Addis Ababa University (AAU) Community Service Directorate in cooperation with Live for Generation Organization delivered humanitarian assistance through its volunteer youth members of Psych in Action Club (Different Department Students of the University) at Adama Hospital Medical College (AHMC) on the 7^th of August 2022.

With fully organized cooperation of the directorate, Live for Generation, Psych in Action and Young Ladies Christian Association (from Adama town), over 100 participants rendered volunteer activities by taking care of and feeding patients as well as blood donation.

Organizers of the event, representatives of the participating as well as the hosting institutions, blood donors and other concerned bodies, reflected their views regarding all the activities forwarded by the volunteers at AHMC on the day as follows:

Dr. Muleta Befkene, Obstetrician, Director of Outpatient Department and Coordinator of the Blood Bank at AHMC:

“The college is conducting the teaching and learning in equal sector. It is a hospital that accommodates many patients. According to the information of the Ministry of Health, it is in the 3rd place in Ethiopia in terms of patient load coverage.

The hospital uses more than 6,600 units of blood annually, but we haven’t got more than 15 percent of the amount need this year. This shows how much the demand is higher and how much the supply is lower.

As our city is the exit and entrance of the eastern gate of our country, it is a place where there is a lot of traffic and trauma from different accidents. Blood is necessary to relieve trauma and requires extensive work in this regard. It is also well-known that traffic accidents demand a lot of blood next to childbirth.

The young volunteers who came from Addis Ababa and donated blood have done a great and commendable job. This teaches others what volunteerism means being an example. It is important to realize that giving blood and saving a life is a good deed that cannot be measured by any standard because it is a way of giving life to save others’ life.

Their additional participations that they cheerfully did in the hospital by feeding the patients, giving them flowers, and praying for the mercy of the creator of their faith, totally became a great spiritual strength for the patients. This good deed is highly commendable and encourages other young people to learn from it and participate in their respective areas.

This activity, on the other hand, is very important to get to know each other and to get to know the country and to avoid themselves from going to other places where illegal activities are carried out. On behalf of the mothers who need blood in many ways, I would like to thank the AAU for preparing and implementing this wonderful activity at AHMC.

Young people can do their volunteer service in their summer vacation in two ways. One is to provide physical support to those who have been injured and the other is to provide awareness training to prevent accidents from happening.

For example, they can give priority to elderly and disabled people who have difficulty in crossing roads by preventing them from getting into accidents. If they get into an accident situation, they can help prevent the injury from getting worse by providing first aid and helping them get to medical centres.

I want to encourage voluntary organizations such as Live for Generation to strengthen and continue this kind of good work; we will also provide the necessary support whatever we can.

As the awareness of blood donation is low as a country, it would be good if the media should work harder in this regard. It would be good if the media that presents the news every day has a context in which to convey the message of blood donation before or after the news. If social media operators also implement this, it will be a very important task for our country.”

Mr. Yonas Birhanu, Executive Director of Live for Generation Organization:

“Live for Generation was founded at Wolkite University and has been organized for the past seven years, first as a club, then as an association, and then as an organization. The organization focuses on six programs.

Leadership program on career development and entrepreneurship, linking mental and behavioral health to productivity; providing charity and volunteer services; advocacy of informing young people to their rights and obligations; strengthening people-to-people relations are among others services that Live for Generations provides.”

Mr. Eyob Asfaw, Senior Community Service Specialist at AAU:

“‘Seek Wisdom, Elevate Your Intellect and Serve Humanity!’ is the motto for AAU. Accordingly, through our University’s Community Services Office, we have coordinated youth volunteers and members of the Psych in Action Club to visit Adama Hospital and do volunteer work, including blood donation, and learn a lot from the process.”

Ethiel Afework (Student), President of Psych in Action Club (AAU):

“Psych in Action was founded by AAU 10 years ago. It has five departments under it. It is a group consisting of students from various departments including Psychology and Sociology. We are here with the invitation and coordination of the AAU Community Services Office.

Our Club does volunteer work both on and off campus. One of the activities that we do out of campus is volunteering. Now, in cooperation with Live for Generation, we visited Adama Hospital and cared for patients. This activity is one of the ways in which we have shown that we are close and sincere servants to our community.

At today’s service, where we gave food and flowers to the sick, their joy was incomparable when they found out that we had come from Addis Ababa to serve them. We could see that they miss people from their overall activities and the love they show on their faces.

In the blood donation, the motivation and passion shown by many young people to donate blood was amazing. I would like to take this opportunity to express that we are ready to contribute our part in motivating the youth through our Club so that this will continue to be strengthened.”

Mr. Fikru Bedasa, blood donor,  Project Coordinator from Live for Generation Organization:

What we are in today was a work that pleased not only to the human but also to the creator; it is amazing sacrifice as to me. More than the joy I get from visiting the patients, I am very happy to be present at Adama Hospital and donate blood during this time of blood shortage.

The joy of seeing people in need with your own eyes and being able to support them in a field where that problem can be solved is incomparable. I am very happy to have done this today at Adama Hospital.

When we provide support, the happiness we saw on the faces of the patients created more motivation on us. In addition to the support provided by the hospital, the patients’ hope for recovery is greatly enhanced when they see their relatives (us) coming from far away and helping them in person.

Blood donation does not discriminate against caste, religion, gender or any other distinction. No one voluntarily donates blood to save a life someone he/she knows, but it is used equally by all because no one knows who it is given to and the recipient does not know from whom it comes. 

It is necessary to raise awareness and expand the service so that everyone who can donate blood. Especially since Adama Hospital has more than 550 patients, blood services are widely needed. Since donating blood does not cause any health or other problems to the donor, I say it is good for the society to do it voluntarily.

Our country needs many things in view of its current situation. It is the time to think of good things and help each other being hand in hand. For instance, today we are more than a hundred people who came from different parts of our country to do charity work at Adama Hospital; we don’t know each other that much; we simply came here without with simple calls and information on the phone.

The young generation is an important part of the society for our country, so we have to do all the good things that are needed for our country. Incitement to conflict should be avoided especially by those who are divided by religion and ethnicity, which are useless to the country and its people. Our country has everything that is enough for all of us, so we are expected to work together with love and affection with each other.”

Tsega Kebede (Young Civil Engineer):

“When I prepared myself to donate blood for the first time today, I felt scared at first, but after I finished donating, I realized that it didn’t matter. I am extremely happy to be able to do this.

When we looked after the patients, we could see the joy in their faces. I believe that what we have done is very important and should be strengthened. On my part, I am ready to do what is expected of me in the future.

Since blood donation is the most important thing for the hospital and it is facing a shortage, I would say that all we can do should do it consistently. Saving lives is more important than anything else, so we have to do this widely.”

 

Editor: Abraham Giramy