remains lodged in his hip to this day. He was left for dead on the battlefield among many corpses for three days; an army detail came by, assigned to burn the bodies. But Getachew, despite severe wounding and massive blood loss, had remained alive. The men in the burial detail were alert enough to see that he showed signs of life and took him to the nearby hospital. He then began the process that was to take a year to heal and recover.
Getachew refers to his conversion to the true Church as a miracle. In 1995, the Kenya Nairobi Mission President, Paul K. Clark, made a visit to the Alert Leprosy Hospital. The medical director was indisposed and so Getachew was asked to take the visitors around the hospital. At the conclusion of the visit President Clark said to him, "You are such a good man, why don't you visit our Church?" He did begin attending on the following Sunday and was taught the discussions by the missionaries. So began his "new life" as a member of the Church.
