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Home>Service> Awardees of Fervent Global Love of Lives Award> 10th Fervent Global Love of Lives Award 2007> Africa’s Teresa ─ Haregewoin Teferra
Save AIDS orphans in Greater Africa. Witness “there is no me without you”
      Teferra, founder of the Worku Memorial Orphanage in Ethiopia, Africa, is the hope of 25 million orphans especially AIDS orphans. She suffered so much from the death of her beloved husband and then her daughter that she locked herself up for eight months. She was entirely isolated from the world. Later, with help from church, she accepted an abandoned 15-year-old girl of sex provider with AIDS, and then she accepted and gave shelter to abandoned AIDS babies one after another. From these abandoned children, she deeply realized the fact that “There is no me without you”. 

      Therefore, Teferra turned her grief into strength and founded the Worku Memorial Orphanage, by the name of her past daughter who died at the age of 30, in the capital city Addis Ababa of Ethiopia in 1998. Until December 2006, the institute had already taken in 250 AIDS babies, 125 young female sex providers and 76 abandoned infants. She is not afraid of these sick children with AIDS. She has devoted her love to them a hundred percent. In African region where there is no hope, she provides hope for those broken families. Even though the parents of those AIDS babies were dead due to lack of proper medical care, at least those AIDS babies were taken care of instead of being abandoned on the streets. She accepted them, gave them family warmth, educated them and even trained them a trade so that they live with dignity and hope like a normal person. 

      REV. Dr. Gary Gunderson is a professor of public health study in Emory University. He highly praised Teferra, “She is the only hope for the vast majority of the 25 million orphans. A dozen global conferences will not shed half the light that her life does. Teferra is our model for humanity and sympathy. We must help orphans, especially AIDS babies. We must adjust the order of significance of things in this world. Not only people in rich countries can receive good medical care, but lives of the entire world should also be treated with the same quality of medical care.” Thus, Teferra sympathized with those AIDS babies and turned her grief into strength, into great love to shelter their lives and to inspire hope. 

      She deserves the name of “Africa’s Teresa”. The life story of Teferra has deeply touched the heart and highly praised by the “2007 Global Love of Lives Assessment Committee” of the Chou Ta-Kuan Cultural and Educational Foundation. She was selected from 1829 candidates around the world for the Global Love of Lives Medal, and she shall be awarded during May 22 to 30 with other honorees of the 10th Fervent Global Love of Lives Medal and touring Taiwan and Kinmen to promote the Caring Lives public benefit activity series. 

      Secretary-General Sun Hsin-yi of the Chou Ta-Kuan Cultural and Educational Foundation indicated: 
      Teferra (Haregewoin Teferra), female, 61 years old, was born on July 3, 1946 in the capital city Addis Ababa of Ethiopia. His father is an Ethiopian federal judge. He has twenty children. Teferra is the first born daughter. After graduated from high school, she worked as an assistant in university, and then worked in a computer company.       Teferra’s husband is a high school teacher. They have two daughters after marriage. It is a very happy middle class family. 

      In 1990, Teferra’s 54-year-old husband died of illness and she had to raise her daughters alone. But something unexpected struck again. Her first daughter was hospitalized for illness on December 3, 1997. At that time, Teferra was working far away in Cairo. She hurried back after hearing the news and begged medical staff to save her daughter. Unfortunately, her daughter died. She was in extreme agony. For almost one year, she covered herself in black and stayed all day long beside her daughter’s grave, isolating herself from the rest of the world. 

      One day, she recalled a song “There is no me without you”. She wrote the contents on a piece of paper and stuck it on her daughter’s photo, and this is also the title of Teferra’s autobiography. Afterwards, with help from church she stood up again in the little hut near her daughter’s graveyard and accepted for the first time an abandoned 15-year-old girl of sex provider with AIDS. When she started to understand what a miserable life this little girl suffered, she determined to help abandoned orphans especially AIDS orphans. 

      Two weeks later, another poor boy was sent over to this home of love. Then came another two 6-year-old AIDS babies. Her life changed ever since. Teferra lived with these orphans and more and more orphans were taken in. Since AIDS is rampaging in African region including Ethiopia and places to shelter those AIDS orphans are very limited, added with people’s fear of being affected by them, many AIDS orphans end up on the streets or become sex providers. They keep lives by stealing, begging or salvaging garbage. Their death on the streets is a common scene. Therefore, Teferra spent all her savings to found the “Worku Memorial Orphanage” in the capital city Addis Ababa of Ethiopia in March 1998. Up till December 31, 2006, the institute had already taken in 451 AIDS orphans. 

      Teferra found the meaning and value of life from sheltering and caring AIDS orphans. She restates that she cannot resist loving people. Loving people transforms her grief into strength and great love. Teferra not only provides AIDS orphans with medical treatment, she also helps them return to their hometown or be adopted by foreign foster parents. If they are too weak to leave, they stay in the orphanage and they live together as a big family. Teferra offers textbooks, uniforms, classrooms and cooperates with schools to have teachers coming in to teach in the orphanage. As for young female with AIDS or widows, Teferra trains them to have a trade in order to survive. Teferra fell ill many times during her tremendous work of helping all those AIDS orphans, but she practices the teaching of indiscriminate love from God and though she fell ill again and again, she recovered each time without taking any medication. From Teferra, we witness the miracle of love. 

      AIDS originated from Ethiopia and spread across the entire Africa. The Sahara Desert Area was the most severely affected region with approximately 12 million AIDS children lost their parents. A total of 25 million African people were infected with the disease. Back in 1990s, due to fear, misunderstanding and superstition and the fact that many sick children were AIDS carriers, few people were willing to help. The original medical system collapsed because of too many sick children and the foster system could not work properly either. 

      Teferra turned the tide. She lost her will to live when her daughter passed away. She wanted to hide in church, but then she started to accept orphans with the request of Catholic charity group until her place was filled up. Her fame spread because she is not afraid of sick children with AIDS. She provides those broken families with hope. Even though the parents of those AIDS babies were dead due to lack of proper medical care, at least their children would not be abandoned on the streets. Teferra’s life has never been compromised by sick children with AIDS, on the contrary, her life becomes more meaningful because of her great love as sick children with AIDS are as lovely as ordinary children and they have the right to accept good care and treatment. Teferra is an excellent model.