New Personal Empowerment Found in Ability to Help Others

Three years ago, Martha Jemal (name has been changed) decided she couldn't take anymore. Twenty-one years old, she had been sexually abused periodically by a close family member for years, yet had been too ashamed or scared to tell a soul. Then she heard about a safe home run nearby, that would offer her a safe place to stay while she could attend job training and seek counseling to cope with her experiences. So one night, she packed a small bag and slipped out the door. The safe home is one program of several, run by a small Ethiopian organization that receives support from Global Impact through Planned Parenthood Federation of America International Program, one of our member charities. In addition to young people who have been abused, the organization advocates for the rights and health of orphans and young people who have been exploited through forced labor.

Once at the safe home, Martha found the solace she'd been seeking and a new sense of empowerment she never expected to find: empowerment through reproductive health. Thanks to a partnership with this Global Impact-supported charity, a new reproductive health component has been added to the range of child rights services they offer. In addition to learning a new job skill, Martha was able to attend trainings on sexual and reproductive health, becoming educated on topics like healthy relationships, contraceptive use, and HIV/AIDS. Once a victim and now a survivor, participation in reproductive health training helped Martha to gain a new sense of ownership about her own body, and heal old wounds. Martha soon took on a new role: that of peer educator. Now educated about reproductive health herself, Martha's role is as a community resource, providing education and counseling to others on these issues, and, importantly, ensuring that men and women have ready access to contraceptives supplies. Just 15% of married women in Ethiopia use contraceptives, and early or "child" marriage is prevalent countrywide. Thus increasing access to reproductive health information and services is a critical issue effecting the livelihood and prosperity not only of Ethiopian women, but their families and communities as well.

Martha understands the critical role that access to contraceptives plays in empowering women, by enabling them to stay in school, continue working, or better provide for the children they already have. Nowadays, Martha supports herself with a hairdressing business and earns enough to rent a one-room apartment, yet she continues her peer education work. With a carefully-kept client list in a notebook by her bed, she continues to help men and women in her community stay supplied with condoms and pills, and helping them access clinical services when other reproductive health issues arise. She takes great pride in her role as peer educator, and finds new personal empowerment in her ability to help others realize their dreams through reproductive choice.