An Ethiopian father of 11 has become a social media sensation in the country after he enrolled at a university at the age of 69.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Orphaned at a young age, Tadesse Ghichile, couldn’t continue his formal education after middle school until much later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, he\u2019s attending Jimma University in the western part of the country where he hopes to graduate with a medical degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tadesse Ghichile is a farmer. When he\u2019s not tilling the land, he works in a caf\u00e9 in his village to support his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet somehow he found time to take – and pass – the national university entrance exam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was 10 years ago that he decided to resume formal education, which he had left in eighth grade following the death of his parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a long time he had found it difficult to return to school especially after he started a family. But once he was back, he was determined to see it to the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, he\u2019s enrolled in one of the country\u2019s biggest universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He told the BBC he\u2019s had lots of support from fellow students in the past few years and that he\u2019s looking forward to what lies ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BBC Africa News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An Ethiopian father of 11 has become a social media sensation in the country after he enrolled at a university at the age of 69. Orphaned at a young age, Tadesse Ghichile, couldn’t continue his formal education after middle school until much later. Now, he\u2019s attending Jimma University in the western part of the country […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":30538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[161],"tags":[7524,7519],"class_list":["post-30536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-jimma-university","tag-tadesse-ghichile"],"yoast_head":"\n