Asfaw Yemiru died on May 8th
The founder of Ethiopia’s best school for poor children was 78 or 79
IT WOULD TAKE a long time, Asfaw Yemiru reckoned, to walk the 75 miles from his village in Bulga to Addis Ababa. The family had last gone by donkey, so that he and his 11 brothers could be made deacons in the cathedral. That trip had taken two days. He was going barefoot now, and he was only nine.
He had 50 cents in his pocket, and had not told his parents he was leaving. But the village offered him nothing except priest-school, where he would learn to read religious books and, very probably, become a Coptic priest like his father. Addis jumped with possibilities, so away he went.
This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline "The long walk"
From the May 22nd 2021 edition
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