Inspiring Youth Mobilization Against COVID

Young people from Mudula quickly answered the call to donate blood amid a national shortage.

During challenges that seem insurmountable, we often find inspiration in the younger generation mobilizing to take action. WEEMA is happy to find such inspiration in the youth of Kembata-Tembaro Zone as they organize to reign in the spread of COVID-19 in their communities. Here are some of the major activities the youth are spearheading: 

• Voluntary blood donation campaign: Despite an increasing need for blood donors after the start of COVID, there has been a national decline in voluntary blood donation in Ethiopia. Prime Minister Abiy and first Lady Zinash have put out a national call urging for blood donations at this critical time. Following this call, the youth in Mudula Town gathered in Mudula primary hospital and donated 53 units of blood in one day and the donations are expected to continue for three successive months.   

• Promote Hand washing stations: The youth volunteers manage hand washing stations at places of public gatherings such as open markets and bus lines. 

• Manage Water Tankers: The water tankers set up by the Health department and WEEMA are handled by these amazing youth volunteers who set up the tankers each day, re-fill them throughout the day and return them back to the storage location at night. 

• Home to Home and public awareness creation: The youth have been leading public educational sessions, through home-to-home awareness creation, flyer distribution to service providers like restaurants and hotels or public area campaigns using microphones to spread critical messages to the community. 

• Resource Mobilization: The youth volunteers have been helping in gathering resources like sanitary supplies, food items for the quarantine center, cash, and other materials for the prevention of COVID-19 in the Tembaro community.  

 What an inspiration indeed! WEEMA is encouraged to continue its fight and do our part against COVID and we hope you are too. 

Have a productive rest of the week! 

Mudula youths donating blood after Prime Minister Abiy’s call to action.

WEEMA team continues the fight against COVID-19 in Southwestern Ethiopia

The WEEMA Team making another delivery of COVID-19 supplies

As WEEMA continues its efforts to support the fight against COVID, the first two positive cases of the virus have been confirmed, one in Kembata Tembaro Zone and the other in the Hadiya Zone. Thankfully, both patients are under close watch and in good health so far. 

As the number of cases in Ethiopia continues to rise steadily, we know it’s important to keep up our work and ensure the spread remains at a lower rate. So far, our delivery of medical supplies have focused on the Kembata Tembaro zone based on the request from their regional government. 

Last week, WEEMA expanded its efforts to get much needed sanitary items and PPE delivered to Hadiya Zone. The Hadiya Health Department has also implemented more cautionary measures including crowd prevention and monitoring efforts as you can see in the picture below. WEEMA is happy to contribute to these efforts through our delivery of items such as masks, sanitizers, infrared thermometers, etc. 

Many thanks  to our staff members on the ground doing this essential work at this critical time.

Thanks to You We Met Our Fundraising Goal

You helped us reach our fundraising goal!

Thanks to you, we met our match of $10,000- for a total of $20,000 towards COVID-19 response!  

With your generosity, we reached our fundraising goal of $10,000 USD for our #COVID-19 Emergency Fund. This $10,000 USD will be matched by an anonymous donor to double YOUR impact! We were able to achieve this goal in just three weeks and we couldn’t have done it without your support. We’re also grateful for the final donation this week that pushed us over our fundraising goal from IZUMI Foundation, WEEMA’s partner in digital health implementation.

With the collective funds of this campaign, WEEMA can continue its efforts of prevention and preparedness for COVID-19 in southwestern Ethiopia. Just last week, we were honored to be acknowledged by the Kembata Tembaro Zone Office for our proactive contribution to this fight against COVID-19. We continue to stand in solidarity in this uncertain time thanks to your support. Here are some pictures of our amazing staff in Ethiopia delivering water tanks and other much-needed supplies.

 We hope you and your loved ones stay healthy and safe.

The WEEMA Team delivering water, thermometers, N95 masks and other PPE.

The WEEMA Team delivering 500L water containers.