Latest news with #Kirubel
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Yahoo
Teen Reflects on Devastating Freshman Year Crash and Says 3 Years Later, He Can See the ‘Hidden Blessing' (Exclusive)
On March 28, 2022, brothers Surafel and Kirubel Mesfin were involved in a horrible car crash "I remember seeing the truck coming towards us, but I was too late to say anything. And then after that, everything went black," Surafel, now 17 and about to graduate high school, tells PEOPLE As for the future, Suafel plans to follow in his older brother's footsteps and continue his studies at the University of UtahThree years after the devastating accident that left him with critical neck and spine injuries, Surafel Mesfin is graduating high school. The 17-year-old Logan High School senior tells PEOPLE that the devastating crash was a 'hidden blessing' because of all he learned pushing through the difficult physical and mental recovery. 'This showed what I'm able to do. I could get through this,' says the Utah teen. 'This journey, although it left scars, both mentally and physically, these scars aren't a reminder of what I lost, but what I gained.' Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories On March 28, 2022, around 7:45 a.m., his older brother Kirubel was driving him to school in a Nissan Altima. At the time, Surafel was a freshman and his older brother was a senior. 'We were just goofing around, just listening to music,' Surafel says of the moments before a water truck "came hurtling towards us." "I remember seeing the truck coming towards us, but I was too late to say anything. And then after that, everything went black," he adds. When he woke up, glass and shards of metal were everywhere — and upon seeing his brother slumped over behind the wheel, Surafel thought that he had passed away. Then his own physical pain hit. 'I was screaming in agony,' he recalls. 'It was just all over my body, especially my hips and lower back.' Paramedics ripped the brothers out of the car and flew them to two different hospitals. Although Kirubel was 18 at the time, Surafel was only 14, so he was sent to a children's hospital in Ogden. Surafel, whose parents and older sibling moved to the U.S. from Ethiopia before he was born, sustained two broken ribs, and injuries to his neck and lower back. (A GoFundMe was established at the time to help the Mesfin family.) Hospital staff prepared him for the challenges he would face healing physically from the devastating crash, but he says that no one talked to him about the mental obstacles he would have to overcome. 'No one really told me that I was going to battle myself constantly throughout my journey,' he says. 'It was basically a losing battle against my body, just being discouraged daily of what I was able to do and what I could no longer do at the time." 'It was basically just a wave of depression,' he explains. 'I couldn't move. And it was just a battle between me and my body, basically, because I needed assistance with everything.' He needed help eating, sitting upright or using the bathroom. 'It was discouraging. I just felt worthless,' he says. 'Why was this happening to me?' His brother had more extensive injuries. He underwent multiple emergency brain and heart surgeries in the hours after the crash, then had additional procedures to treat his broken arms, wrists, hips and spine. But Kirubel, too, was able to recover and he's now a 22-year-old student majoring in psychology at the University of Utah. Surafel plans to attend the same university in the fall and major in biology — and he hopes to one day become a neurosurgeon. The teen says the resilience and gratitude he gained through his recovery gave him a new purpose and he became more involved volunteering at school and in his community. 'I try to grow closer to the person I want to become now," he explains. "I want to become someone who turns their pain into a possibility and acting with kindness and making others feel seen, valued, and cared for.' 'I couldn't have done this without the support of my friends, family and community,' he says. 'My friends and family told me, 'Keep pushing forward." I will fall at times, but what's important is to get back up each time so I can just continue to push forward. I think that helps me a lot.' Read the original article on People
Voice of America
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
Fact-checkers in Ethiopia take on disinformation amid rising tensions
As tensions flared between Somalia and Ethiopia last year, social media became a breeding ground for misinformation. One video falsely claiming to show Egyptian troops training in Somalia gained 34,000 views on the social media platform X. But fact-checkers were able to prove the footage was old and unrelated to the current tensions. The case was not an isolated incident in Ethiopia, or globally. The spread of mis- or disinformation is a global phenomenon. Research has repeatedly shown how hostile groups use disinformation to further inflame tensions, create confusion and weaken trust in institutions, including government offices, nonprofits and media. Often it falls to news outlets or fact-checking initiatives to set the record straight. But moves by Meta to end some fact-checking tools such as CrowdTangle, and its decision in January to end a Facebook fact-check program in the U.S., have experts concerned about