Addis Ababa , Ethiopia ( CNN ) -- The sight of a baby girl suckling on the breast of her dead mother changed the course of Abebech Gobena 's life forever . The year was 1980 and Ethiopia lay in the grip of what would become one of the most devastating famines in its history . Gobena , a devout Christian , was on a pilgrimage to a holy site in the north-east region of the country when she came across the dead mother and her baby , lying amid a sea of people who were starving to death . `` When I was returning , there were so many of these hungry people sprawled all over , you could not even walk , '' Gobena told CNN . `` I had some bread on me , so I tried to feed them . I fed two men . When I reached this woman , she was dead , but the child was still suckling at her breast , '' she continued . `` One of the chauffeurs charged with picking up the corpses said to me , ' I am waiting for the child to die so I can pick up both bodies . I just ca n't bear to take the child as well while she is still alive , ' '' Gobena said . Without a second thought , Gobena bundled the tiny girl into her arms and smuggled her to the country 's capital , Addis Ababa . In that instant , she transformed both the baby 's future and her own . Haunted by the images of the dying people , it was n't long before Gobena headed back to the countryside in an effort to source water for the destitute locals . She came across another child in the arms of his dying father . Find out more about Gobena and her orphanage . Gobena told CNN : `` At the end of the day , as we were going home we came upon five people , three of them dead , two alive . One of the men dying by the side of the road said to me , 'This is my child . She is dying . I am dying . Please save my child . ' '' Gobena took the baby boy home which posed a threat to her own safety , she explained to CNN . `` It was a terrible famine . There were no authorities . The government at that time did not want the famine to be public knowledge . So I had to pretend the children were mine and smuggle them out . '' By the end of 1980 , Gobena had taken in 21 children . But her desire to save the young children caused friction in her family . `` My family , my husband gave me an ultimatum , choose the children or choose your life , '' she told CNN . `` My relatives , even my mother said , 'She has gone mad , she should be checked at the mental institution . ' '' Gobena continued : `` I was not welcome at home . So I decided to move to some land I had bought with the intention of raising some chicken . I moved into this forest area with the kids . '' Thirty years on and Gobena , now more famously known as `` Africa 's Mother Theresa , '' is the founder of Ethiopia 's oldest orphanage . Gobena 's thirty-year legacy means she has raised a generation of Ethiopia 's abandoned children , orphaned by the ravages of famine , war and HIV/AIDS . However , leaving her own family was a tough decision for Gobena , who had struggled since childhood to gain an education , job and secure family life . Born in 1938 , she was only a month-old when her father was killed during the Ethio-Italian war . As tradition dictated , she was brought up by her father 's parents until the age of 11 , when she was married off without her consent . Revolting against her marriage , Gobena ran away from home to Addis Ababa , where she scraped a basic education , gained a job as a quality controller and remarried . She told CNN : `` I suffered because of the traditions of the country I was born in . But things have improved . My goal is not to marry them off , but to raise them as adults who can take care of themselves . '' Gobena has come a long way since 1980 when she struggled to survive , resorting to selling her possessions and tearing up her own dresses to make clothes for the infants . Now her orphanage , as well as sheltering , also acts as a school , educating over 700 children . But she says : `` I have no regrets . God has helped me get to this point . I always had great faith in God . `` I knew we would survive , even selling small things by the roadside . I am so happy because none of the children died , and all of them grew up . ''
Gobena is the founder of Gobena 's second orphanage . Her humanitarian work started when she saved the life of a baby girl suckling on the breast of her dead mother . Now Abebech Gobena 's orphanage cares for five children .