Addis Ababa University conferred honorary doctorate degree on Debebe Eshetu, a veteran artist and playwright and Beniam Belete, founder of Mekedonia, a center for elderly and mentally impaired persons.
President Sahle-Work Zewde awarded the honorary doctorate degree to the individuals today at the graduation ceremony of the Addis Ababa University held at the Millennium Hall in Addis Ababa.
The University awarded the veteran Artist Debebe Eshetu for his outstanding contribution on the development of creative arts in Ethiopia and for Beniam Belete for his highly remarkable achievements in charity works.
The individuals received the honorary doctorate degree from President Sahle-Work Zewde.
Debebe Eshetu
Born and raised in Addis Ababa in 1951, Artist Debebe went to school in the former Teferi Mekonen School and served in the Ethiopian Air Force from 1966 to 1968.
Artist Debebe started his stage performance on a play entitled Yalacha Gabitcha ( marriage between unequal’s) written by the late Mengistu Lema. He has also served as radio and TV journalist. He also acted on a character on Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, translated by the late Tesegay Geberemedhin and Dandew Chbude and many other plays.
Debebe studied professional theatrical arts in Budapest Hungary along with the late Wogayehu Nigatu and worked on promoting theatrical skills in Ethiopia. He played on a number of films written in English including the Sailor from Gibraltar, Guma, The African Spy, Zelda the Grave Digger and the Great Rebellion. The Merchant of Venice Telfo be kisse, Yekermo sew, Enat Alem Tenu and dozen of other plays written in Amharic.
He demonstrated his excellent professional skills on play acting on Shaft in Africa, a film prepared at Hollywood.
Artist Debebe has also served as the General Director of Hager Fiker Theater and as a journalist and co-owner and producer of Kum Neger Magazine along with the late Sebhat Gebregziabhair.
In recognition to his outstanding contribution to the development of African theatrical arts, he was awarded prizes in Boston USA in 1999 and similar prize at Atlanta in 2002 and the Taitu Prize in Theatrical Arts in the same year. He participated as actor and director on a number of plays staged at Hager Fikir and the Ethiopian National Theater for many years. The Addis Ababa University conferred an honorary doctorate degree in lieu of his outstanding contribution on theatrical arts.
Beniam Belete
Beniam Belete, who is well known for his adage “ being a human would suffice to help humans” is the sixth child in a family of ten children. He was born in 1978. He was an outstanding student who graduated from Saint Josph School with a cumulative GPA of 4.
He later joined the Addis Ababa University School of Law and Legal Researches and practiced law in various disciplines in the country before he traveled to the US for further studies on non-profit management and development earning his post graduate degree in the field.
In 2000, he founded a local non-profit NGO called Mekedonia assisting some 40 elderly from the meager resources he save to effectively put in practice what he has learned. Today he manages 25 branch service centers catering to more than 7,500 needy elderly.
Biniam, Founder of Mekedonia, an organization focused on helping the lives of the people with elderly, mental disabilities, physical impairment, visual implement and bed ridders by providing all basic services (food, clothes, shelter, hygiene facilities, medical, educational and others) to the residents in the center. The center has now been providing all-round support and cares to the more than 7,500 elders and mentally impaired. The Addis Ababa University conferred an honorary doctorate degree in lieu of his outstanding contribution on charity works.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency