Blog Haregweoin Teferra

Mrs. Haregewoin Teferra is that angel. A grief-stricken widow that turned her home into a makeshift orphanage to care for hundreds of AIDS orphans, after losing her own daughter to the epidemic. She runs the haven Atetegeb Worku Memorial Orphans Support Association AWMOSA named after the daughter she lost to AIDS. Since it has opened doors to AIDS orphans in 2001, AWMOSA has fostered over 250 kids.

Mrs. Haregewoin Teferra has made it her life mission to house and support children orphaned by AIDS, both HIV-positive and HIV-negative. She provides food, clothing, education, and medical care to the children, all with her own money. She is a selfless woman, who sold her car, jewelry and even the cloth on her back to put food on the table for the orphans. She is a benevolent woman, that sometimes goes to bed hungry doing her very best to nurture and mother the forgotten victims of AIDS.

Mrs. Haregewoin runs a school, a daycare, and a shelter for sick mothers. She operates two houses in Addis Ababa near the Gullele area. Older and healthy children attend neighborhood schools. Children too young or in too-fragile health to leave home attend school within the compound, complete with school uniforms, classrooms, and teachers. Mrs. Haregewoin is also a saint for HIV-positive young women and widows. She assists them in finding food, housing, and work. Yes, all of it at her own expense.

Mrs. Haregewoin also places the orphans with families in North America and Europe. One of them is famed author and journalist, Melissa Fay Greene who was so moved by Mrs. Haregewoin, she adopted two kids from the orphanage and also wrote a book about her called “There is No Me Without You: One Woman’s Odyssey to Rescue Africa’s Children”.

There is No Me Without You tells the powerful story of Mrs. Haregewoin’s courage, service and commitment as she struggles to heal from her personal loss by opening her heart and home to orphaned children with a renewed spirit and purpose. I am grateful for author Melissa Fay Greene for introducing this Ethiopian angel to the world. I was moved beyond words by this powerful and poignant book about Mrs. Haregewoin Teferra, whose life illuminated for me how one human being can make a world of difference.

Today, as we observe World AIDS day, let us consider ways to help these orphans Mrs. Haregewoin desires our help to spread Love and Hope to these needy children.

We can all be angels, if we tried. Let us be angels to the orphans. Please, visit Mrs. Haregewoin http://www.awmosa.org/ or e-mail her at atetegeb@ethionet.et .

The Stephen Lewis Foundation is gathering tax-exempt donations which will be used to benefit Haregewoin's foster children. Stephen Lewis is the United Nations Special Envoy on AIDS in Africa. You can donate here