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Bezabeha smiles proudly in front of his farm in rural Ethiopia

Rural Life in Ethiopia

Bezabeha's life as a rural farmer in central Ethiopia is full of challenges, but his bright smile appears effortlessly.

He's growing corn this year on his picturesque, thirty-acre farm, where he lives with his family, which includes a wife and six children of all ages. Bezabeha also keeps busy as the self-appointed "local sheriff," seeing it as an important part of his daily responsibilities to visit his neighbors, just to make sure everything is ok.

Along with the struggles of day to day life in the Ethiopian countryside, Bezabeha and his neighbors have battled malaria for as long as he can remember.

He had three diagnosed episodes of the mosquito-transmitted disease, but Bezabeha probably suffered with malaria more times than he can count, he said.

Bezabeha's son Tigressa peeks playfully around a bednet.

Like the rest of the community, malaria has been a scourge to his family, rendering adults and children alike sick to the point of seizures. Thankfully, all of Bezabeha's family survived many repeated episodes, and today, their experience with malaria is quite different from years past. They are now owners of two insecticide-treated nets, provided to them during nationwide distributions from the Ethiopian government. His family was among the hundreds in the surrounding area that were visited by community health workers, handing out the protective bed nets.

"No one in our family has had malaria since we hung the nets," Bezabeha says proudly, as he gestures toward the blue bednet, carefully strung with pieces of twine from the roof of their hut. "Last time I was sick with malaria, I almost died, and now things are much better. People in the community are not suffering so much anymore."

In a country once prone to widespread malaria epidemics, Ethiopia is making tremendous strides in combating the deadly disease. Utilizing a multi-faceted approach that includes bednet distribution, indoor residual spraying, and providing effective medicines to even the most rural clinics, the collaborative efforts and international donor support are truly making a life-saving difference throughout the country.