Asfaw Yemiru (born 1941–1943 – died 8 May 2021) was an Ethiopian educator who founded the Asra Hawariat School for the poor.

Biography

Yemiru was born from 1941 to 1943 in

Bulga, Ethiopia Bulga (Amharic: ቡልጋ) is a former historical region of Ethiopia in the central part of Shewa. It was bounded by the Germama river to the south, which formed the historical boundary between it and Minjar in the south. It presently encompasses ...

. His father was a

Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...

priest. When he was nine years old, he walked to

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

, a trip of around , with 50 cents. Yemiru worked on the streets, sleeping in St. George's Cathedral for around fourteen months. He eventually found work as a personal servant for a Turkish woman and received an education. Yemiru went to General Wingate boarding school on a scholarship that he won. At the school, he began providing uneaten food to beggars around the building, and at the age of 14, he started teaching them after his classes. In 1960, Yemiru's classes had around 300 students, and the following year

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...

granted him land to build a schoolafter Yemiru jumped in front of the emperor's limousine to request it. When completed, the building had rudimentary facilities, consisting of ten classrooms. To raise funds for the Asra Hawariat School for the poor, Yemiru walked between Addis Ababa and

Harar Harar ( amh, ሐረር; Harari: ሀረር; om, Adare Biyyo; so, Herer; ar, هرر) known historically by the indigenous as Gey (Harari: ጌይ ''Gēy'', ) is a walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is also known in Arabic as the City of Saint ...

, a trek of . The school received funding from various sources, including unclaimed lottery winnings,

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

, and Haile Selassie. A second campus was constructed beginning in 1972. In 2001, he was awarded the

World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child The World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child was founded in 2000 and is run by the World's Children's Prize Foundation (WCPF), based in Mariefred, Sweden. The WCPF is a non-profit organisation, independent of all political and r ...

. The school had educated over 120,000 children by 2020. It had grown to comprise 64 classrooms, a library, and dormitories. Yemiru was married to Senayet and had three children.

References

1940s births 2021 deaths Ethiopian academics School founders 21st-century educators {{Ethiopia-academic-bio-stub