STRONG WILL Destaye Tadesse ETA (Ethiopian Teachers Association)
A female teacher was born and raised in Addis Ababa. She attended primary and secondary schools in Addis Ababa. She completed both her high school and University education with high scores. And because of her excellent achievements in the University, she was hired as a graduate assistant in one of the new Universities located 300 Km away from Addis Ababa. Her story begins here. She is a very strong, confident and competent teacher. While teaching in the University, the Academic Vice President approached her and told her he is interested in her. As much as she tries to tell him that she is not interested, he kept on insisting and started to harass her. However, for others he started to say that he wants to marry her. If not he would like her to be his girlfriend until they get married. She kept on expressing clearly that she is not interested in either becoming his girlfriend or becoming his wife. She explained that her purpose in the University is not to be married but to continue her education. He never understood her refusal means “NO!� Rather, the Academic Vice President continued his harassment, to the extent that he started using his position to mobilize his colleagues to force her to accept the request. The colleagues started to push her through phone calls and messages. As she persisted with her position, the messages started to include threats on her life. She never succumbed to all the pressures, rather continued her struggle. In the meantime, she passed the competition to work for her Master’s degree in one of the Universities in the country.
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