"My work is special, because it allows me to help and to make a difference"
Kidist has worked as Community Outreach Advisor with our partner Atsede Clinic since 2020. The Clinic provides maternal health services and midwife home visits to pregnant women living in the rural mountainous Gurage Zone, where 60% of women do not receive the recommended level of antenatal care. Kidist (pictured with her children above) shared more about her role and what life is like for the women Atsede Clinic is there to support.
What drew you to work in this role?
Atsede was my midwife for my first child. I was very young, and scared of what would happen, and she helped me so much. As soon as I heard she was opening a Clinic, I knew I wanted to work with her, to help her like she helped me. Now I can contribute to the work of the midwives, and contribute in my own way, making sure that the voices of the women in the villages are heard. Making sure that those most in need get the help they deserve, like I did all those years ago.
What challenges do women face, and what impact have you seen through this project?
I think it is just life that is difficult here. Women don’t always have enough food for themselves or for their family.
The projects run by Atsede Clinic have been amazing, reaching women who really need it and in ways that are so simple but make so much difference. Women who would not have care in their pregnancy are able to have it.
What does a typical workday look like for you?
Usually, after I have made my children breakfast and cleaned the house, I walk out to meet with women from all over the town. Two times in the week I also go to the villages all around Cheha Woreda, sometimes with the midwives, sometimes by myself. Wherever I go, I meet with the women’s groups or in the women’s houses, and make sure there are no problems. I also ask them about how we can help them in the future, what is needed most, and what can make the biggest difference. Usually for lunchtime, I stay with the women’s groups. Then in the afternoon, I go back to the Clinic to tell Atsede and Indie about what I have talked about.
What are your hopes for the future?
I would love to train as a nurse, but I think now I am too old! Instead, I would love for my children to finish school and to go to university, if God wills it.
Without this project, so many women would be left without maternal healthcare, facing childbirth alone. Your continued support is helping provide this vital service, saving mothers’ and babies’ lives and preventing devastating childbirth injuries
Our partner: Atsede Clinic
In 2016, English midwife Indie joined the staff at Attat Hospital in south-western Ethiopia, where Atsede led the midwifery services. It was a meeting that would change their lives. Their close professional relationship, and deep personal friendship, led to them opening a birth centre serving the Gurage women and families of Cheha Woreda, bringing compassionate midwifery care into the heart of traditional communities.
Excerpt taken from their book, With Two Souls
Find out more about Clinic co-founders, Atsede and Indie
Video interview with midwife Indie McDowell
Indie, midwife and co-founder of Atsede Clinic shares more about their amazing work. She explains how she came to live in Ethiopia, when she first
Interview with midwife Atsede Kidane
“I always knew I wanted to be a midwife” Atsede, 2019 International Midwife of the Year, is co-founder and Director of Atsede Clinic, one of
