Connecting Columbia Union Seventh-day Adventists

Robell Yigebaha is one of the more than 20 students from immigrant, community families that Genet Berhane, a Capital Memorial church member, has helped attend Adventist schools.

Potomac Member Helps 20 Attend Adventist Schools

Story by Tiffany Doss

Genet Berhane believes Seventh-day Adventist education changes lives—it changed hers. Growing up, her uncle was the only Adventist in the family and sent her to Akaki Adventist School in Ethopia. After Berhane chose to get baptized, her father became angry, disowned her and stopped paying her tuition.

“It was very hard, but I believed strongly in God and my faith,” she says. The principal worked to get Berhane a scholarship, and, when he saw the dramatic shift occurring in her, paid for her schooling himself.

Berhane, now a member of the Capital Memorial church in Washington, D.C., works to place immigrant students from the community into Adventist schools, acting as a mediator between faculty and families. Her ministry has helped more than 20 students attend schools in Maryland and Virginia, including her nephew, Robell Yigebaha, who recently graduated from Takoma Academy (TA) in Takoma Park, Md.

“My church family, Sligo Adventist School [now Takoma Academy Preparatory School] in Takoma Park, Md., and TA have continuously supported this ministry and have tirelessly worked with me to make this a real- ity for families,” says Berhane. “People need to know God. I want those outside of our believer family to have the opportunity to get an education that can change their lives."

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