Healed for a Purpose: Let’s Meet Zak
Let’s meet Zekarias Zemede, Zak for short!
Tom and Teresa Rieder moved to Ethiopia in 2010 to do mission work. They first met Zak when he was
around 11 years old. Teresa’s housekeeper told her about a friend’s son who had something terribly
wrong with him. She said that his head had a wound that would not heal, and he would never leave his
house. His parents had tried to get treatment for him, even seeking help from witch doctors, to no avail.
Nothing worked. He was a sad, lonely boy.
When Teresa arranged to meet him, she was taken aback at the condition of his head. She had never seen
anything like it. He entire scalp was one bloody mess. Pus was draining down his neck. Her heart broke
for him. She took him to the local hospital, but they were already familiar with him and had no more
treatments to offer him. They would ignore him when he would show up to get a bandage change, so
Teresa decided to do it for him herself.
Thus began a relationship that continued for many years. Zak became Teresa’s “best friend.” They
laughed and talked as he began to come to her home daily for the bandage changes. He was very
motivated to learn English, and he became quite fluent. Also, he had a ready laugh in spite of his
suffering. Teresa and Zak had many good times together. She grew to love him as a son.
Zak would sit on a bucket in her bathtub while she poured saline solution over his bloody head and then
bandage it. They came to enjoy their “bucket talks” as they discussed a variety of topics over the years
from homework, his education, his dreams for the future, girls, and of course, God’s love and care for
Zak.
Teresa took Zak to many, many different doctors and hospitals all over Ethiopia… but found no hope with
any of them. Besides the bleeding, bandage changes, and tremendous pain… there was great shame for
Zak because of his scalp disease. In their culture, it was believed that a condition such as his meant
either he had done something terrible or his parents had done something terrible to cause this
punishment. People mocked him, insulted him and humiliated him. Zak’s suffering grieved Teresa greatly.
When Tom and Teresa prepared to return home to the United States in 2016, she felt as though she was
abandoning Zak. They communicated via Facebook Messenger and stayed in touch by texting. He
struggled greatly after they left Ethiopia. He missed his “second mother.” He did continue his education
and graduated from high school. Then, he went on to attend college. He wanted to go to medical school,
but his grades were not at the level to be accepted for doctoral studies. It was no wonder! The pain was
so great that he often found it impossible to concentrate on his studies. He fell into a great depression.
Teresa felt helpless to help him from so far away.
Then, one cold, rainy night, in 2022, Zak was walking home from college. He heard voices coming from a
drainage ditch. He walked over to it and found 5 little boys huddled together trying to stay warm. They
asked him for a piece of bread which he gave to them. Every time he walked to college, he would bring the
boys some bread. They were so grateful. Eventually, Zak contacted Teresa and asked if there was anything
more permanent that could be done for the boys. After a lot of prayer and thought, Teresa and Zak
decided to rent a small room and bring the boys there to live. Zak decided on a name for this “safehouse”: Tesfa Lesowoch… which means “House of Hope for the Children.” It became their new home and
a place of safety and hope.
But a home needs a mother, right? So Teresa and Zak and their ministry, Project Ethopia Benevolence
(known as PEB), hired a woman to be the House Mother and to cook their food and give them the
mothering the boys never had before. The boys were either abandoned or orphaned. They had been
surviving on the streets together for a long time. Two of them were brothers. The older one used to carry
his little brother on his back for miles as they searched for food. The boys survived by their wits and by
being able to run fast when they stole food.
But things were different after Tesfa. Now, they had a safe place where no one would hurt them. They had
food and clothing. They went to school and to church. Their lives were transformed! But the
transformation didn’t happen overnight and without work and patience and prayer!
Zak once told Teresa, half joking, that bringing the boys into the Tesfa home was like taking wild ‘feral’
children into a home and trying to civilize them! All they knew was survival and they would grab and take
whatever they saw that they needed. But gradually, as Zak and the House Mother taught them, the boys
became more relaxed and content in their new home. Zak shared with Teresa that, in the beginning, there
were many nights where different ones would cry out or scream in their sleep or would incessantly pace
the floors. Fear had ruled their lives for so long that it took some time for those fears to go away. But with
patience and compassion and support and the love of God, the boys were gradually freed from the fears.
Over time, Zak and Teresa became burdened for the many girls also living on the streets. They
understood that the girls were in even greater danger than the boys living on the streets… in danger of
violence, assault and of being trafficked. They stepped out in faith in 2023 and rented another room to
house 7 girls: T esfa #2.
Zak served as the Program Director for both homes. He takes his job very seriously and spends countless
hours thinking about ways to help the children. Along the way, more children came to live at the Tesfa
homes. They all call Zak “Daddy”… He is only 25, not married and “Daddy” to 20 kids!
