A 15-year-old Ethiopian kid is making a name for himself. Heman Bekele, who now resides in Annandale, Virginia, has produced a soap that could treat skin cancer.
Bekele has been named as Time’s 2023 Kid of the Year following his revolutionary soap creation. The magazine announced this in a release on Thursday.
“It’s absolutely incredible to think that one day my bar of soap will be able to make a direct impact on somebody else’s life,” he told Time. “That’s the reason I started this all in the first place.”
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Time described his soap as a “more accessible way to deliver medication to treat skin cancers, including melanoma.”
“I was raised under the thought that I could always ask questions, be as curious as possible, learn as much as possible,” the 15-year-old boy told the U.S. media. “And then all that learning and questioning pushed me to the field of science.”
Despite migrating from Ethiopia at the age of 4, Heman Bekele divulged he was partially inspired by watching laborers in his native country toil under direct sunlight, without any protection from the sun’s UV rays.
He thought of how to help after he moved abroad. Bekele is known for entertaining himself for hours by mixing detergents and other under-the-sink chemicals.
“What is one thing that is an internationally impactful idea, something that everyone can use, [regardless of] socioeconomic class?” Bekele asked himself, as he told Time. “Almost everyone uses soap and water for cleaning. So soap would probably be the best option.”
At age 14 in 2023, Bekele was named America’s Top Young Scientist by 3M and Discovery Education. He attained this feat after competing against nine other finalists. He walked home with a cash prize of $25,000 (Ksh. 3.2 million) at the time.
After being named Time’s Kid of the Year, 3M engineer Deborah Isabelle, who was Heman’s mentor during the Young Scientist Challenge competition, stated that Bekele’s new achievement was well deserved.
“Heman is an incredible charismatic, curious, intelligent, articulate young man,” Deborah said. “But more than that, he’s compassionate and has a heart for people. He’s created an invention that has the potential to make the world better for so many people.”
Meanwhile, the soap would have to go through many stages before approval for treatment.
Heman Bekele, a student of Woodson High School in Fairfax County, Va., mostly does research at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore when he is not in school.
Many people are curious to see how Bekele’s soap will help people treat skin cancer as it awaits approval.
