ABSTRACT
The promotion of volunteerism by nongovernmental organization (NGOs), governments, and donors in the global health industry, as well as attempts of managers to keep community health workers (CHWs) productive and happy with their unpaid positions, needs to be studied alongside volunteer's strivings for socioeconomic advancement, Many of the volunteer CHWs encountered in Addis Ababa could also be described as opportunistic and anxious for improvement in their lives. This chapter presents the survey data and narratives collected to show how CHWs' experiences of distress relate to their lack of secure employment and complement their testimonies of volunteering as a generator of positive social and emotional experiences. Alemayehu was unmarried, 33 years old, and living with his parents while volunteering. Alemayehu was one of the CHWs present at Ethiopian Volunteers Day. For Alemayehu and other unmarried men, being unemployed meant more than food insecurity or material poverty. For women, too, unemployment translated into food insecurity and a stressful sense of dependency.
