Our Changemakers tour continues on in Sudan supporting the affected population by the floods in Al Hasanya village in Khartoum the capital of Sudan. During the community discussion that our team had, handwashing and personal hygiene came up and the community pointed out that there is a need for soap especially during these floods time and COVID-19 pandemic. Our team supported 40 households with 480 soap, 12 per household. Insaf community activist said, “Personal Hygiene and hand washing are the most important thing in 2020, people are suffering and lost a lot because of floods, we need to support them and reminds them with the importance of handwashing using soap, thank you for supporting Al Hasanya people we really appreciate that.” … [Read more...] about Soap for All
Changemakers365
Mosquito Nets and Blankets
Today Changemakers 365 is in Khartoum the capital of Sudan, due to the unusually heavy rainfall, flooding has created a crisis in various parts of Sudan leading the Government on the 4th of September to declare a three-month state of emergency in the country. 17 out of the country's 18 states have been impacted with more than 100,000 homes destroyed. The team conducted a quick assessment in Khartoum targeting Al Hasanya A & B villages in Jabal Awlya locality, near to the White Nile. 437 households were affected in Al Hasanya villages, a lot of people lost their houses and left with nothing. Some people evacuated their houses and went to stay in schools and others refused to leave their houses and stayed surrounded by water. “As you see the water level is high, you can't even move, we use boats to access some areas, and there is a lot of families that refused to evacuate their houses. we really need blankets and mosquito net because the water is bringing a lot of mosquitos … [Read more...] about Mosquito Nets and Blankets
Samosas For Everyone!
Today our Changemakers 365 team is in Somalia. We’ll be focusing on meeting some of the needs that come from Ramadan taking place during a pandemic. We’ll also be providing some long-term support for COVID prevention! Since COVID-19 things have become much more difficult for the residents of the Nasa-Hablood Camp. Food supplies have been limited and PPE’s have been virtually non-existent. During the time of Ramadan, much of the celebration takes place around food and our staff wanted to make sure this community had a great Ramadan! They brought food parcels filled with wheat flour and other goods to make samosas, one of the favorite Somali dishes! We also provided PPE’s so that the community can keep themselves and others safe during this time. Great work Changemakers team! … [Read more...] about Samosas For Everyone!
Extra! Extra! Hear All About It!
Changemakers 365 is back in Nakivale. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been lots of misinformation going around and we are here to help set the record straight. “The community needs a continuous reminder about the preventive measures of the coronavirus and with the megaphones, the community leaders will through giving out the messages to the community members,” said Mr. Kanyaryeru Andrew the community service assistant. Changemakers 365 supported the community and the frontline staff manning the intervention with the 6 megaphones to ease sensitization and awareness about the pandemic. The megaphones will allow staff to disseminate messages about the pandemic and its preventive measures like handwashing, social and physical distance, and wearing face masks in public places. “The megaphones can help us in spreading other messages like the SGBV prevention measures by community activists in this lockdown where we are unable to gather people for awareness-raising. The … [Read more...] about Extra! Extra! Hear All About It!
