Cover photo for Professor Asfaw Malaku's Obituary
Professor Asfaw Malaku Profile Photo
1932 Professor 2022

Professor Asfaw Malaku

June 5, 1932 — November 6, 2022

Overland Park

Professor Asfaw Malaku was born in Dessie, Ethiopia in 1932 (approximated) to Ato Malaku Adoye and W/O Enkenyelesh Dilnesaw. He had three sisters and four brothers. He got married on June 14, 1963. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, friend, renowned educator, author, and mentor to so many.  He is survived by his loving wife of 59 yrs, W/O Almaz Bekele, his four children: Yeshimebet Asfaw Campbell, Martha Asfaw, Dr. Tamrat Asfaw and Sossina Asfaw, and his nine grandchildren: Joshua Keith Campbell, Zachary Asfaw Campbell, Jonathan Cecil Campbell, Aderajew Yibekal, Andsew Yibekal, Gabriella Tamrat Asfaw, Noah Tamrat Asfaw, Yoseph Alpha Ephrem, Hanna Elizabeth Ephrem, and siblings and numerous family members including Prof. Yoseph Assen Mengesha, Mekonnen Malaku, Alem Malaku, and Truwork Kebede.

Professor Asfaw’s drive for excellence and his love of teaching took him on a quest for exceptional education and training across three continents. He went to Negus Michael School in Dessie, Ethiopia and Haile Selassie I Secondary School (1944-1952) in Kotebe, Ethiopia. He earned degrees and specialized certificates including B.A. in Amharic and English from University College of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, M.A. in Linguistics and English Language Teaching from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, and Certificate in the Teaching of English as a Second Language from University of California at Los Angeles in the United States. He started his long career in 1952 as a self-contained teacher at Empress Menen Girls’ School and at Haile Selassie 1st Day School, Addis Ababa Ethiopia as a teacher trainer (1961). He served as a school principal at Emperor Yohannes Comprehensive School in Makale Tigray and later at Jimma, Keffa to head Miazia 27 Comprehensive School. In the summer of 1966, while a student at the University of California at Los Angeles, he conducted instruction of Intensive Amharic for Peace Corps volunteers. His endeavors in higher education span for over 40 years. It included teaching courses in Freshman English, Sophomore English, Fundamentals of Literature, The Short Story, Poetic Art, and Structure of English. He also supervised numerous theses for students. From 1964 to 1990, he was assistant professor at the Institute of Language studies, Addis Ababa University.

He was on special Government assignment to develop Amharic Literacy material (1975-76) as part of the Development Through Cooperations Campaign. He was the Director of Freshman Social Science Program from 1986-1988. Throughout his career, he collaborated on publications in languages of Ethiopia and served in various educational commissions. This included Literacy Materials for which Ethiopia was awarded a UNESCO prize. He was appointed keynote speaker, delivering moving speeches and poetry at countless graduation ceremonies, conventions, and conferences. He served as board member of many organizations. After retirement he continued to work across institutions. He taught Intensive English courses at Ethiopian Airlines for the Aviation Mechanics Training School. He served as the head of the English department and as English Instructor at the Civil Service College, Addis Ababa. His teaching career took him to Saudi Arabia from 1993 to 1994 where he taught English for Special purposes at the Alzouman Aviation Institute and helped establish the Jeddah Center for Languages (JCL). In the United States, he worked at the Johnson County Community College 1996 to 1997 Teaching English as a Second Language.

Professor Asfaw Malaku fell asleep in the Lord, on Sunday night, November 6, 2022. He was the patriarch of a large extended family and was committed to helping everyone in the community.  His lifelong dedication to higher education is unmatched by his commitment to faith, family, country, and civic service both in Ethiopia and in the United States. He served as the first chairman of the board for Debre Berhan Kidane Meheret E.O.T.C and was one of the founding members of the church. Professor Asfaw Malaku was loved by his family and peers.  His dedication to his students made him a lifelong mentor and friend.

