Nefes Yemar*

By Solomon Teklai

In the past three weeks three Ethiopians who lived here in the United State have committed suicide. Among those three individuals, one worked with us in organizing the New York Abay Sport team during the late 80’s and early 90’s.

He was a father and a highly dedicated community activist. The second individual was also a father and a devoted Orthodox Christian. He attended and volunteered in churches and in many Gondar development programs. I do not have detail information about the third Ethiopian but I was told he lived in Maryland. I am sure he was a beloved son of someone and with rich personal history.

Mariam mentoring and tutoring program conducts its sessions every Saturday afternoon from 2:00-6:00pm at the Mariam Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The program is designed to tutor and mentor Ethiopian students in the DC metropolitan area. In the past six years, we have seen people of all ages come to this church seeking help to fight their mental afflictions.

We saw some crying, others praying for hours. Some of them come to our tutoring sessions and sit there with no word coming out of their mouth. Few others try to talk about something that has nothing to do with the tutoring in session but it is about the touching and sad story of their life.

Unfortunately, we are mostly engaged in tutoring and do not have the means to be of assistance to those who come there seeking help.

Yes, it is a huge challenge as the Ethiopian population in the area grows in the absence of social programs to help people in such circumstances. Is there anything that we can do as individuals to reach the soul of those people during their time of mental suffering?

Nefes Yemar* is an Amharic equivalent to “God bless the soul.”