የጐንደር ዩኒቨርሲቲ የሕክምና ተማሪዋ ድንገተኛ ሞት እያነጋገረ ነው

    

- አስከሬኑ አጠገብ መርዛማ ነገሮች ከመገኘታቸው ውጭ የታወቀ ነገር የለም
ላለፉት ሁለት ዓመታት በጐንደር ዩኒቨርሲቲ የሕክምና ፋኩልቲ የሕክምና ትምህርቷን በመከታተል ላይ የነበረችው ተማሪ ፀደንያ አስፋው ሚያዝያ 19 ቀን 2005 ዓ.ም. ክራውን በሚባል ፔኒሲዮን ውስጥ ሞታ መገኘቷ እያነጋገረ ነው፡፡

ተማሪዋ ወደ ሦስተኛ ዓመት የሚያሸጋግራትን የፈተና ውጤት ሚያዝያ 18 ቀን 2005 ዓ.ም. ከተመለከተች በኋላ፣ ከዩኒቨርሲቲው ቅጥር ግቢ ወጥታ ባለመመለሷ ጓደኞቿ ሞባይል ስልኳ ላይ ሲደውሉ ምላሽ በማጣታቸው፣ ለፖሊስና ለዩኒቨርሲቲው በማሳወቅ በተደረገ ፍለጋ፣ በማግስቱ ሚያዝያ 19 ቀን 2005 ዓ.ም. ከዩኒቨርሲቲው ራቅ ብሎ በሚገኘው ፔኒሲዮን ውስጥ ሞታ መገኘቷን ጓደኞቿ ገልጸዋል፡፡
በየሆቴሎቹ በተደረገ ፍተሻ ልትገኝ ያልቻለችው ተማሪ ፀደንያ ክራውን ፔኒሲዮን አልጋ የሚይዙ እንግዶችን ስም ዝርዝር ሳያስተላልፍ በመቅረቱ በተደረገ ፍተሻ እዚያ ልትገኝ ችላለች፡፡ ፔኒሲዮኑ የአዳሪዎችን ስም ዝርዝር ለፖሊስ ያላስተላለፈበት ምክንያት ደግሞ፣ አንዲት እንግዳ ዕቃዋን አስቀምጣ ስትመለስ ፎርም እንደምትሞላ ለሪሲፕሽኒስቱ ነግራው በመሄዷና ሳትመለስ በመቅረቷ መሆኑን መግለጹን ተማሪዎቹ ገልጸዋል፡፡ በመሆኑም ከውስጥ በኩል የተቆለፈው ክፍል ሲንኳኳ ሊከፈት ባለመቻሉ፣ ፖሊስ በሆቴሉ ማስተር ቁልፍ ሲከፍተው ሞታ መገኘቷን ጓደኞቿ አስታውቀዋል፡፡
ተማሪዋ ሕይወቷ ጠፍቶ በተገኘበት ክፍል ውስጥ ሁለት መርዛማ የሚመስሉ የመድኃኒት መያዣዎችና ማስታጠቢያ መገኘቱን የገለጹት ጓደኞቿ፣ ምናልባት ልጅቷ የተበላሸባትን የፈጠና ውጤት በማየቷ፣ ራሷን ሳታጠፋ እንዳልቀረች ጥርጣሬ ውስጥ መግባታቸውን አስረድተዋል፡፡
በጣም ጐበዝ ተማሪ እንደነበረችና ፀባይዋም ጥሩ እንደነበር የሚገልጹት ጓደኞቿ፣ ውጤት ተበላሸብኝ በሚል ምክንያት ሕይወቷን የምታጠፋ ልጅ አለመሆኗን በግምት ከመናገር በፊት የሕክምና የምርመራ ውጤት መጠበቅ አስፈላጊ መሆኑን ተናግረዋል፡፡
