Tadesse's Father: Ho Was Daughter's 'Best Friend'

WATERTOWN, Mass.--Sinedu Tadesse '96 visited her family in Ethiopia last August and told her father that she considered her roommate Trang Phuong Ho '96 her best friend, her father said in a telephone interview last week.

"She mentioned that she has a best friend, and she mentioned one person, a classmate," Tadesse Zelleke, 64, told The Crimson early Thursday morning. "She mentioned she has a best friend and roommate--living together as roommates."

Zelleke, who is a retired provincial school administrator, spoke to The Crimson through an Amharic interpreter from his home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

While still in shock over the murder and suicide his daughter committed last Sunday, Zelleke said he could not explain his daughter's motives. "I cannot even dream about these things. This is unexpected," he said. "She is a very nice person and very humble. Something like this is an unexpected thing."

Zelleke said the tragedy is "still kind of shocking." "I don't know how it happened," he said, breaking into tears toward the close of the 45-minute interview. "It's a complete shock for the whole family."

Tadesse, who was 20 when she died, was the youngest of five children. She is survived by her father, her mother and two brothers and two sisters who range in age from 22 to 27 years-old.

Tadesse was the only of his children to attend the prestigious International Community School (ICS), formerly the American School, in Addis Ababa, Zelleke said. Courses at the ICS are taught in English. Only about a third of the student body is Ethiopian; the rest are children of diplomats and other foreign workers, according to Robert F. Ehrenheim, a history teacher at the school.

In Ethiopia, children inherit their father's given name as their family name. Thus, all of Zelleke's children share his name Tadesse.

Zelleke said he missed his daughter very much during her three years at Harvard and had hoped that she would return more often than her-lone visit last summer.

"She came back last August and passed the holiday with the family," he said. "I would like to see her during the vacation, during the holiday. I missed her a lot."

While some speculation as to the causes of Tadesse's murder of Ho and subsequent suicide has focused on her stressful workload as a premed biology concentrator and on possible "culture shock" as an international student, Zelleke said his daughter's actions remained incomprehensible to him.

Zelleke said he had not heard from his daughter about her school-work being unduly burdensome.

"She told me she has [a] workload," Zelleke said but "she didn't tell me that she cannot make it."

Also, the former high school principal said his daughter did not complain to him about the differences between American and Ethiopian culture. "She did not complain about the culture of America, and she's happy living in America," he said.

Zelleke said his daughter never mentioned being lonely or missing her family in Ethiopia, where she grew up. "She didn't mention about loneliness in America," he said.

Zelleke said he had no regrets about sending his daughter to Harvard. "I am very sorry, but I do not regret sending her to Harvard."

Zelleke was formerly a school teacher in AddisAbaba and a high school principle. He has workedin "northern provinces, southern provinces, middleprovinces, many places" throughout Ethiopia, hesaid.

Zelleke and his family live in a house in Bole,an upper-class suburb of the capital of AddisAbaba, near the airport.

Of Zelleke's children, two went to study inAmerica, one is enrolled at Addis Ababa Universityand one is working in Addis Ababa.

His oldest daughter, who is 27, works for theEthiopian Ministry of Justice after havinggraduated from law school, Zelleke said. A son,age 26, is enrolled at Addis Ababa University.

A second son, Seiffe Tadesse, 26, took thespring semester of his sophomore year off fromDartmouth College. Efforts to reach him in the SanDiego, Calif. area were unsuccessful.

Zelleke declined to provide his wife's age oroccupation, although a relative at Tadesse's wakesaid the mother, Atsedu, currently works as anurse. "My wife is in grief, so she doesn't wantto answer any questions," Zelleke said.

Zelleke did not disclose his daughter's futuregoals, except to say that "she would like to be amedical doctor" and return to Ethiopia.

Tadesse sought to become a dermatologist andreturn to Ethiopia, said a friend, HumphreyWattenga '96, at a University-wide informationmeeting on Thursday.

"She is the brightest, she is veryhard-working, she is [a] very smart child,"Zelleke said. "She wants to be a doctor, that'sher ambition."

Wake Held

Tadesse's wake was held here in WatertownThursday evening, at the Faggas Funeral Home onMt. Auburn St. Harvard assumed the costs of boththe funeral service and the return of the DunsterHouse junior's body to Addis Ababa.

A Harvard shuttle bus drove 17 students, fourreporters, a Dunster House resident tutor and Deanof Students Archie C. Epps III from Johnston Gateto the funeral home.

More than 55 mourners, including Tadesse'sthree uncles and an aunt who live in Brookline,were at the wake, where Tadesse's body, in alight, cream-colored dress, lay in an open casket.

Two priests and an assistant from St. Michael'sEthiopian Orthodox Church in Cambridge recited thetraditional Coptic Christian orthodox liturgy saidat times of death. The one and a half hourceremony, which began at 6 p.m. Wednesday andwhich included a sermon, readings from the Bibleand a blessing with holy water, was recited inAmharic and the high church dialect of Ge'ez.