የ ፕ/ር አስፋዉ መልአኩ አጭር የሕይወት ታሪክ

ፕ/ር አስፋዉ መልአኩ ከ አባታቸዉ ከአቶ መልአኩ አዱዬ እና ከ እናታቸዉ ከወ/ሮ እንከንየለሽ ድልነሳዉ በ 1924 ዓ.ም በወሎ ክፍለ ሀገር በደሴ ከተማ ተወለዱ። እድሜያቸዉ ለትምህርት እንደደረሰ ደሴ በሚገኘዉ  ንጉሥ ሚካኤል ት/ቤት እስከ ስምንተኛ ክፍል ከተማሩ በኃላ በወቅቱ በነበራቸዉ ጥሩ የትምህርት ዉጤት የተነሳ ባገኙት እድል የሁለተኛ ደረጃ ትምህርታቸዉን ለመከታተል አዲስ አበባ ኮተቤ በሚገኘዉ በ ቀዳማዊ አጼ ኃይለ ሥላሴ ሁለተኛ ደረጃ ት/ቤት በመግባት በከፍተኛ ዉጤት ትምህርታቸዉን አጠናቀዋል። ፕ/ር አስፋዉ ካላቸዉ የትምህርት ጥማት የተነሳ የእዉቀት አድማሳቸዉን ለማስፋት በሶስት አሐጉራት በማዘዋወር ከፍተኛ እዉቀት እና ትምህርት ቀስመዋል። ከነዚህም በጥቂቱ ኢትዮጵያ ከሚገኝዉ ከእዲስ እበባ ዩኒቨርሲቲ ኮሌጅ በአማርኛ እና እንግሊዘኛ ቋንቋ የመጀመሪያ ዲግሪ (B.A.)፣ የእንግሊዘኛ ቋንቋ የአስተማሪነት ስርተፊኬት ዩናይትድ ስቴትስ ከሚገኘዉ  ዩኒቭርሲት ኦፍ ካሊፎርኒያ (UCLA) እንዲሁም ዩናይትድ ኪንግደም ከሚገኘዉ ሊድስ ዩኒቭርሲቲ በስነ ቋንቋ እና እንግሊዘኛ ሁለተኛ ዲግሪ (M.A.)) ተቀብለዋል።

የ ፕ/ር አስፋዉ ከ አርባ አመታት በላይ ትዉልድን በትምህርት እና በስነምግባር የመቅረጽ ጉዞ ሂደት ከ 1944 ዓ.ም የጀመረ ሲሆን እስከ 1956 ዓ.ም ባለዉ ጊዜ በሚከተሉት ቦታዎች አገልግለዋል፤

እቴጌ መነን የሴቶች ት/ቤት በ መምህርነት (አዲስ አበባ)
በ ቀዳማዊ አጼ ኃይለ ሥላሴ ት/ቤት አስተማሪ ማስልጠኛ በመምህርነት (አዲስ አበባ)
በአጼ ዮሐንስ ሁለተኛ ደረጃ ት/ቤት በዋና አስተዳዳሪነት (መቀሌ)
በሚያዝያ 27 ሁለተኛ ደረጃ አጠቃላይ ት/ቤት በዋና አስተዳዳሪነት (ጅማ)
በኮከበ ጽብሀ የአስተማሪዎች ማሰልጠኛ ት/ቤት በ መምህርነት (አዲስ አበባ)

ከዚህ በመቀጠልም ከ 1956 ዓ.ም ጀምሮ እስከ 1980 ዓ.ም ድረስ በአዲስ አበባ ዩኒቨርሲቲ በመምህርነት በማገልገል እስከ ፕሮፌሰርነት ማዓረግ ደርስዋል። በነዚህ ሀያ አራት አመታት የዩኒቨርስቲ ቆይታቸዉ በሚከተሉት ቦታዉች እገልግለዋል።

በአዲስ አበባ ዩኒቨርስቲ ስር ለበዕደ ማርያም ት/ቤት በአማርኛ ስነጽሁፍ መምህርነት
የእንግሊዘኛ ስነጽሁፍ፣ግጥም፤ አጫጭር ታሪኮች፤ ልብ ወለድ እንዲሁም አወቃቀር መምህርነት
የማሕበራዊ ሳይንስ ክፍል ሀላፊ
በቋንቋ ትርጉም ስራ
ለአድገት በሕብረት የዕዉቀትና የሥራ ዘመቻ የመምህራኑን መጽሐፍት ማዘጋጀት

እነዚህ ከላይ የተጠቀሱት ከብዙ በጥቂቱ ሲሆኑ በ 1980 ዓ.ም ከአዲስ አበባ ዩኒቨርስቲ በጡረታ ከወጡ በኃላ እስከ 1990 ዓ.ም ድረስ ባካበቱት እዉቀት በአገር ዉስጥ እና በውጭ እገር በተላያዩ ቦታዎች አገልግለዋል። ከነዚህም ዉስጥ፤

በኢትዮጵያ አየር መንገድ በእንግሊዘኛ ቋንቋ መምህርነት (አዲስ አበባ)
በሲቪል ሰርቪስ ኮሌጅ የእንግሊዘኛ ክፍል የበላይ ሃላፊ (እዲስ እበባ)
አልዙማን አቪየሺን ተቋም የእንግሊዘኛ ስነ ጽሑፍ እና ቋንቋ መምህር (በሳዉዲ አረቢያ)
ጀዳ የቋንቋዎች ማዕከልን በማቋቋም ረድተዋል (በሳዉዲ አረቢያ)
(JCCC) እንግሊዝኛ ሁለተኛ ቋንቋቸዉ ለሆኑ እንግሊዘኛ እስተምረዋል (ኦቨር ላንድ ፓርክ ካንሳሰ)

