Dawit is on the left
Hi everyone,
I am very pleased to introduce myself, your new partner in building our healthy community! Here’s my story. After migrating to Sacramento from Ethiopia at the age of 5, I witnessed my parents work endless hours and struggle to adapt to this new place. They were left powerless to respond to the phone calls about unknown diseases and unexpected deaths hitting family members back home in Ethiopia. Because of the worsening political and economic situation in Ethiopia, many families like my own were left helpless as medical treatments were unknown or out of reach. I was introduced to issues like this from a young age and as I grew up in our Sacramento neighborhoods. Growing up with other immigrants from Mexico, South America and South-East Asia, I saw how we were all struggling through a lot of the same hurdles that I thought I left in Ethiopia.
These first experiences in America really helped shape my perspective and passion for community work and advocacy. Through the diversity within Sacramento, I was able to learn how to manifest my passion into a unique set of experiences for the service of our community. I have been fortunate enough to work with organizations around the city like the NAACP state office and Imani Clinic in Oak Park. These experiences and others like them have taught me how to connect the medical issues our community members face on a day to day basis with the long-term political and economic strategies of certain groups.
I look forward to serving our community and helping to make connections like this more visible while also helping to grow new connections amongst our community as your new Sac BHC Project Coordinator!
