Dr Biruk Legesse graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB ChB) from Otago on Saturday after 12 years of tertiary study in Ethiopia and New Zealand, his family by his side. Pictured, from left: Biruk's cousin Eyosiyas Mengstu, half-brother Yididiya Admassu, Biruk, his partner Ruth Melese, cousin Abenenzer Mengstu and his mother Shewaget.
Biruk Legesse’s mission to become a doctor has been an epic journey in more ways than one.
After attending medical school in two countries, and completing 12 years of study, Biruk graduated from Otago on Saturday with a sense of relief.
Biruk was in his fourth year of medical school at the University of Gondar in northern Ethiopia when he found himself in the middle of a clash between government and rebel forces.
He says it was not unusual at that time for conflict between government and opposition factions to spill over into civilian life in Ethiopia, especially around election time, but that day had a significant impact on him.
“I was conducting research with colleagues when a shootout broke out between a rebel group and government forces and we were caught in between. That experience made me realise how easily I could be injured or killed simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
At the time he was in a long-distance relationship with his New Zealand partner, Ruth Melese, who he had met when she was visiting extended family in Ethiopia in 2015. Ruth suggested Biruk finish medical school in New Zealand, and he arrived in September 2016 hopeful about the future.
But getting back into medicine proved to be anything but straightforward.
Unable to get into medical school at Auckland or Otago Universities, his future felt bleak.
“Everything felt dark when I was told I couldn’t get in and had to start again.”
Taking it day by day, he worked for a year to raise the funds for further study. In 2018 he embarked on a Bachelor of Health Sciences in Public Health at Otago, which held out the possibility of getting into medical school through a graduate pathway.
He finished his BHealSc degree in 2020 and applied for Medicine, hoping for the best.
“My mum, Shewaget, was a nurse and when I was young, she was the one in our community who everyone came to for help or advice, and I grew up seeing that, so I know the impact it has.” – Biruk Legesse
“I still had to compete with other graduates to get into the programme, so I thought, ‘let’s just apply and no regrets, at least I’ve tried’. I was really surprised when I got accepted. I was very happy. It was like, ‘now I’ve got the chance’, and from then on, I just took it day by day.”
He says while it might be a bit of a cliché, he went into medicine to help people.
“My mum, Shewaget, was a nurse and when I was young, she was the one in our community who everyone came to for help or advice, and I grew up seeing that, so I know the impact it has.”
Biruk remained in Dunedin to complete the first two years of his medical training before moving to the Wellington campus for his fourth, fifth and sixth years.
As if the challenges of a new country and studying medicine were not enough, he and Ruth then agreed they would adopt and raise three of Biruk’s teenaged relatives, his half-brother Yididiya Admassu (now 16) and his cousins Eyosiyas Mengstu (16) and Abenenzer Mengstu (13) and bring them to New Zealand to be educated in safety.
“It was a complex and lengthy process, but it allowed them to come to New Zealand permanently.”
He brushes aside the difficulties he and Ruth faced in becoming parents to teens, saying it’s been good to have family close.
The couple joke between themselves though that they have started the parenting stage “backwards”.
“We started with teens. In a way it is a bit crazy because we still feel we are young ourselves.”
On graduation day, he was joined by Ruth, his half-brother and cousins, and by his mum, who made the journey from Ethiopia to join them.
Now at the age of 32, Biruk says it’s a big relief to have finally finished his studies.
“If you asked me if I would go back and do it all again, I might say no.”
What kept him going was the support of the others around him, he says.
“I think what we did as a family, you set an expectation, you set a vision, and you know what you have to work through, so when every challenge comes, you just try to see the end goal.”
In the back of his mind as well was the knowledge that those who came to New Zealand as refugees had fewer opportunities than he did.
“There are others from my community who don’t have a lot of opportunity to study. They have to work multiple jobs to support their families, and they can’t go to university. That’s what made me push forward to show people that you can do it, whatever your background is. If you put the work in, it will work out.”
He and Ruth have been holding workshops with high school students from the Ethiopian community in Auckland to encourage them to consider future career pathways in medicine and other professions.
“We want them to think about what they would like to do and show them they can aspire to a professional career, and they can contribute to society.”
Biruk is excited to be embarking on the next stage of his career, and will start work as a junior doctor, a house officer, at Auckland City Hospital in Grafton on 12 January.
He is keeping his options open for now but is considering specialising in paediatrics or obstetrics and gynaecology in future.
“Either way, I am going to be working with mums or kids.”
Biruk hopes his story may help others who are facing challenging times.
“I hope it gets to whoever is on a journey and feels like, ‘oh I can’t do it’. I did it, so they can do it. All they need is the opportunity and to never give up.”
Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, Pōneke
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