Community Health Advocate

The village of Tulovo is a community of about 1400 residents, nestled at the foot of the Balkan Mountains. With the population split equally between Roma (gypsy) and ethnic Bulgarian residents, the community has a small, underserved clinic that is serviced by a doctor who also visits other local villages. Most of the patients are Roma who have limited options for local healthcare due to their low income and transportation limitations.

Bulgarians are people of faith, with about 85% of the population claiming Eastern Orthodoxy as their religion. A large majority of these are nominal adherents, rarely stepping inside the church. Protestants, on the other hand, make up just over one percent of the population. The need is great for people to show a practical faith in Jesus Christ, and then invite others to follow Him.

Together with local believers, we are working to reach the most vulnerable through living and sharing a practical faith. We seek to raise up mature Christ-followers, both Roma and ethnic Bulgarian, who recognize and step into their God-given calling to influence and transform Tulovo. Our greatest dream is to see growing understanding, and ultimately reconciliation, between the estranged Roma and ethnic Bulgarian population.

We seek a compassionate and bold individual to serve as Health Advocate in Tulovo. We are working to expand outreach through community health education. As this is a new focus for us, there will be lots of groundwork including listening to the concerns of the community, connecting with and gaining the trust of the local medical workers, and completing a health needs assessment.

In this role you will be a voice for the Tulovo community, with a focus on the often-neglected piece of prevention, especially coordinating discussions on various health education topics. If you are passionate about community health, a self-starter, and want to serve a vulnerable population with gaps in preventative healthcare, this is the opportunity for you.