ካብቲ ዝገርም ናይ'ዞም ረበሓ ሃገር ዘቐድሙ ንንብረት ሃገርን ህዝብን ካብ ናይ ውልቃዊ ንብረቶም ዝከናኸኑ ብሓልዮት ህዝቦም ዘገልግሉ፣ ብዛዕብኦም ብዙሕ ኣይስማዕን ፣ ምኽንያቱ ባህሊን ክብርታትን ህዝባዊ ግንባር ብተግባሮም እዮም ድዛረቡ፡ ፡

እዚ ኣገዳሲ እንተኾነ ዘየድልዩ ባህርያት ከም ሸለልትነት፣ ምብኻን ጸጋታት ፣ ኣክንዲ ንህዝቢ ንነብስኻም ምግልጋል፣ ኣክንዲ ትሕትና ኣንነት፣ ኣክንዲ ምስራሕ ናብ ሰእልን መስኹት ናይ ተለቪዝዮን ምጉያይ፣ ዝኣመሰሉ ባህርያት ከይመዕብሉ፡ ድምጺ ናይዞም ሰብ መትከልን ክብርታትን ኣዝዩ ኣገዳሲ እዪ፡ ፡

Michael Teklemichael Teweldebrhan is the head of the Laboratory department of Orotta referral hospital, the largest hospital in Eritrea. He was born in Segheneity on the 12th of August 1975. He went to Selam elementary school in Asmera from1983 to 1985. He joined the EPLF at a young age, he was, therefore, sent to the revolutionary school (Betimhrty Serwra) and followed his studies from 1986 to 1990.

He was then assigned in the popular army as an operator, where he served until June 1993. Michael joined Asmera University in 1999, and graduated in the field of Clinical Laboratory Science in 2003, and has been working in Orotta referral hospital laboratory department since. He also took part in the battles in the third invasion of the weyane with division 27 of the Eritrean Defence Forces.

We have been trying to arrange an interview with Michael, however it did not materialise for a long period that is until few days ago, when we met him on his way back to Eritrea after completing his training outside Eritrea.

Amongst other things, we talked about the values of work ethic, selflessness, and his multi-skilled talents that he practises not only on his assigned tasks but also beyond the call of duty, which Mussie Kiflom (who regularly does a voluntary work at Orotta Hospital) admired and talked about.

Mussie says : “Michael is very committed to his work and public service, he works very long hours beyond the scheduled obligation hours and does his tasks and much more besides such as fixing and maintaining machines and equipment. He managed to save considerable hard currency that was spent to hire foreign professionals who come to Eritrea to fix a machine, by teaching himself the required skills to fix such machines.”

Michael also worked as a part-time laboratory medicine lecturer at Orotta medical school. Mussie observed how much students respect and love in the passionate way that he delivered his lectures and his strong desire to pass on his knowledge to the students. Michael also takes an active interest in sport, he played volleyball and currently coaches the national volleyball team.

After an introduction, the question put to Michael was in regards to his work ethic “You go beyond the call of duty to work extra including fixing machines. How do you manage to learn all these and where does your motivation and work ethic come from?

Michael: “I think it is my behaviour. I learned these values and characters from my golden school years at the revolutionary school (Betiimihrti Sewra). During the armed struggle all the fighters worked very hard. I learned these values when I was young and have adapted and this is who I am. It is also my duty to contribute my knowledge.

I love my work and I try to develop my knowledge daily. If I do not solve problems around me, I cannot sleep well. The armed struggle taught me to work hard, to make sacrifices and to be dedicated to achieve your goal and to serve the community equally and efficiently.

Question – What is your current position and what sort of tasks and responsibilities do you do?

Michael –My current tasks are to coordinate the lab work, to follow up the SOP, to develop the knowledge of the staff, to maintain the instruments, and monitoring quality results of the patients. In addition, ensuring results are produced in shortest possible time so as to make sure patients receive the necessary treatment. To achieve all these, human resources and management are important factors. Above all having good relationship amongst staff is crucial. I believe in open discussion, therefore, meetings are held every month to discuss current situation of work and cohesion of staff among each other.

Question – Despite the heavy investment made in human resources, many individuals do leave the country upon completing their education including those in medical profession in the hope of better economic opportunities, how do you see this and what keeps you going?”

Michael – If we work hard in building our nation, we can achieve our goals, but leaving your country in order to solve one’s own financial problems, is not the solution. By facing the problem we can build the nation of our martyrs’. At this moment of globalised world, every nation has its own problems. I think sacrifice is mandatory to see the golden nation that we all want. Building a developed nation is our main goal, so in general, I don’t accept leaving your nation