President Neil L. Rudenstine arrived at thewake at 6:30 p.m., and remained until 7 p.m., whenhe left to attend the wake of Ho, the murdervictim. S. Allen Counter, director of the HarvardFoundation for Intercultural and Race Relations,arrived after Rudenstine and remained until theend of the service.

During the service, several mourners wailedopenly upon sight of the corpse. A young womanfainted, and Rudenstine, Epps and four othermourners came to her aid. The young woman wasrevived almost immediately and several mournerscarried her out of the room.

Tadesse's body was due to leave Boston Thursdayflight to Addis Ababa by way of Frankfurt,Germany, according to Nicholas G. Faggas, theowner of the funeral home.

"The body is going alone," Faggas said. "Thefamily is going to meet it in the airport" inAddis Ababa.

According to Epps, Harvard has assumed thecosts of both Tadesse's and Ho's funerals. In aninterview Friday, Rudenstine said it wasappropriate to pay the the costs.

"It seems to me clearly the right thing to do,"Rudenstine said. "The family was in Ethiopia.There was no way for them to get here. Onecertainly didn't want to have the burial of thebody here without the family."

"If it would relieve people's minds to raisethe money or contribute to it myself, I would doit," he added. Rudenstine noted that manyunrestricted gifts, endowments and his personalfund are available, saying that the expenses would"not necessarily" come from tuition payments.

'A Very Difficult Time'

Teachers at Tadesse's former high schoolcontinued to express shock last week about thefate of one of their top students and a fullscholarship winner.

Astrid C. Shiferaw, a chemistry teacher whotaught Tadesse for four years, said "she hadalways been an A-student and a very nice girl."

"Somehow, something along the way happenedthese three years," Shiferaw said in a telephoneinterview from Addis Ababa early Tuesday morning."She was one of our best," the teacher said. "Shewas kind of quite and shy, but we had manystudents like that. It's just shocking."

Shiferaw described Tadesse as industrious. "Shewas not a bouncy kind of person," she said. "Shewas quite and very, very studious. It probablywould have been better if she had gone out morefriends."

Nagash Kebede, a physics and math teacher whotaught Tadesse math for two years, said "I wasextremely surprised because I thought I knewSinedu."

"I couldn't believe that this would happen toher or [that] she would do this and I am still inshock," Kebede said in a telephone interview fromAddis Ababa early Tuesday ."She was very clam,nothing to indicate things would turn out thisway."

"She was quiet and quite personable," he added."She didn't show any sign of hostility ortensions."

Relatives and acquaintances of Tadesse'spraised the student following the wake Wednesdayevening and groped for explanations of thetragedy.

"It's very hard. It's been hard for threeyears. It would be very hard for her to adjust,"said Misrak Assefa, owner of the Addis Red Sea, anEthiopian restaurant in Boston. "The first two orthree years is a very difficult time."

Tadesse often came to the Addis Red sea to eatwith friends, said Assefa, who has known Tadesse'suncles and aunt for more than 10 years. Assefasaid she last saw Tadesse six months ago at therestaurant.

Assefa said "most Ethiopians go to the U.S. togo to college" because of a lack of opportunitiesback home.

Tadesse "was a very nice person, verystudious," recalled a man who identified himselfas a maternal relative, but who refused to givehis name. "The couple of times I've seen her, sheseemed to say that she liked the school, that shewas not having any problems."

"I don't think she had any culture shock, therelative said. "I don't think she had any problemscommunicating with people, or with the food orwith the climate."

"These events cannot be explained in terms ofthe girl we knew," the relative added.Courtesy the Harvard YearbookSINEDU TADESSE '96

Zelleke was formerly a school teacher in AddisAbaba and a high school principle. He has workedin "northern provinces, southern provinces, middleprovinces, many places" throughout Ethiopia, hesaid.

Zelleke and his family live in a house in Bole,an upper-class suburb of the capital of AddisAbaba, near the airport.

Of Zelleke's children, two went to study inAmerica, one is enrolled at Addis Ababa Universityand one is working in Addis Ababa.

His oldest daughter, who is 27, works for theEthiopian Ministry of Justice after havinggraduated from law school, Zelleke said. A son,age 26, is enrolled at Addis Ababa University.

A second son, Seiffe Tadesse, 26, took thespring semester of his sophomore year off fromDartmouth College. Efforts to reach him in the SanDiego, Calif. area were unsuccessful.

Zelleke declined to provide his wife's age oroccupation, although a relative at Tadesse's wakesaid the mother, Atsedu, currently works as anurse. "My wife is in grief, so she doesn't wantto answer any questions," Zelleke said.

Zelleke did not disclose his daughter's futuregoals, except to say that "she would like to be amedical doctor" and return to Ethiopia.

