Chapter 6: November 2018 Terrible News of Demere Rapes on Deaf Students
Hearing the story of Demere’s rejection of me and being banned from the compound, a Church of Christ employee with some authority came to visit me. He approached the guards and undid the damage, reminding them that anyone could go in without reserve because the Church of Christ compound was a Christian organization. I was grateful, but it was too late. I never tried to enter again. My new friend had become a Christian through the framework of the Church of Christ. But he had become disillusioned, bearing witness to several corruptions from leaders in the Mission. Demere’s son is the most disturbing. He then told me about an unhappy report. The cover story was that Demere, an excellent Christian man, adopted Sisay, giving him his name, Sisay Demere. Many in the Makinessa Church of Christ compound knew the secret; Sisay was Demere’s biological son. Then I recalled hearing a rumor several years earlier that Demere raped a Deaf student; she became pregnant, giving birth to a baby boy. Only halfway believing it to be accurate, I tried to prove it. DNA was a necessary first step, but it was an impossible task, so I informed prominent Church of Christ people in the States and urged them to investigate the rumor, but they ignored me.
After a six-year absence from Ethiopia, the rape of a Deaf student was on my back burner and forgotten until November 2018, when the story was told to me again by my new Church of Christ friend. I wanted to locate the Deaf mother Demere sexually abused and help bring justice. My heart was soft for Demere. I begged him to repent in a prayer message I sent him on his phone, but he did not respond. My heart was aching for the mother and the lost innocent offspring from the rape. Justice and the rights of the Ethiopian Deaf were my goals to pursue, and I wanted Demere to be restored to God. According to God’s word, his only hope for redemption was to confess and repent of rape and make things right for the deaf woman he had wronged. Searching for Sisay’s mother, Teshome, my loyal deaf friend, has a fantastic knack for finding any Deaf person in Addis Ababa, so I asked him to go on a search for Sisay’s mother. He did not disappoint. But this story becomes more tragic than I ever dreamed possible.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]From Teshome’s assignment, two Deaf women, Tsige and China, walked into Holland Guest House, where I lived. I knew China already; her name depicted her unusually slanted and beautiful eyes. Tsige introduced herself as one of my 1970s and promptly told me Demere raped her, and she became pregnant. Assuming Tsige to be Sisay’s mother, I couldn’t wrap my head around Tsige’s story about her traumatic sexual abuse when she was in grade 5. Demere raped her four times. She became pregnant but continued schooling near the end of 5th grade. Nine months pregnant and uncomfortable, her parents let her quit school and stay home. I thought she would continue telling me how Demere took her baby, but she had a different story. She gave birth to twin girls! After five months, her father forced her to relinquish her children through an adoption agency, Gemini Trust, which no longer exists today. I repeatedly asked Tsige to repeat her story until I understood her correctly. Sisay’s mother was not Tsige, but Demere was her twins’ biological father, and Tsige is yet another Deaf student Demere raped.
A Neighbor to Tsige at the time of the rapes, was China. One time, as students were leaving school for the day, Demere delayed Tsige and brought her into his office., While waiting to walk home with Tsige, the guards ordered China to stay outside the compound as Demere raped Tsige. Gemini Trust, Tsige’s father, and Demere planned for the twins to be adopted. Tsige’s father agreed with Demere’s deception and falsified the adoption document by signing his name as the twins’ father. Also, the document dishonestly stated in English those twins were born in 1987 instead of 1981 Gregorian calendar. Both were lies, obviously to hide Demere’s crime. Tsige said her father was silent and never demanded justice from Demere. Without a doubt, Demere promised him compensation for raping his daughter. Suspiciously, Tsige’s father died two weeks after he gave the twins over for adoption. The twin girls were just five months old. Confronted in 2019 by a journalist, Demere blamed Tsige’s father for raping Tsige and was the twins’ father. Demere refused to admit his crimes against Tsige.
My once close friend, Demere, had raped two Deaf students many years ago, and maybe more. Still dazed with disbelief and sadness, two more former 1970s students, Tedalech and Wegayehu, came to me a couple of days later. Tedalech reminded me that Wegayehu was my 1st-grade student at Makinessa Deaf school and braided my long, straight hair at recess while I sat on the steps of the Mekaniska Deaf school. Tedalech explained Weygayehu came to let me know Demere raped her, and she became pregnant, giving birth to a son. Demere took the baby from her after two years. I was relieved to find Sisay’s mother, but again, I was mistaken. Wegayehu denied Sisay was her son after showing her Sisay’s picture on Facebook. A few days pass when Wegayehu returns with Tedalech, bringing images of her son at a young age. Her son was not Sisay. Demere took Wegayehu’s baby from her when he was two years old and arranged a strategy involving her stepmother and her father. Wegayehu’s stepmother pretends to be the true mother and raises him. The stepmother kicked Wegayehu out of the house and provided her with another house.
Being deaf, with no communication skills, and not even standard sign language, she could not protest. Wegayehu saw her son occasionally but denied motherhood to cover up Demere’s crime. For many years, Wegayehu and Tsige longed for their children but were denied their rights and suffered in silence for almost 40 years. Although many were aware of the rapes and their children snatched, no one cared enough to speak up for them and be their voice. Family members took their children from them to hide Demere’s rape crimes. At the time of the crimes, the Church of Christ Mission workers were aware of evils done to the Deaf but were silent. Many connected with the National Deaf Association also knew. I wondered. How many rapists and abuse victims are among the five Deaf schools in the country sponsored by the Churches of Christ, and why the silence until now? Soon, 1970s Deaf pupils admitted to other violations of young Deaf students, not just Demere, but by teachers. I am told of teachers’ names, some of whom were my 1970s co-workers who also raped deaf students whose unknown whereabouts or who had died. No one on the Church of Christ compound has spoken boldly of what they know.
Only my new unnamed friend told me what he knew. But he, too, has since gone silent. Note: In April 2021, Wegayehu died brokenhearted. She was feeling fine when she went to the doctor with her stepmother. But upon returning to her home, she went to bed and died two days later. Another suspicious death connected to Demere. The only wish she wanted in life was to meet her son again, but her family and Demere, who knew the whole truth, denied her.
December 2018 Baffled
I needed more research to find Sisay’s mother. But now I was sadly aware of Demere raping at least two Deaf students in the 1970s and snatching their children. Tsige and Wegayehu had treasured pictures of their kids only because of the slight connection they had at one time with the ones who took their offspring.
