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August 20, 2007 :

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WHY A GETACHEW BOLODIA MEMORIAL LECTURE
By Ermias Dagne,
Department of Chemistry,
Addis Ababa University
Adis Ababa University is now over forty years old. By any standard it is a young university. Most of its teaching and administrative staff are till alive. However, an increasing number are approaching retirement age, and a few have started to pass away. It is therefore appropriate to think of ways and means of remembering colleagues who have contributed immensely to the growth and development of this university. This can be done in many ways including naming programs, buildings, scholarships, publications, etc. or organizing seminars and lectures in memory of deceased colleagues. This is a tradition followed by universities elsewhere in the world and it is indeed an exemplary practice for us to follow as well. Getachew Bolodia was the first person in Addis Ababa University to have initiated such a tradition. He organized Memorial Lectures on two occasions in honour of Dr Admassu Tefera, who was an Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and a very popular and capable educator and physician. Getachew took pains to make these memorial lectures of the highest possible standard by inviting prominent scientists from the U.K. to come to Addis Ababa specifically to deliver the Admassu Tefera Memorial Lectures. We therefore felt that it was fitting to organize similarly a memorial lecture in memory of Getachew Bolodia, who as you will gather from the pages that follow, was an exceedingly popular educator and dedicated scientist. Indeed, an initial announcement of the program was welcomed with enthusiasm by several colleagues in the faculties of medicine and science. Our calls for sponsorship of the program was also positively responded to by the societies and organizations mentioned above in the Editor's Note. In the planning stages, we sent an e-mail message to the Ethiopian Electronic Bulletin Board called CLEO based in the USA to help us locate Getachew's children. A couple of days later, Daniel Getachew, a graduate student in the USA, responded with the statement "I am truly amazed at the work of technology. One mention and we can get in touch with anyone". He and his sister Yemisratch, also residing in the USA, elated at the idea of our honouring her father, wrote a supportive letter that was also filled with passion and wits. The two wrote:

"When we first saw your note that the lecture was going to be on diabetes, we remembered one of our father's last jokes. Our father meets a friend and colleague from another faculty at AAU at the Black Lion Hospital. He asks him what he was there for, and the colleague replies that he had diabetes. Our father said to the gentleman 'You know what? You really grew sweeter in your old age".

Yemisratch and Daniel then sent a message that was read at the opening session of the Memorial lecture, the full text of which is published here. Thanks to them, the sponsors, the speakers and the nearly 350 members of the audience who contributed in many ways to the success of the program. We were also pleased by the extensive media coverage on the program.. The same evening the event was broadcast by TV and radio.On 27th November, Mulugeta Bayeh wrote in the Ethiopian Herald a moving article on Getachew, entitled "Maverick biochemist excelled by none yet" in which he also praised Prof. Paulos Berhanu (left) for delivering a brilliant lecture. The University publication News and Views also covered the story as did other newsletters. It is indeed pleasing that the Editorial Board of the Chemical Society of Etbiopia decided to dedicate this issue to Getachew Bolodia and that it consented to publish the speeches and Prof. Paulos Berhanu' s lecture in its esteemed Bulletin. The tireless efforts of the Editorial Board and that of the Editor-in-Chief Dr Wendimagegn Mammo, in particular, deserve a warm applause.

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Getachew Bolodia: A Unique Educator
By Jemal Abdulkadir, Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Addis Ababa University

     I would like to congratulate Dr Ermias Dagne and his colleagues for organizing this first Getachew Bolodia Memorial Lecture. I think the quality and standard of the lecture is indeed a fitting tribute to the memory of our colleague Dr Getachew Bolodia. Getachew started his school in Harar where he completed his education up to high school. He then came to then University College in Addis Ababa to do B.Sc. in biology and subsequently proceeded to Canada where he got M.Sc. in physiology. This was followed by a brief teaching engagement in the Faculty of Science in Addis Ababa. He then proceeded to one of the most prestigious universities in the U.K. namely the University of Cambridge to obtain his Ph.D in biochemistry. Upon his return from the U.K. Getachew joined the Faculty of Medicine, where he taught alone the biochemistry course to medicine students for many years. He also gave the same course in Gondar, Jimma and Alemaya. Getachew was unique, in that he was a great lecturer, who enjoyed his lectures and almost without exception his students also enjoyed his lectures. He had an extraordinary talent of remembering the names of all his students, even after the intake into medicine rose to 120. I do not think that many of us have such a talent. Getachew has now passed away, but his memory will live with us for as long as we live. I congratulate Dr Paulos Berhanu, for giving this brilliant lecture, dedicated to Getachew Bolodia, on the "Cellular and Molecular Biology of Insulin Action, Insulin Resistance and Diabetes Mellitus".

