Earlier this year, The World Federation launched an urgent global emergency appeal to support our global community members through the COVID-19 pandemic. The illness is still spreading, with different areas getting new case surges as the days go by and we’re still supporting our community members around the world.
Since we launched our appeal in April, we have been working consistently with our Regional Federations to provide ongoing support in the way they need it most.
Due to the overwhelming support of our global community, we have been able to do things such as facilitating the establishment of rehabilitation and isolation units, provide personal protective equipment (PPE), testing kits, and medical equipment to our Regional Federations to distribute, and support our community members financially where needed. Many of our global community have lost their livelihoods due to the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns and restrictions, and your support has allowed us to reach these families and help them through these difficult days.
WORKING WITH AFRICA FEDERATION
Since April, we have been working with Africa Federation to assess the needs of our community members in the region and we have been using your generous donations in the way you intended – to provide support to families through the pandemic.
Overall, our support has been in four main forms: food packs, medical care, loans, and cash grants.
Through Africa Federation, we have provided local institutions in Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Malawi, and Rwanda with the forms of support most needed by those local communities, as the needs vary from country to country and also from city to city.
Through the generosity of our community, we were able to send 3,000 pieces of PPE to Africa Federation, which was distributed between Kenya and Tanzania. The PPE included full protective suits, disposable caps, head covers, and shoe covers, face shields, and goggles, all to help protect those on the front line during the pandemic, for an overall then market value of $70,000.
MADAGASCAR
For example, in Madagascar, loans and cash grants were given to 268 people, all of whom were struggling financially due to the pandemic. One of the recipients said he ‘requested the loan to finance expenses because I had no cash inflows during the health crisis’. There were 268 loan recipients, but the number of beneficiaries was even more as the financial support allowed business owners to keep people in employment. One business owner said ‘as the epidemic has grown, trade was closed while fees should still be paid. This amount allowed me to pay my rent as well as my employees’.
Also in Madagascar, we helped set up an isolation unit for COVID patients:
TANZANIA
In Arusha, your donations were used to convert the Musafarkhana into a COVID isolation centre for community members suffering from the virus. Similarly, in Dar es Salaam, your generosity led to a COVID rehabilitation unit being set up, with essential equipment including two ventilators, 6 CPAP Machines, 4 Double Valve Oxygen concentrators, 40 high-end hospital beds, and 6 cardiac monitors. There was also the extension of the Ebrahim Haji Hospital New Wing, which has facilities to care for 60 patients and will be an invaluable resource for the community going forward after the pandemic. This video shows the newly built hospital wing, which was opened on 20th June 2020.
In Tanzania, we have also worked with various other jamaats including Bukoba, Moshi, Morogoro, Mwanza, Tanga, and Zanzibar.
SUPPORTING JAMAATS ACROSS AFRICA
We have been supporting families affected by the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns and restrictions in various parts of Africa by providing food packs, medical care, loans, and cash grants. We have been working in Kenya (with Mombasa and Nairobi jamaats), Burundi (with Bujumbura jamaat), in the Democratic of Congo (with Lubumbashi jamaat), in Mozambique (with Nampula jamaat), in Malawi (with Lilongwe jamaat), and in Rwanda (with Kigali jamaat).
This project is still ongoing as we continue to meet the needs of our global community amidst the ever-changing situation.
You can read about our work in other parts of the world here.