how to contain the spread of hate speech and disinformation. In Ethiopia, some specialists are already seeking extra training to be able to better spot and debunk false or misleading content. Communications specialist Netsanet Tesfaye already knew how to use tools such as Google's reverse image search. But he sought extra training after seeing how quickly doctored images can be spread to stoke tensions. To learn how to better spot fakes, Netsanet turned to HaqCheck, an Ethiopia-based organization set up four years ago. "Fake information is causing great damage to organizations and the country. The methods people use have also gone from spreading simple rumors to using advanced technology such as deep fake or AI. So it was important I understand what tools are available to counter them,' Netsanet said. Since its launch, HaqCheck has identified and debunked thousands of misleading posts shared on social media and has made it easier for the public to verify information, said Kirubel Tesfaye, lead fact-checker at HaqCheck. It also offers training. "It wasn't until I joined HaqCheck that I began to understand the darker side of social media,' Kirubel said. 'I'm constantly shocked by the lengths people will go to to disseminate false information." Much of the misinformation Kirubel and his team deal with involves internal conflicts, border disputes, and the diplomatic tension between Ethiopia and Somalia over a port deal with Somaliland. "We also find the prime minister's and government officials' various speeches are frequently manipulated," Kirubel said. Dangers of disinformation Most of the disinformation is circulated on social media. Facebook, TikTok and the Telegram messaging apps are all popular in Ethiopia. But some platforms have been criticized for posts that stoke tensions. A 2023 Amnesty International report alleges that Meta, Facebook's parent company, contributed to human rights abuses against the Tigrayan community in Ethiopia. The report said Facebook's algorithms 'supercharged the spread of harmful rhetoric' and that content moderation systems failed to prevent that spread. Noting that Facebook is widely used in Ethiopia and 'considered a trustworthy news source,' Amnesty said that its 'algorithms fueled devastating human rights impacts' on Tigrayans. Prior to the conflict in Tigray, Facebook in November 2021 announced that Ethiopia was in its highest-risk category for violence, and that it had developed technology to identify hate speech in Ethiopia's four most spoken languages. The following year, two British digital research companies found that Facebook was still approving posts containing hate speech during the conflict. The U.N.'s then-special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, noted similar findings in her 2022 reports. Meta does have systems in place to try to address such concerns. But in the U.S., some of those methods are being rolled back. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced a change in policy to end content moderation — its third-party fact-checking program — in the U.S. 'The fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the U.S.,' Zuckerberg said in a January 7 video. 'So, over the next couple of months, we are going to phase in a more comprehensive community notes system.' In his message, Zuckerberg said the platform, which globally has 2.9 billion monthly users, plans to change its content policies. Zuckerberg in August said the Biden administration had 'pressured' his company to censor posts about the coronavirus pandemic. Misinformation alerts were added to Facebook and Instagram posts that contained disinformation about the pandemic or vaccines. And some posts critical of the vaccines were deleted. Contacted by VOA's Horn of Africa Service, Meta said it was making changes in the U.S. first and would improve its systems 'before expansion to other countries.' "There are no changes in other countries at this time, and before rolling out any changes to our fact-checking program outside of the U.S., we will carefully consider our obligations,' Meta said. Fact-checker tool kit Back in Ethiopia, HaqCheck fact-checkers rely on several digital tools to verify information, including reverse image search. CrowdTangle was one such tool, helping the team analyze public content on social media. Meta shut down the tool in August, saying it didn't provide a complete picture of what was happening on its platform. "It was a powerful tool that helped us monitor Facebook, Instagram and Reddit,' said Kirubel of HaqCheck. 'Now we've reverted to manual monitoring, using keywords.' The team employs other tools, too, including InVid, which can help researchers identify when an image was first shared, and whether or even where it was manipulated. Beyond debunking false information, the group trains journalists, communication experts and academics. Netsanet said that this work carries special significance in countries like Ethiopia. "False information can turn ethnic groups that lived in harmony against each other and threaten national security,' he said. 'The spread of misinformation also worsens conflicts. So, fact-checking means protecting a country from all that.' To ensure it reaches as wide an audience as possible, HaqCheck publishes verified articles on its website, social media and local TV stations. This story originated in VOA's Horn of Africa Service.
