Making a difference

Saturday, December 6, 2003 3:54 AM EST
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By Andrea Yeaman

Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer

Sprung from a family tragedy, Dr. Solomon and Mekedes Negash converted their misfortune into hope for others.

In October 2001 at the family's California home, 2-year-old Bethany Negash drowned in the family's backyard pool. As family and friends donated money for funeral expenses, the Negashes were faced with the decision of finding a meaningful way to spend the surplus of funds.

"I preach to people that when you face tragedy, the only way to overcome it is to help others," Negash said.


The Bethany Negash Memorial Foundation was born with the intention of shipping books to students in their native country of Ethiopia.

"There is a big shortage of books in Ethiopia. The country has gone through AIDS, civil war and drought. No one has the time to pay attention to education," said Negash, who now lives in Kennesaw with his wife and children Lily, 11, and Caleb, 10.

Contacting all 160 colleges in California, Negash landed on a goldmine in the college bookstores. Receiving enthusiastic responses, many of them agreed to donate their excess college textbooks to the cause. The foundation's first shipment to Ethiopia consisted of 125,000 books.

The actual process of collecting and housing such a sizeable amount of books was hard for a budding organization. For the next batch of shipments, Negash enlisted the help of Hunts Across the Water and McGraw-Hill, companies that play a large hand in collecting the books and storing them in Northern warehouses until ready for shipment to Africa.

The Bethany Negash Memorial Foundation is in the process of sending 175,000 books to Ethiopia just this week. All the foundation asks is that the students pay for the transportation of the books.

"Five universities in Ethiopia paid for the transportation. It comes to 30 to 33 cents per book for college books that are usually $90 to $100," Negash said. "When I was in college for engineering 23 years ago, I was lucky to find a copy of a 20-year-old book. Forget about a current book. The country has no books. That's why we wanted to focus on this."

Moving to the United States for graduate school more than 20 years ago, Negash has only been back to Ethiopia twice, but plans more trips to his homeland for the future.


"It's interesting because some parts of it look just like here. It has an urban city with everything we have but there is no middle class," he said. "Everyone either has everything or has nothing. There are the poorest of the poor. It's a different level of poverty."

A new professor at Kennesaw State University this year, Negash hopes to entice students to get involved in the foundation's crusade. He dreams to develop an Atlanta book center, where Atlanta universities and colleges can donate leftover textbooks to be stored right here.

"There are a dozen organizations that organize books, but none are in Atlanta. There are a lot of schools and a lot of books," said Negash, a professor of computer science and information systems. With a combination of money from the Negash's personal fund and from various fund-raisers, they grew enough to branch out their services and adopt 12 orphans in December of last year.

"Our objective was to show that education can make a difference in a child and to help them become successful," said Negash of the orphans that range in age from 7 to 22. "We commit to one year. If at the end of the year, they show improvement in their education, we will renew them for anther year."

Instead of putting the children in an orphanage, he links them with a grandparent or sibling to be their guardian. The guardian must use the funding provided for supplies and adequate clothing for the child and must allow time for the child to study. Guardians also are encouraged to start their own business.

"If you have a successful parent, you will probably succeed," Negash said.

A kink in the program still being worked out is the lessons for the children as tutors and tutorees were not living in proximity to each other. Despite this, all 12 children have shown the willingness to better themselves this past year and will be renewed for another year. Negash considers the children his commitment until they finish college.

"We have 12 kids that call us parents. I can not get my daughter back but the joy that comes from helping others, it is the best thing that has happened to us," Negash said. "God is using this experience for something bigger and better.

"Whether you die when you are 2 or 90, you haven't lived if you can't make a difference. And in her 2 years, Bethany made a difference in our life. In her absence, we are sharing it with others. That's what I live for."

For more information about the organization, go to www.bethanymemorial.org.

ayeaman@mdjonline.com