Meseret Abebe Worku
Premium memorialLovingly known as “Dr. Mesi”
22 October 1953 — 13 August 2020 · aged 66
Tikur Anbessa obstetrician who healed thousands of women and trained a generation
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Born in Bahir Dar, Amhara Region Resting at Bole Medhanealem Church cemetery, Addis AbabaAbout Meseret
Dr. Meseret Abebe Worku kept a green notebook in her coat pocket, and in it, in careful Amharic, was the name of every woman she had ever operated on, with the date and a single word: 'healed', or 'again'. The women marked 'again' she followed for years, travelling out to villages in a borrowed Land Rover, until the word could be changed. It never took her more than three visits.
She was born in 1953 in Bahir Dar, the eldest of five children of a schoolteacher, and read medicine at Haile Selassie I University, now Addis Ababa University, one of only six women in her class. She trained as an obstetrician and gynaecologist and joined Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital in 1987, where she stayed for thirty-one years. She became an expert in surgery for women who had suffered childbirth injuries, volunteered for years at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, and trained more than two hundred young doctors and midwives, many now running their own clinics across Ethiopia.
She spoke quietly, listened longer and had a famous habit of drawing the surgery in felt-tip pen on a napkin for patients too frightened to ask questions. She married Berhanu Teshome in 1980, raised two children, grew roses she was too busy to prune, and made a lentil stew that her residents begged for after night shifts. On Sunday afternoons she sat in her garden in Bole with the coffee tray and the green notebook, adding names.
Dr. Meseret died in Addis Ababa in August 2020 after a short illness, aged sixty-six. She leaves her husband, two children, two grandchildren and thousands of women who write the word 'healed' beside her name.
“Heal the woman, and you have healed the whole house.”
- Faith
- Christian
- Place of birth
- Bahir Dar, Amhara Region
- Resting place
- Bole Medhanealem Church cemetery, Addis Ababa
- Passed away
- 13 August 2020, Addis Ababa
Funeral Service
Sunday, 16 August 2020 at 08:00 UTC
Add to calendarMemorial fund
Dr. Meseret midwifery training fund
Pay for rural midwives and young doctors to train as maternal health specialists, in Dr. Meseret's name.
$2,375 raised of $8,000
30%20 recent contributions
- FA
Fatima El Amrani gave $190 · 5y ago
“In honour of a wonderful woman.”
- LC
Laia Camps gave $28.50 · 5y ago
- CM
Callum McKinnon gave $142.50 · 5y ago
“In honour of a great man.”
- AN
Anonymous gave $47.50 · 5y ago
- AN
Anonymous gave $14.25 · 5y ago
Life journey
Doctor of Medicine
Haile Selassie I University (now Addis Ababa University)1971 – 1978 · Addis Ababa
One of six women in her class.
Married Berhanu Teshome
1980 · Addis Ababa
A marriage of forty years.
Residency in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Addis Ababa University1982 – 1986 · Addis Ababa
Trained at Tikur Anbessa and chose to stay.
Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist
Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital1987 – 2018 · Addis Ababa
Delivered thousands of babies and trained over two hundred doctors.
Volunteer surgeon
Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital1992 – 2018 · Addis Ababa
Treated hundreds of women free of charge.
Founder, mobile maternal clinic
Meseret Mobile Maternal Clinic2001 – 2019 · Amhara Region
Brought antenatal care to remote villages in a borrowed Land Rover.
Women in Medicine Lifetime Award
Ethiopian Medical Association2015 · Addis Ababa
For service to women's health and the training of young doctors.
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Family & connections
Meseret is survived by
- Berhanu Teshome· Spouse
- Liya Berhanu· Daughter
- Nathan Berhanu· Son
- Dr. Tadesse Abebe· Brother
- 2 grandchildren· Grandchildren
Tributes & memories
6 people have shared a memory of Meseret.
Knew Meseret? Share a memory with the family and everyone who loved them.
Sign in to write a tribute- TH
Senior midwife and former student
Dr. Meseret trained me in 1998 and still sent me a note every New Year. The last one said, 'You are doing it right. Keep going.' I will keep going, Doctor. I will bring every girl I train to your door, even if the door is closed now.
- MA
Former resident, now a surgeon in Boston
She never raised her voice in an operating theatre. Not once. When a resident made a mistake she said, 'Breathe. Again.' I use those two words every day in Boston. My patients will never know that a woman in Addis Ababa taught me everything I know about calm.
- LB
Daughter
Mama had a drawer of crayon drawings from her patients' children. When she died, we found nineteen years of them, each dated. At the bottom was the first picture I ever drew her. She had kept it, creased, in her coat pocket beside the green notebook.
- BM
Neighbour in Addis Ababa
She grew the most beautiful roses on our street and never had time to prune them, so they grew wild and wonderful. On Sunday afternoons she brought coffee to the old people and never once talked about herself. I will miss the sound of her gate.
- AT
Former patient, now a community health worker in Bahir Dar
I was seventeen and had been living in silence for two years. Dr. Meseret held my hand and said, 'This is not your fault, and it is not forever.' Three months later she wrote 'healed' in her little green book. I now help other girls find her.
- HA
Colleague at Tikur Anbessa
Meseret taught us to listen to the woman before the monitor. During a night in 1996 she sat for two hours with a frightened girl, drawing pictures of the surgery on a napkin. The girl walked out the next day. I still keep that napkin in my drawer.