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A Note in Memory of Dr Getachew Bolodia
By Fisseha Haile Meskal, Associate Professor Department of Biology, Addis Ababa University

      It gives me a great pleasure to say a few words about my friend and colleague the late Dr Getachew Bolodia. I should like to thank the organizing committee for giving me this opportunity. My acquaintance with Getachew goes far into the distant past when we went to the same high school in Harar. I remember, the first time I met him, it was only a couple of days after I joined the Harar Medhane Alem Secondary School where Getachew was just one year AHEAD of me. He took that one year advantage and' started to tease me, the way sophomores tease freshmen. I was a bit angered and wanted to charge. But he soon changed the atmosphere and pacified me, you know the way Getachew behaved under such circumstances. From that day on we remained good friends. We also seem to be influenced by the same star, if there is such a thing! He studied biology, and I did the same. He taught in AAU and I followed suit. He served as the Director of the then Central Laboratory and Research Institute (CLRI) now the National Research Institute of Health (NRIH) and I did the same. One outstanding characteristic of Getachew has been his independence of mind. He acted the way he believed with little concern about what others may say and some times even without waiting for approval of his superiors, and in most instances it turned out that he was right. As an example, I should like to mention the following important achievement of Dr Getachew during his tenure of service as Director of the CLRI. At that time the functions of the CLRI were mainly provision of diagnostic services, quality control and production of some prophylactic substances. As it was the only institution in the country performing bacteriological tests and chemical analysis, its services were limited to the residents of Addis Ababa and its environs. Attempts were made several times before Getachew's time to establish branches of the institution in the provinces with the intention of making the service of the institute accessible to a larger population. Although excellent project proposals were developed by WHO experts and several attempts made by the former directors to implement the idea, as usual, the bureaucracy of the time was an impediment to implementation. Daringly, Getachew went AHEAD and got laboratories designed for a number of provinces. He allocated the necessary funds from the institute's budget and got a laboratory building constructed in Awassa to serve the southern part of the country. I recall that before the Regional Public Health Laboratory was established in Awassa, health authorities used to request CLRI for laboratory service in their efforts to control disease outbreaks. By the time the request was received and technicians sent to far away places such as Gamo Gofa for specimen collection, the epidemic had taken its toll. Thanks to the daring steps initiated by Getachew, resident technicians can now collect and analyze specimens of public health importance not only in Awassa, but also in Nekemt, Jimma, Dessie and Mekele, thus saving thousands of lives each year. With Getachew's spirits prevailing, we are sure other regions will soon establish their own laboratories and thus contribute to the prevention and control of communicable diseases in Ethiopia. May Getachew's spirit of courage and self confidence prevail upon us and may his soul rest in peace, thank you.

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In Memory of Getachew Bolodia
By Shibru Tedla, Professor, Department of Biology, Addis Ababa University