Tadesse sought to become a dermatologist andreturn to Ethiopia, said a friend, HumphreyWattenga '96, at a University-wide informationmeeting on Thursday.

"She is the brightest, she is veryhard-working, she is [a] very smart child,"Zelleke said. "She wants to be a doctor, that'sher ambition."

Wake Held

Tadesse's wake was held here in WatertownThursday evening, at the Faggas Funeral Home onMt. Auburn St. Harvard assumed the costs of boththe funeral service and the return of the DunsterHouse junior's body to Addis Ababa.

A Harvard shuttle bus drove 17 students, fourreporters, a Dunster House resident tutor and Deanof Students Archie C. Epps III from Johnston Gateto the funeral home.

More than 55 mourners, including Tadesse'sthree uncles and an aunt who live in Brookline,were at the wake, where Tadesse's body, in alight, cream-colored dress, lay in an open casket.

Two priests and an assistant from St. Michael'sEthiopian Orthodox Church in Cambridge recited thetraditional Coptic Christian orthodox liturgy saidat times of death. The one and a half hourceremony, which began at 6 p.m. Wednesday andwhich included a sermon, readings from the Bibleand a blessing with holy water, was recited inAmharic and the high church dialect of Ge'ez.

President Neil L. Rudenstine arrived at thewake at 6:30 p.m., and remained until 7 p.m., whenhe left to attend the wake of Ho, the murdervictim. S. Allen Counter, director of the HarvardFoundation for Intercultural and Race Relations,arrived after Rudenstine and remained until theend of the service.

During the service, several mourners wailedopenly upon sight of the corpse. A young womanfainted, and Rudenstine, Epps and four othermourners came to her aid. The young woman wasrevived almost immediately and several mournerscarried her out of the room.

Tadesse's body was due to leave Boston Thursdayflight to Addis Ababa by way of Frankfurt,Germany, according to Nicholas G. Faggas, theowner of the funeral home.

"The body is going alone," Faggas said. "Thefamily is going to meet it in the airport" inAddis Ababa.

According to Epps, Harvard has assumed thecosts of both Tadesse's and Ho's funerals. In aninterview Friday, Rudenstine said it wasappropriate to pay the the costs.

"It seems to me clearly the right thing to do,"Rudenstine said. "The family was in Ethiopia.There was no way for them to get here. Onecertainly didn't want to have the burial of thebody here without the family."

"If it would relieve people's minds to raisethe money or contribute to it myself, I would doit," he added. Rudenstine noted that manyunrestricted gifts, endowments and his personalfund are available, saying that the expenses would"not necessarily" come from tuition payments.

'A Very Difficult Time'

Teachers at Tadesse's former high schoolcontinued to express shock last week about thefate of one of their top students and a fullscholarship winner.

Astrid C. Shiferaw, a chemistry teacher whotaught Tadesse for four years, said "she hadalways been an A-student and a very nice girl."

"Somehow, something along the way happenedthese three years," Shiferaw said in a telephoneinterview from Addis Ababa early Tuesday morning."She was one of our best," the teacher said. "Shewas kind of quite and shy, but we had manystudents like that. It's just shocking."

Shiferaw described Tadesse as industrious. "Shewas not a bouncy kind of person," she said. "Shewas quite and very, very studious. It probablywould have been better if she had gone out morefriends."

Nagash Kebede, a physics and math teacher whotaught Tadesse math for two years, said "I wasextremely surprised because I thought I knewSinedu."

"I couldn't believe that this would happen toher or [that] she would do this and I am still inshock," Kebede said in a telephone interview fromAddis Ababa early Tuesday ."She was very clam,nothing to indicate things would turn out thisway."

"She was quiet and quite personable," he added."She didn't show any sign of hostility ortensions."

Relatives and acquaintances of Tadesse'spraised the student following the wake Wednesdayevening and groped for explanations of thetragedy.

"It's very hard. It's been hard for threeyears. It would be very hard for her to adjust,"said Misrak Assefa, owner of the Addis Red Sea, anEthiopian restaurant in Boston. "The first two orthree years is a very difficult time."

Tadesse often came to the Addis Red sea to eatwith friends, said Assefa, who has known Tadesse'suncles and aunt for more than 10 years. Assefasaid she last saw Tadesse six months ago at therestaurant.

Assefa said "most Ethiopians go to the U.S. togo to college" because of a lack of opportunitiesback home.

Tadesse "was a very nice person, verystudious," recalled a man who identified himselfas a maternal relative, but who refused to givehis name. "The couple of times I've seen her, sheseemed to say that she liked the school, that shewas not having any problems."

"I don't think she had any culture shock, therelative said. "I don't think she had any problemscommunicating with people, or with the food orwith the climate."

"These events cannot be explained in terms ofthe girl we knew," the relative added.Courtesy the Harvard YearbookSINEDU TADESSE '96