In Her Words: Community Health Promoter – Ethiopia

Name: Menebere Solomon
Role of Storyteller: Community health promoter
Location: Wonsho, Gejaba

Before Grounds for Health came to Gejaba Health Center, I had no idea about cervical cancer. At the end of the two-day training, I already had the necessary information about how to communicate and tell the community about the problem. It was a great experience to work with such a dynamic team.

I am a community promoter for Grounds for Health because I believe that the program is helping the women of my community from dying of a preventable problem. It is a life-saving campaign and I immediately saw that the women are getting help from it. Serving as a community promoter is a privilege, and even we as health extension workers are benefiting by getting screened ourselves. I know in my catchment area that there are woman who has suffering because of cervical cancer problem, but now we are able to reach them before things have gotten worse. I feel like God has sent Grounds for health to save lives in my community and I promise I will keep my spirit to work more!

I have the motivation and the energy to keep up working with Grounds for health because I understand that this intervention will save the lives of more women in the community. As a health extension worker, my regular duty is teaching the community about the government health packages and making the community ready to take action to protect their health. It is a new idea to the community and for us too, but the problem is living with us so I have get up and say to the community that cervical cancer is a disease that can be prevented if we identify it early.

Grounds for Health has taught us about work ethics and commitment. They have consistently given us support even though our health post is far away from the center. They are ready to hear about our challenges and have given us ways to overcome them.

Editor’s Note: The original translated transcript has been modified for grammar, spelling and clarity. Please contact us for the original unedited version.