በተለይ ሞታ የተገኘችበት ክፍል ከውስጥ የተቆለፈና ቁልፉም ተንጠልጥሎ መገኘቱ፣ እንዲሁም ከውጭ በሌላ ቁልፍ ሲከፈት ያለምንም ችግር መከፈቱ “ራሷን በራሷ አጥፍታለች” የሚለውን ግምት የማያስተማምን ስለሚያደርገው፣ የአስከሬን ምርመራ ውጤቱን መጠበቅ ጥርጣሬውን በተወሰነ መንገድ ሊያሻሽለው እንደሚችል ገልጸዋል፡፡
ሟቿ የ21 ዓመት ወጣት መሆኗን የሚናገሩት ጓደኞቿ፣ ለሕክምና ተማሪዎች ፈተና የሚሰጠው ከመቐለ፣ ከጅማና ከአዲስ አበባ ዩኒቨርሲቲዎች በተውጣጡ መምህራን መሆኑን ጠቁመዋል፡፡ በመሆኑም ሟች ፈተና በወሰደችበት ዕለት አንዱ የውጭ ፈታኝ ከውጤቷ ጋር የተያያዘ ነገር ተናግሯት እንደነበር፣ ይህንንም ከፈተና ስትወጣ ለጓደኞቿ ነግራቸው እንደነበር በዩኒቨርሲቲውና በአካባቢው እየተወራ መሆኑን ተማሪዎቹ ገልጸዋል፡፡ የተበላሸባት ውጤት ምናልባትም ከዚያ ጋር የተያያዘ ሳይሆን እንደማይቀርና ለሕይወቷ ማለፍም ምክንያት ሊሆን ይችላል የሚል ግምት እንዳለ አውስተዋል፡፡
በጐንደር ዩኒቨርሲቲ ተማሪዎች ተረጋግተው እንዳይማሩ የሚያደርጉ በርካታ የውስጥና የውጭ ችግሮች እንዳሉ የሚናገሩት ተማሪዎቹ፣ ከውጤት ጋር በተያያዘ ተማሪዎች የሚደርስባቸው ማስፈራራት፣ ፈተና እንደሚከብድ በማሳወቅ የሥነ ልቦና ችግር እንዲገጥማቸው ከማድረጉም በተጨማሪ፣ ተስፋ በመቁረጥ አቋርጠው እንዲወጡ የሚደረግበት ሁኔታ ከጊዜ ወደጊዜ እየተባባሰ መምጣቱን ይናገራሉ፡፡
ፆታዊ ትንኮሳና ከውጤት ጋር በተገናኘ የማስፈራራቱ ሁኔታ ግን በከፍተኛ ሁኔታ እየጨመረ በመሆኑ ጉዳዩ በዋናነት የሚመለከተው ትምህርት ሚኒስቴር፣ እንዲሁም መንግሥት ትኩረት ሰጥተው የሚስተካከልበትን ሁኔታ እንዲያመቻቹ ተማሪዎቹ ጠይቀዋል፡፡
በጐንደር ዩኒቨርሲቲ የሁለተኛ ዓመት የሕክምና ተማሪ የነበረችውን ተማሪ ፀደንያ አስፋውን ድንገተኛ ሞት አስመልክቶ፣ ጐንደር ዩኒቨርሲቲ ማብራርያ እንዲሰጥ አሜሪካ የሄዱትን ፕሮፌሰር መንገሻ አድማሱን ተክተው በኃላፊነት እየሠሩ የሚገኙትን ዶ/ር ደሳለኝ መንገሻን በስልክ አግኝተናቸው ማንነታችንን ከገለጽንላቸው በኋላ “ተሳስታችኋል” በማለት ስልካቸውን በመዝጋታቸው፣ አስተያየታቸውን ማካተት አልቻልንም፡፡ አንድ ስማቸው እንዲገለጽ ያልፈለጉ የሕክምና ተቋሙ መምህር እንደሚሉት፣ የልጅቷ አሟሟትና የዩኒቨርሲቲው ተማሪ መሆኗ ግንኙነት የላቸውም፡፡