በማሕበራዊ ሕይወት ረገድ ባገኙት ትርፍ ሰዓት ሁሉ ያካበቱትን እዉቀት እና የሕይወት ተመክሮ በተለያዩ ቦታዎች ዋና ተናጋሪ በመሆን እየተጋበዙ አካፍለዋል አስተምረዋል። ከዚህም በተጨማሪ በሰሜን አሜሪካ ካንሳስ በምትገኘዉ ኪዳነ ምህረት የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤ/ክ ከመስራቾቹ እንዱ ሲሆኑ የመጀመሪያዉ የቦርድ ሊቀመንበር በመሆንም አገልግለዋል።

ፕ/ር አስፋዉ በኮከበ ጽብሀ የአስተማሪነት ዘመናቸዉ ከተዋወቋቸዉ ተማሪያቸዉ ከወ/ሮ አልማዝ በቀለ ጋር በ 1956 ዓ.ም በስርዓተ ተክሊል ጋብቻቸዉን ፈጽመዉ እስከ እለተ ዕረፍታቸዉ ድረስ ለ 59 ዓመት በትዳር ሲኖሩ አንድ ወንድ እና ሶስት ሴት ለጆቸ ያፈሩ ሲሆን እንዲሁሞ የዘጠኝ የልጅ ልጆች እያት ለመሆን በቅተዋል። ፕ/ር እስፋዉ ትዳራቸዉን አክባሪ፤ ባልተቤታቸዉን አፍቃሪ፣ ልጆቻቸዉን ተንከባካቢ ታላቅ እባት ነበሩ።

ፕ/ር አስፋዉ ለሶስት እህቶቻቸዉ እና ለእራት ወንድሞቻቸዉ እንዲሁም ለመላዉ ቤተሳባቸዉ መካሪ፡ ዘካሪ እና ጋሻ ወንድም የነበሩ ሲሆኑ ከዚህም የተነሳ በአብዛኛዉ ቤተሰቦቻቸዉ ዘንድ የሚጠሩት ጋሽዬ በመባል ነበር። ይህም ብቻ ሳይሆን ከተማሪዎቻቸዉ ጋራ ከነበራቸዉ ቅርብ ግንኙነት የተነሳ ለተማሪዎቻቸዉ በሚለግሱት ዘላቂ ምክርና የሀሳብ ድጋፍ በተማሪዎቻቸዉ ዘንድ ከፍተኛ አክብሮትና ተዋዳጅነትን እትርፈዋል። ፕ/ር አስፋዉ በተስማሩበት የሞያ ዘርፍ በብዙ ሺህ የሚቆጠሩ ዋጣት ተማሪዎችን በትምህርት በማነጽና የትጉህ ሰራተኛ ምሳሌ በመሆን ለኢትዮጵያ አገራቸዉ ከፍተኛ አስተዋጾ አድርገዋል ከሚባሉ ታላላቅ ኢትዮጵያዊያን ማካከል እንዱ ነበሩ።

ሞት ተግባራዊ እስኪሆን ድረስ ፍጡር የሆነ ሁሉ ተሸክሞት የሚኖር እዳ በመሆኑ ፕ/ር እስፋዉ በገጠማቸዉ ህመም የተነሳ በህክምና ሲረዱ ቆይተዉ ጥቅምት 27 ቀን 2015 ዓ.ም በተወለዱ በ ዘጠና አመታቸዉ በቤተሰቦቻቸዉ ተከበዉ ከዚህ ዓለም እዳ በሰላም አርፈዋል።

ዮሐ. 14፡ 1-3

“ልባችሁ አይታወክ፤ በእግዚአብሔር እመኑ፥ በእኔም ደግሞ እመኑ።
በአባቴ ቤት ብዙ መኖሪያ አለ፤ እንዲህስ ባይሆን ባልኋችሁ ነበር፤ ስፍራ አዘጋጅላችሁ ዘንድ እሄዳለሁና፤3 ሄጄም ስፍራ ባዘጋጅላችሁ፥ እኔ ባለሁበት እናንተ ደግሞ እንድትሆኑ ሁለተኛ እመጣለሁ ወደ እኔም እወስዳችኋለሁ።
ወደምሄድበትም ታውቃላችሁ፥ መንገዱንም ታውቃላችሁ።”

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Friday, November 11, 2022

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Saturday, November 12, 2022

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Medhani Alem Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo

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Saturday, November 12, 2022

3:00 - 3:30 pm (Central time)

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