It was in April 2008, I was told that my first childhood friend passed away from a car accident. I first met Anteneh Kebede when I was in grade 4 at Sertse Dingle Primary School. At the end of the school-year (Yewelajoch beal), we were lined up to get certificates and awards as we stood 1st in our respective classes. We started our first conversation right away.When we passed on to grade 5 the following year, we were on opposite shifts ‘Ha fereka and Le fereka’.

I still don’t know how I thought about friendship at that age, I requested my class lead teacher ‘sim teri’ to put me on the same shift and same class with Anteneh. I didn’t even consult my family when I did that. Ever since grade 5, we were almost always together. Our grade 6 and 8 final ‘ministry’ results were exactly the same (they used to put scores as ‘percentile’ and ‘average’).

Anteneh was such a hardworking person to learn from and we used to support and compete each other. He was also a flawless student that teachers used to like him, let alone students. Teachers like Achamyeleh (Maths teacher who also passed away years ago), Abebe physics, Meareg Chemistry, Getu Maths, Misganaw Fenklew English and others had special friendship with Anteneh Kebede for he was disciplined student.

With a third friend, Yoseph Negasi, we studied days and nights together when we were in grades 11 and 12 as preparation for highschool national exam. Anteneh did pass the ESLCE with 6 A’s and 1 B. He graduated from Bahirdar University in Chemical Engineering in year 2006. He then wanted to study abroad and was in the process of paper works for a travel to Finland. And the tragic accident happened on his way to Addis from Bahirdar.

Anteneh was easy to get along with that he had many friends at school. I met most friends I know today through Anteneh. Some of my friends through Anteneh are Henok H/Mariam (Anteneh’s family), Solomon Nurga, Tewodros Tesera, Misganaw Birhan and others.For me, it was such a disaster to lose a special childhood friend. I had hard time not to have him every day in my dreams for more than 3 years.

Today, those brothers I mentioned above are among the alumni who coordinated the Tana Family Scholarship. I am informed of the possibility to include special scholarship recipients in memory of our loved ones in Tana Haik. The fund will be collected by forming smaller groups and be provided to the alumni network. And I wanted to use the opportunity to remember Anteneh.

Anyone who knows Anteneh Kebede or who shares a similar story, please join me here to raise money for the smaller group and sponsor a student in the  name of Anteneh. The money still goes to gofundme Tana, but you will see Anteneh Kebede as contributor’s name on the page.Besides what I have sent for the general Tana scholarship pgm (gofundme), I just made a separate contribution in memory of my late beloved friend and brother Anteneh Kebede.