      In presenting this brief epitaph in honour of my friend and colleague, Getachew Bolodia, I indeed have mixed feelings. There is a sense of sadness and deep sorrow, but there is also a sense of comfort because of the fact that one is not totally forgotten when one dies. The dead live in the minds of their dear ones, relatives, friends and colleagues. Dr Getachew Bolodia was born in Dire Dawa in 1935, after remarkable academic achievements at all levels of the academic hierarchy, he obtained his Ph.D from the world famous citadel of science, the University of Cambridge, in the UK in 1967. Since then till about a year before his death, on 12 April 1992, he was a member of the academic community of Addis Ababa University. He was known by all as the nice person - the kind person and the generous person. He died after a short but intense and courageous struggle with cancer. To biology students of my generation and those that came later, he was like a father on whom we relied for unflinching support when the need arose; he was a teacher excelled by none, a source of inspiration to us all. He was also like an elder brother who had just passed through the initiation of adulthood guiding us to achieve the same. Above all he was a friend with very many positive attributes. Prominent among these qualities was his generosity. His help was generously rendered to all who needed it. This, I believe, is known by all who have had dealings with him. Ordinary mortals sprinkle around their generosity in spoon-fulls. His was poured out in bucket-fulls. He lived an intense and rich life. As a teacher he used simple examples in the process of transferring complex concepts. Many no doubt, remember his lectures on ATP as energy source. ATP was equated with the currency in use irrespective of its source. He will state that whether you have USD or Sterling Pounds or Deutsche Mark - they will have to be changed to Birr prior to expenditure in local transactions. Dr Getachew Bolodia was indeed a great man with rare qualities. He has achieved a lot in his life time, and all his students are the living examples of that achievement, as well as the witnesses to the same. I have no desire to cite his achievements in yard-sticks used for the purpose by many, such as number of publications, years spent in high administrative posts and high level committee membership. He has contributed as much as anyone along these lines, but where he excelled all of us is where these yard-sticks are useless; such as his deep desire to see others express their full potential by facilitating training opportunities, his cultivation of confidence in his students and colleagues alike, his inculcation of positive outlooks towards life in many of the young and the old around him. How do you measure such values - calculations should be left to the "calculating boys" as he always referred to people who have made calculating a way of life. Calculating he never was, cautiousness was not one of his virtues. He made friends easily as all humane individuals do; he treated people equally as a man of integrity should; rare are such qualities, especially in an individual who grew up in a non-egalitarian medium in a semi-feudal society. He was a very intelligent and above all a very understanding man. Even at his death bed - being only hours away - his sharp wit and sparkling intelligence did not betray him. Our memories of his last hours are as lively as the rest of his life. He was indeed a kind man, we are all proud to have been associated with. We all lost a father, an elder brother, a teacher and above all a humane friend - but all is not lost - in his case the good is not buried with his bones - it survives in the minds of his son, his daughter, his wife and all of us-his disciples.

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Message from Daniel and Yemistratch Getachew

      We would like to extend our gratitude to Dr Ermias Dagne and all those who have helped in putting together this memorial lecture. Although we may not be physically present, our heart is with you on this night. You all may recall that it was in our father's heart to honor great achievers in the medical faculty including Professor Charles Leithead and Dr Admassu Tefera, through memorial lectures on current issues in the field. Today to see him being honored in the same vein, is a bittersweet experience. Bitter, because our father had so much more to give and contribute before his untimely death; sweet because the fruit of his impartation to the scientific and medical community is being recognized by those he loved the most. The achievements of our father can be summed in one word: YOU! Each one of you who is here today has benefited in some way from the tireless efforts of our father. Growing up, we always knew that we were just two among his many children; each and every student in his class he felt a fatherly affection for. He teased (boy did he tease!), joked, ridiculed, made fun of, etc. no subject or person was sacred. He has earned his place as the modern day Aleka Gebrehana. But he did all this out of love. If many students in a class did not get a satisfactory grade, he took it out on himself and saw it as a failure on his part to teach effectively. He constantly strived to simplify complicated scientific concepts - the infamous Krebs cycle was reduced to a "Jebena and coffee cups!" Our culture likes to memorialize the death of a loved one yearly. We prefer to celebrate Dr Getachew Bolodia's memorial event by providing financial contribution to support some talented young students of the Addis Ababa University. As you know, our father had very modest beginnings. However, his intelligence and hard work allowed him to pioneer the way for many young scientists of today. One thing that has been burning in our hearts is that a lot of talented young individuals in the science and medical faculties at the Addis Ababa University are unrewarded and unrecognized. We believe that young people should be encouraged and for that reason we are in the process of setting up the Getachew Bolodia Scholarship to reward and recognize outstanding achievers and promising young scientists. We welcome the input of all interested persons in realizing this objective. Last, but certainly not least, we believe that our father is privileged to have Dr Paulos Berhanu, an outstanding scientist and a fellow countryman give this lecture on "Cellular and Molecular Biology of Insulin Action, Insulin Resistance and Diabetes Mellitus". If our father were alive, he would certainly have given Dr Paulos Berhanu a standing ovation.

Very truly yours,

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