Last weekend, news broke about a strain of Ebola in eastern DRC that, at the time of writing this, is a “has no proven vaccine and kills about a third of those infected. So far, the outbreak centred on DR Congo has resulted in 177 suspected deaths and 750 suspected cases.” (Source: BBC) The Congo Peace School student and staff immediately began engaging in safety and prevent-the-spread protocols as best they can, but we need to wire emergency funding to help ensure the most stringent care. If you can make a gift towards this need, please donate here, and note “Ebola” or “emergency” in your donation.
The total needed (see details below) is $8500, for cleaning supplies with chlorine, hand soap, thermometers (every student and staff member will have their temperature taken before entering the campus each day). A ventilated tent will be used for rapid isolation of anyone showing symptoms, before they can be safely transferred to a nearby clinic.
That funding will serve not only the 600+ students and staff who are daily engaged at the Congo Peace School campus, but their families and surrounding community of more than 80,000, as they take their education about health emergencies in large populations (acronym HELP - something our Founding Director Amani Matabaro was trained in at Johns Hopkins University). Education about how Ebola is spread is critical to stop this from escalating, and part of our needs include printing flyers and posters to reach those in surrounding rural communities.
The people of eastern Congo are already terrorized by the ongoing violent occupation of armed militia – it is heartbreaking to put ourselves in their shoes, in their classrooms, in their homes, in the clinics where a loved one enters violently ill, and then, if they cannot be saved, must be buried without the traditional ceremonies due to the risk of spread, even after death. (Reuters article here.)
A friend once taught me the therapeutic mantra “action alleviates anxiety.” One way to take action today is to help the Congo Peace School purchase these preventative tools, as well as to continue to invest in the powerful, live-saving work of the school. You are literally saving lives through your support: students who wouldn’t have enough to eat at home are fed nutritious meals, students who have trauma that might lead to self-harm are given therapy and healing modalities to find self-love and connection to their community. And now, together, we can help prevent the spread of this deadly disease and stop further unnecessary death and grief.
$105 buys 30 boxes of gloves
$120 buys 3 thermometers
$200 buys 40 face shields
$240 buys 40 protective gowns
$300 buys 10 boxes of soap (the Congo Peace School has running water and multiple handwashing sinks)
$400 buys 100 boxes of masks
$500 buys 50 liters of hand sanitizer
$2,000 buys multiple posters and flyers to spread the word and educate folks in rural communities on how to prevent the spread of Ebola
$3500 buys a large, ventilated tent for temporary isolation until an ill person can be safely transferred to a clinic.
A good follow on Instagram is Moses Sawasawa - @mosessawasawa (the photojournalist who took this photo) - he is thoughtfully reporting on the daily experiences of folks in eastern Congo as the story unfolds.
