By Philip Walzer (December 14, 2017)

When Berhanu Mengistu was a little boy, his mother saved his life.

Mengistu, the youngest of 13 children, was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling when the house – in Ethiopia’s northern countryside – caught fire. His mother grabbed him and rushed out. As she left, the ceiling collapsed.

A sign in his office recalls an African proverb: “A good deed is something one returns.” It’s a message Mengistu has taken to heart in a big way.