Hands-free Handwashing
Today we are back in Nakivale and we are tackling handwashing! COVID-19 has brought handwashing into the spotlight in a way like never before. One of the main measures that can be uses to prevent infection is handwashing and so we wanted to make sure refugees have access to handwashing facilities. The problem is that the current handwashing facilities are high touch but lucky for us Opportunigee is here to save the day! Opportunigee developed an amazing handwashing foot pedal that allows the washer to turn on and off the water without touching anything. “This mechanized handwashing facility will help us improve on the handwashing practice in the community and everyone who will visit this office must wash hands before entering any office because this is the only way we are able to fight this disease. Thank you for the partnership and also supporting the district in the implementation of the government directives,” said the Refugee Liaison Officer. Together with … [Read more...] about Hands-free Handwashing
Scrubbing Away to Keep the COVID at Bay
In the wake of COVID-19, Changemakers 365 teamed up with Opportunigee Women group– a community-based group comprised of 15 members, to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak. The group was initially engaged in bar soap making and distribution at the reception Centre. Because of the importance of soap availability, Changemakers 365 saw a new way to partner with Opportunigee Women, through soap making! We were able to provide enough materials to make 8,000 bars of soap! This soap was distributed to the newly settled refugees in Nakivale! “From the time the pandemic was officially announced in Uganda the prices of essential items like soap have gone high and UNHCR distributes 2 pieces of soap on monthly basis per individual but considering health guidelines, it is not sufficient for washing hands, bathing and washing clothes, Bar soap is one of the most wanted items for the cleaning at the household level and in this period of time more cleaning and hand washing is required this makes … [Read more...] about Scrubbing Away to Keep the COVID at Bay
Stitching Together Community Health
It’s no surprise that masks are in high demand in Nakivale refugee settlement. Just like where you live, masks are encouraged and an important part of keeping yourself and others safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Probably also similar to where you live, masks are more difficult to come by, this is where Changemakers comes in! We quickly found a women’s tailoring group who had more students then machines to teach on. “I only have two tailoring machines and yet I have 6 people to train so they have been coming in shifts and it does not give me time to rest because I have work the whole day to fulfill my shifts and ensure that my students get services,” says the trainer at Kiretwa center. Quickly, we procured 4 new sewing machines for the group to expand their operation! These machines will train more people and also help increase income from the masks that they make. “I would like to thank ALIGHT for bringing these machines in our village because they are going to help our … [Read more...] about Stitching Together Community Health
A Place to Call Home
Today our COVID-19 response brings us to the Nakivale refugee settlement in Uganda. We will be dealing with an important issue: housing. The new arrivals at the Nakivale reception center all stay in providing group shelters but due to social distancing rules, they were kicked out of their temporary houses and left with no one to go. Our staff saw this and knew that we could not leave them out on their own and with no houses, so they got right to work! They quickly began construction of houses for these families to move into and have a place to call home. Thanks to the quick work of our staff, the houses were finished in not time! “There was too much crowding at the reception center which couldn’t allow us to observe the social distancing, I am so happy for having this house that Alight has constructed for me. Asante saana Alight," said Mr. Nsanzamukiza Augustin, one of the owners of his new house. This change made possible by Tradition Capital Bank. … [Read more...] about A Place to Call Home
Smiles on Benches and Faces
Today our COVID-19 brings us to El Neem, Health Facility in the Internally Displaced (IDP) Camp in East Darfur, Sudan. During these difficult times the team wanted to come up with a way to Spark Joy while ensuring that our customers observe social and physical distancing! Our team came up with a wonderful idea of drawing smiley faces as demarcations for spacing in the facility. The idea behind using smiley faces is to lighten up our customer’s mood and remove fear when they visit the facility during these hard times. Besides the floor, the team also marked the sitting benches in the facility using colored sprays. Taking the lead, Dr. Badreldin Abduelnabi who has been working with Alight in El Neem facility, as the Maternal and Child Health Technical Coordinator applauded the idea – saying “this approach supports our health facility front line staff and clients alike by providing safety.” Excited by the process of marking, Halima Yahia, a visiting customer couldn’t hide her … [Read more...] about Smiles on Benches and Faces
Social Distancing in Kalma Camp
Today our COVID-19 response takes us to the resilient people of Kalma camp in South Darfur Sudan. As the whole world is fighting COVID-19 our team in South Darfur is doing the doable by making sure our service points are safe for the people. Our team's idea was to get supplies to draw marks on the floor and benches to ensure that our community understands and is practicing social distancing. Musa Adam Supply Chain Officer and Kalma Camp Focal Point said, “These marks are not only reminding our customers to take care of each other by maintaining safe distance but are also providing people an opportunity to start a conversation about maintaining distance. There have been discussions around “what are these marks and why these are there?” he also added “I had a conversation with one of our customers while we were drawing the social distancing marks, her name is Halima Ibrahim about the marks and COVID-19, she said, “I am following all the guidelines that the health team inside the … [Read more...] about Social Distancing in Kalma Camp