In 2016, Etalem Tegegn’s family abruptly stopped eating avocados all at once, due to a single horrific incident. “Salad has always been a staple at my family’s dinner table,” explains Etalem.

So begins a story narrated by a young woman in Hawassa, Ethiopia. This story, along with dozens more like it, were sourced directly from people living and working in and around Hawassa’s largest traditional market: Aroge Gebeya.

Story Sourcing gives glimpses of what people care about, what’s on their mind, what motivates them and how they are thinking about particular topics impacting them on a daily basis, from inflation to seasonal floods. This semiformal formative research process helps provide human context to more rigorous quantitative data. Having this context is essential when working on a behavior change program: the stories  help drive entertaining, believable and relatable media programs as part of EatSafe: Evidence and Action Toward Safe and Nutritious Foods (EatSafe), a Feed the Future program helping to impact consumer demand for safe food in traditional markets.

In Ethiopia, EatSafe looked under the hood of the traditional market to find those stories. But now, back to Etalem: 

On that infamous day back in 2016, Etalem’s mom went to the market and bought various vegetables and fruits, including avocados, to make her salad as she usually does. After she brought all the food home, she prepared it and put it out on the table. Her entire family, including her parents and her four siblings were present. Everyone devoured the meal happily, but things turned around quickly. Within no time, they were queuing at their one bathroom. The whole family was hit hard by a sudden wave of diarrhea and vomit. Everyone was panicking, and for a while no one could pinpoint what caused the sudden illness. 

Stories like Etalem’s show not only how food safety issues personally impact local families, but also how people think about unsafe food. Repeated foodborne illnesses can lead to chronic and sometimes devastating health issues. Every year, one out of ten people on the planet will fall sick from food contaminated with bacteria, parasites, toxins, chemicals or viruses.

“Looking back, I find all that commotion scary and funny at the same time,” she states with her lips curling with a smile. "It was chaotic,” she repeats, feeling a little bit guilty for smiling. It would not take that long until they arrived at the conclusion that maybe it was the salad that caused the unexpected illness. Following that hunch, Etalem went out to inspect as well as to throw out what was left of the vegetables and avocado her mom used. She remembers the disgust she felt when she looked closely at the trashed avocados. “I found worms on the avocado peels,” explains Etalem. After she broke her discovery to her family regarding what she found on the avocado peels, there was a new wave of sickness and another family rush to the bathroom.

Stories like these will become the source material for marketing and Social and Behavior Change Communications campaigns in Hawassa, Ethiopia, where EatSafe is working. People relate to stories sourced from their own communities and quickly empathize with people who could be their friends or neighbors. For EatSafe, these stories can become a key part of effective communication interventions, be it a radio show, web series or poster campaign to guide consumers on how to improve food safety, both while shopping at the market and at home. 

Despite the big turmoil, none of them had to go to the hospital. They all recovered quickly from what happened. However, they did not find the courage to recover their liking towards avocado after that. Although they still purchase foods from Aroge Gebeya to prepare salads, avocado has not and will not make the cut. “Till this day none of us has eaten avocado since; we even make faces when we see one. To be honest all of us are left traumatized,” points out Etalem. 

To see more stories from Aroge Gebeya in Hawassa, Ethiopia, visit EatSafe’s interactive Story Sourcing website.

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This blog was made possible through support provided by Feed The Future through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), under the terms of Agreement #7200AA19CA00010.