On Ethiopian Embassies

 

By Teklu Abate
The website of the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintains that Ethiopia has 39 missions (embassies and consular offices) in Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. These missions officially represent Ethiopia and poise to serve the Ethiopian Diaspora and Ethiopian-origin nationals. They also intend to encourage and facilitate the transfer of capital, technology, and science to Ethiopia. Since recent times, missions seem to aggressively work on 1) winning the hearts and minds of foreign investors particularly from the Arab world, India, and China, and 2) collecting funds for the construction of the “Grand Renaissance Dam”.
To what extent Ethiopian missions accomplish their missions? This is not for sure easy to answer mainly because information about the operations of the missions is not made readily available. But from media reports and mission-organized events, one could identify several areas where missions seem to perform inadequately. In this paper, I highlight some of the weaknesses and limitations of Ethiopian missions, with a goal of inviting further discussions and then possible improvements in the way they do their jobs. Although missions might be somehow different in terms of their organizational capacity and readiness to change, it is argued that they do have several common traits as outlined below.
On Modern Slavery
Due to a whole set of socio-economic and political complications at home, Ethiopians are leaving their country in droves and for slavery. Thousands cross the Red Sea and the Sahara illegally and under life-threatening conditions. Several failed to make it to their destinies- they perished along the way. Several are stolen of their internal organs; several are raped, tortured, and indefinitely detained. Those who luckily reached their destinations are equally vulnerable to mistreatments of all sorts. They are forced to work under inhuman and hard-to-believe conditions.
In a way, one could argue that Ethiopia is a witness to the revival of medieval period slave trade. Several Ethiopian activists and some international organizations have started exposing such atrocities. What is surprising and worrisome is the silence of Ethiopian missions in relation to this titanic-big problem. Although everyone has that natural right to live anywhere in the world, it should be a moral responsibility to our missions to ‘cry’ for those challenged people. Missions were/are expected to make clear statements to the government in Ethiopia and even to other governments and international organizations.
Moreover, they were/are expected to well support those Ethiopian victims, especially those in the Middle East and Africa. Rather, there are several missions that sort of facilitate the immigration of Ethiopian teenage girls to the Arab world. To me, this must be one of the most embarrassing failures of 21st century diplomatic missions. If embassies and consulates do not care about suffering Ethiopians, who else is supposed to be responsible? One could argue that our missions do not have the organizational and resource capacity to do that. To me, this holds no water; if they do not have the resource base to accomplish tasks like this, it is easy to mobilize the Ethiopian Diaspora and other organizations. Resource is not and should not be a problem but motivation and readiness and belief is. Media are working a lot to mitigate modern-day slavery whereas missions are busy sustaining and scaling it up. Missions do not adequately support and galvanize even legally residing Diaspora Ethiopians, too.
On the Ethiopian Diaspora
As the websites of nearly all Ethiopian missions maintain, they have that responsibility to serve the Diaspora regardless of their backgrounds. Unfortunately, our missions intentionally exclude the majority. Mission-organized fund raising events such as those related to the “Grand Renaissance Dam” and even cultural festivities are reserved for government sympathizers and members. Partly because of this, the Diaspora are relentlessly disrupting those events. This happened in South Africa, Europe, and North America. The latest and perhaps the most embarrassing one (to mission officials) happened in Norway (in Oslo and Stavanger) and San Diego where the opposition forced the cancellations of the fundraising events. From video releases, it is easy to see how painful those happenings were to mission officials. If missions do not change tactics and strategies, their very existence is less justifiable- let alone contributing to the construction of the grand dam. Stated simply, our missions failed to accommodate the needs and expectations of the Diaspora. Expectations are clear and simple: to first dam injustices of all sorts. Excluding, by design or accident, the Diaspora has serious implications when it comes to political civility, development back home, and national image.