Buda Belat
Abebe Haregewoin, MD, Ph. D.
A very pretty teen age girl was brought to the emergency room at Fenote Selam Hospital in the middle of the night in a state of apparent uncontrolled shrieking alternating with strange gesticulations, shivering and writhing. Her hapless father with his eyes filled with terror was holding his daughter’s waist and trying to restrain her restless hands and fists from self inflicted injury. The poor man looked totally exhausted from his struggle from this sylph of a girl, who seemed to have endless and uncontrollable power of an angry lioness. There was also a rope tied to her waist and gripped by her father’s gnarled peasant fists, apparently to prevent her from running away and do herself grievous harm. It was apparent from the red and bleeding welts on her face and exposed chest that she has been scratching and beating her face and chest uncontrollably. A couple of scratches on the father’s cheeks and nose revealed that he has also been a victim of her tireless nails and fists.