In 2024, Teresa and Zak decided to combine Tesfa #1 and Tesfa #2 into one location. They rented a
compound and moved the children in. They wanted them to begin to feel like a family – since that was
something they had never had before. Teresa and Zak instilled in the children the idea of “paying it
forward”… and told them that Zak didn’t rescue them; neither did Teresa. It was God who saw them and
loved them and rescued them. So the children enthusiastically give out of the little they have to share
with others. God has blessed them, and so they want to bless others.
And all of this has come about because of the generous donations of a few people who came to know
about the Tesfa ministry and have offered support. Tesfa is not supported by any organization or
institution. It is supported solely by people whose hearts have been touched by these boys and girls.
Oh! I need to tell you the rest of the story about Zak’s head wound! Remember that Teresa had returned
to the US and Zak found the boys in the drainage ditch. All the time that Zak was taking care of the boys in
Tesfa #1 and the girls in Tesfa #2, he was still being tormented by his head wound. He had suffered almost
15 years of pain and hopelessness. Daily pain. Bleeding. Infection causing pus to drip down his neck. Ontop of all that, there was the shame he bore. Teresa could sense his unspoken anger and despair… and
the inevitable question, “Why hasn’t God healed me?” He was literally living in a daily hell of pain and
torment. Teresa felt powerless to comfort Zak or to give him hope. All she could do was pray. But then…
right? BUT THEN, IN STEPPED AN ALMIGHTY JEHOVAH-RAPHA… THE GOD WHO HEALS!
Teresa showed photographs of Zek’s raw and bleeding head to a man named Mike in her church back in
Texas. He was shocked and said, “No one should have to live like that!” Mike told Teresa,
“Let me see what I can do. ” A few days later, He sent Teresa the name of a guy who knew a guy who knew a doctor
practicing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. That Norwegian doctor offered to see Zak, and Mike offered to pay for
his treatment. All Zak needed to do was get on a plane and fly to Addis and go to the private Korean
hospital. Since it was a private hospital, the quality of care far surpassed the government hospitals.
Finally, Teresa had found a path toward healing for Zak!
But Zak refused to travel that path. He had tried skin graft surgeries twice before at the local hospital in
Arba Minch with no success…. Only pain. He had gotten his hopes up each time… only to have them
dashed when the skin grafts failed. He was adamant. He would NOT go to Addis to see the Norwegian
doctor.
Teresa begged. She cried. She enlisted other people to try and convince him to go. In deseration for Zak,
she finally resorted to threatening him… she told him, “If you don’t go, don’t talk to me about your head. I
will never again ask about your head or your pain. ” Now, that got Zak’ s attention. Teresa was the one
person he could confide in about his head disease. His best friend had never seen his head. His own
mother did not know the true condition of his head. Teresa was the ONLY ONE who knew and cared. The
thought of losing that relationship with Teresa compelled Zak to go to Addis and try treatment again.
So, Zak flew to Addis… but he went alone. He told no one where he was going or why. He faced the
painful harvest of skin from his inner thighs to cover his head. All the while, he had absolutely no hope
that the surgery was going to work. He refused to get his hopes up to only have them dashed once again.
In the middle of the painful nights in that hospital, he would call Teresa to hear her comforting words.
Sometimes, she would play hymns on the piano and he would listen on the phone. But still, he had no
hope. And with the doubts about the possible success of the surgeries, came the doubts about even the
existence of God. If there WAS a God, why would He cause him such suffering? Zak’s thoughts became
like those of Job who cursed the day he was born. Zak talked with Teresa of leaving the hospital and going
“into the jungle” which is a euphemism for going away to die. Despite the good reports from the doctors
about his healing, Zak refused to believe. He had given up. Teresa said that she prayed harder than ever.
Finally, the time of recovery came to an end. The bandages were removed… AND THE SKIN GRAFT WAS
SUCCESSFUL! HIS HEAD WAS HEALED! Zak is now writing his life story and is going to call it, “Healed
for a Purpose”
. Zak did not suffer pointlessly. God redeemed Zak’s suffering and grew in him a wisdom, a
maturity and a faith way beyond his years. He gave him a true joy that is not from this world. He is a father
to the fatherless… his calling in life. Teresa says that the love she witnesses between the abandoned,
forgotten children and the once hopeless young man is a thing of great beauty. God has taken the ashes
of their tragic lives and has traded them for hope and purpose. Beauty for ashes. Isaiah 61:3 says:“To grant those who mourn in Zion — a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead
of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
Praise God, for He is being glorified daily in the lives of Zak and the children of Tesfa!
