When I finished my Psychiatry training last year, I became the youngest Psychiatrist in the country at the age of 25. When I went to work in Debremarkos, at the University and the only Referral Hospital in East Gojjam, I became the first and only Psychiatrist for a region of 3.5 million people. I also became the first female Specialist with a rank of Assistant Professor in my University. Making all this history all started with a young girl’s dream.
From a very young age, I have always been fascinated by people’s behavior. I wanted to know what drives it and what controls it. I wanted to know what it is that made people different from one another. It probably is because I was different growing up. I never really fit in anywhere. I was always the youngest in my class so I was always late in understanding what my peers were talking about.
When I was in grade 7, this interest grew into a dream when I read an article on a local newspaper ADDIS ZEMEN which read ‘People can control their anger if they want to’. It was an interesting read and it opened my eyes that there were people studying human behavior called Psychologists. It also showed me that many people are suffering because they don’t have the information
I was privileged with at that age. I decided then and there that I need to provide this service to the people who are in need and have no access. At 10th grade I decided to study Psychiatry. My decision was based on choosing the field that I can have the most impact with.
