Soap & Masks for Kenya’s Lemolo Community
Donation protected
Help us obtain enough bar soap and reusable masks for all 700 households in Lemolo!
The COVID-19 pandemic is hitting communities around the world hard, and some communities, like Lemolo in Kenya’s Nakuru County, are not equipped with the most basic of preventative supplies—soap and reusable masks—since many families can’t afford them.
To help prevent the spread of the virus, families in Lemolo have installed buckets with taps and modified jerricans outside each house and wash their hands upon entry and exit. However, the majority of residents are sisal farm laborers who cannot afford soap (let alone masks) and are therefore only washing with water, which is not sufficient to kill COVID-19.
A Lemolo household with a jerrican hung by the door [*]
Leonard Korgoren, a community leader in Lemolo, identified this need and coordinated with the local government’s COVID-19 committee, which has agreed to safely distribute the soap and masks to Lemolo residents according to public health guidelines if we are first able to procure them.
Our goal is to get these supplies to residents as soon as possible to minimize the spread of COVID-19 in Lemolo.
A Lemolo resident with a jembe, a digging tool used on the local farms
By way of back story, Leonard is completing his Master’s Degree in Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology and, fittingly, has focused on public health education and advocacy in the Lemolo community during the pandemic. He and I met in 2013 when I interviewed him and other Lemolo community members for a book about resilience.
The funds raised from this campaign will be transferred from me to Leonard via wire, and Leonard will use them to purchase 2,100 large bars of soap (3 per household) and 3,500 reusable masks (5 per household, based on average household size). Leonard will provide a sample mask to the local Ministry of Health for quality control and approval prior to placing a bulk order.
County officials will then distribute the masks and soap to all households, and Leonard and the committee will use the opportunity to educate residents about COVID-19 best practices so Lemolo can do everything possible to prevent community spread.
Please comment and share if this is something you support so we can raise these funds as quickly as possible!
Thank you for your help!
Residents of Lemolo
A washing station
[*] All photos have been provided by Leonard with the permission of the Lemolo community.
The COVID-19 pandemic is hitting communities around the world hard, and some communities, like Lemolo in Kenya’s Nakuru County, are not equipped with the most basic of preventative supplies—soap and reusable masks—since many families can’t afford them.
To help prevent the spread of the virus, families in Lemolo have installed buckets with taps and modified jerricans outside each house and wash their hands upon entry and exit. However, the majority of residents are sisal farm laborers who cannot afford soap (let alone masks) and are therefore only washing with water, which is not sufficient to kill COVID-19.
A Lemolo household with a jerrican hung by the door [*] Leonard Korgoren, a community leader in Lemolo, identified this need and coordinated with the local government’s COVID-19 committee, which has agreed to safely distribute the soap and masks to Lemolo residents according to public health guidelines if we are first able to procure them.
Our goal is to get these supplies to residents as soon as possible to minimize the spread of COVID-19 in Lemolo.
A Lemolo resident with a jembe, a digging tool used on the local farmsBy way of back story, Leonard is completing his Master’s Degree in Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology and, fittingly, has focused on public health education and advocacy in the Lemolo community during the pandemic. He and I met in 2013 when I interviewed him and other Lemolo community members for a book about resilience.
The funds raised from this campaign will be transferred from me to Leonard via wire, and Leonard will use them to purchase 2,100 large bars of soap (3 per household) and 3,500 reusable masks (5 per household, based on average household size). Leonard will provide a sample mask to the local Ministry of Health for quality control and approval prior to placing a bulk order.
County officials will then distribute the masks and soap to all households, and Leonard and the committee will use the opportunity to educate residents about COVID-19 best practices so Lemolo can do everything possible to prevent community spread.
Please comment and share if this is something you support so we can raise these funds as quickly as possible!
Thank you for your help!
Residents of Lemolo A washing station [*] All photos have been provided by Leonard with the permission of the Lemolo community.
Organizer
Anna Weiss
Organizer
New York, NY