One of the many projects Heal Africa supports is Ebola prevention. Mainly in rural areas, where access to awareness and things like soap and hand sanitizer can be more difficult to get.
So with our partners at Eastern Congo Initiative, we headed out to Sake, an area about 45 minutes outside of Goma that has been hard hit by Ebola. Heal Africa is working with schools in the area, honing in on things like hand washing and education.
The simplest tool to combat to infection? Soap. But the problem was, at one school in Sake, they were simply running out of it.
“Lack of soap is a huge problem,” said Didier, the head teacher. He’s in charge of almost 2,000 students at the school, and only seven hand washing stations. And it was seeming like they were going through soap at breakneck speeds.
So we put our heads together and came up with an idea….and with the support of 365, we helped the teachers there set up a school supply shop to sustain soap purchase well into the future.
From paper to rulers to small candies to pens and pencils, this shop now has all the basics.
“Soap is not expensive,” said Didier, “so this will help us sustain both the soap purchases and continue to replenish the shop stock.”
Sometimes the simple solution is the best solution.
Photos by Lens on Life photographers, Operation Goma (DRC): Ngoa Kamundu Kennedy and Basizi Michel
