When he is not in the operating room fixing shoulders, treating joints with regenerative medicine or consulting with patients in the office, Dr. Gobezie can often be found helping the homeless, both locally and around the world.
In the Cleveland area, Dr. Gobezie works closely with The City Mission and its programs that assist homeless women and their children. He has been instrumental in the New Horizons Program which rehabilitates blighted homes to provide homeownership opportunities for previously homeless families.
This winter, Dr. Gobezie and his family went on a very special trip to Ethiopia to help homeless children in the city of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Dr. Gobezie is an Ethiopian native but has lived in the United States since he was four.
“Our family is closely involved with supporting two organizations in Ethiopia that we went to work with in January,” Dr. Gobezie said. “The first is Make Your Mark, which is led by Trevor and Carmen Post. The Post family has been in Ethiopia for seven years making a tremendous impact caring for orphans and especially on the lives of the infamous ‘street boys’ of Addis.”
Many children in Ethiopia find themselves homeless and sleeping on the streets after they lose their parents to disease, or after moving to the city from rural areas in search of work. The children that the Gobezie family cared for ranged in age from just eight to 12 years old.
“It was a tremendous experience for us all, as we were able to see God’s Love for these forgotten children through the Make Your Mark staff and, just as importantly, had the privilege of being used by The Lord to impact other people’s lives by sharing His love with them…truly, the purpose of life for us,” Dr. Gobezie said.
The Gobezie family also worked with an organization called Bring Love In that pairs orphans with widows to form more traditional families and rescue them from the government orphanages. The group trains and supports the women to care for a small group of children and provides the means to support the children’s health and educational needs ongoing.
In Africa, nearly 12 percent of children have lost at least one parent, and Ethiopia has one of the highest orphan rates of any African country. The infrastructure simply does not exist to care for the children who are left alone when their parents die.
Dr. Gobezie’s family has worked with Bring Love In for many years and seen tremendous progress with the children in the program.
“The organization is about 10 years old, and they have now supported children from elementary school into university,” Dr. Gobezie said. “Several have successfully graduated high school, and some are leading the national university in their disciplines of engineering!”
The Gobezie family threw a celebratory Christmas party for the 54 children now in the program who have been rescued from the government orphanages in Ethiopia.
“These are places that are difficult to even visit. It was phenomenal to see that the children were happy, and to see the wonderful work that God has done in the lives of these children through the people of Bring Love In,” he said.
Dr. Gobezie also spent time at the Black Lion Hospital in Addis, training staff on orthopedic techniques. Medical care can be scarce in Ethiopia. Orthopedic surgeons there often find themselves overwhelmed with the number of patients needing care. Black Lion Hospital is Ethiopia’s largest general public hospital and is the oldest and the largest among the health training institutions in the country, staffed with the most senior specialists.
Learn more about Make Your Mark at http://myminternational.org and Bring Love in at http://bringlove.in.