Ato Dedo, the 56 year-old from Ethiopia, had leprosy for 15 years when he was young. Today he is running the Bidisimo Hospital for DAHW (GLRA), their first project. He tells his life story here.

Bundes Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul met Ato Dedo at an event in Berlin earlier this year marking DAHW's 50th Anniversary
©DAHW

 

My Early Childhood

My name is Ahmed Abrahim Dedo. I was born in 1950 in the Alamaya district of the Eastern Hararghe Zone in Ethiopia. I was the seventh of eleven children born into a farming family.

My childhood was very pleasant. I grew up assisting my family, shepherding our domestic animals. In my spare time, usually in the mornings, I used to attend informal religious education in my village. I had a hobby of planting seedling vegetables and trees. I was also interested in listening to tales of elderly persons.

Long and Painful Search for Treatment

Things began to change when I was affected by a disease at the age of 14. I began to observe unknown patches and nodules on some parts of my body. This created worry and discomfort in my family. My father understood the need to look for medication. He took me to see traditional healers, whom he considered best placed to advise on suitable treatment. Over a period of 18 months I saw every known local healer, who tried their best, and my father spent a lot of money, to cure what the healers believed to be pneumonia or some kind of internal disease. As nothing was successful, we abandoned seeking treatment locally.

Someone my father knew from the Harar market advised him to take me to Gende Féron and I was taken to see him in 1965. My family, especially my father might have known I had leprosy but he had not told me his suspicions. By chance I learned my disease could be leprosy. As we were approaching Dr Féron's clinic, some disabled persons by the roadside whispered: "Look a boy like one of us has come!". Dr Féron, a French missionary, who pioneered modern treatment of leprosy in Ethiopia, quickly diagnosed me with leprosy and told me about the drugs I would have to take. My father sent me to stay with an uncle 6 km distance and I had to walk there and back to Dr Féron's every day to receive the medication. 

However, after six months my treatment came to an abrupt halt, because my family had decided that I could not possibly have leprosy, because they believed it to be a hereditary disease and no-one in the family had had it before. They concluded it was a waste of time me being given drugs by Dr Féron and I returned to the family home. I resumed lessons, attending local religious education.

After ten months I was in pain from the disease. Again, we consulted traditional healers, but in vain. The disease continued to advance. Three months later my father learnt that a new type of treatment was being given to persons affected by leprosy in Bidisimo. He took me to this camp by donkey in 1966 so I could be treated.

From Destitution to a Path of Hope

Whilst receiving treatment, I started doing simple tasks such as watering flowers and  collecting animal feed. The Bisidimo Relief Centre assisted patients with free treatment, accommodation and shelter. In addition to this privilege we were paid a daily wage of 25 cents which was a lot of money at that time. Above all, being engaged in some kind of work had a great psychological impact, raising our confidence, giving us a sense of importance and usefulness.

I consider starting primary school in Bisidimo a major break through in my life. I felt life was becoming kinder and more worth living.

Later on I got a chance to be transferred to Bidisimo Hospital. In the beginning I used to work as a cleaner and wound dresser. Parallel with this work I made progress in my formal education, performing satisfactorily. Then I was promoted to an inpatient ward as a dispenser. Later I worked in almost all sections of the hospital; physiotherapy, in which I worked for 15 years, was my favourite.

I attended up to eighth grade. However, as the nearest high school was in Harar, 20 km away from Bisidimo, there was no possibility for me to travel there and back every day. Friends helped me continue my education and I completed my high school studies in 1980. In the year 1986, I attended a one-year course and graduated as professional health assistant. Besides this formal training I attended various training courses in physiotherapy, leprosy and tuberculosis programmes.

Important Life Achievements

As I furthered my education and experience, so I moved up the career ladder. Once I left high school, I was promoted as a health educator in the leprosy control programme, where I worked from 1982 - 1985. Then I became area supervisor for Garamuleta, Jijiga, Bisidimo and Harar, responsible for finding and treating cases of leprosy. Later, I was assigned to run the tuberculosis and leprosy control programme of former Hararghe region.

In the year 2000 the Bidisimo Relief Centre was without a manager, and I was chosen to manage the centre until the government had assigned a new one. As a result, I worked for three years as the Co-ordinator of the Bidisimo Relief Centre. Next I worked as their tuberculosis and leprosy advisor. In the year 2006 the new manager of the Bidisimo Relief Centre resigned and I have been reassigned to run the Bidisimo Relief Centre as its Acting Manager.

Family Life

I was also married in the year 1976 and I have nine children, four of whom have graduated from university, one of whom is in college, one in high school, whilst the other three are still in elementary school.

GLRA's Place in My Life

There are many persons affected by leprosy who have made remarkable achievements with the support of GLRA in Ethiopia - I am a living example. Had I not obtained their assistance I do not know what course my life would have taken. However, I cannot rule out a bitter life compounded with disability, dislocation and begging as the only means of earning a living, as such miseries were the destiny of many a person affected by leprosy.

 

Category: Ethiopia, News and Notes