COVID Response - April

Dear sir/madame:

No longer are we just hearing about COVID, but now we are seeing it with our own eyes.  For 2 weeks we were told to stay at home and our hearts were heavy.  We know how to help and were helpless to do so.  Now with help from you and with the support of our government we have been called back to work and are cautiously moving to bring health and hope that comes from safe water to drink and workshops.

Everyone is fearful, some continue to live as if there is no threat, exposing their families to the disease.  After we share what we know, offer changes to practice lessons and give information to families how to make masks, how to wash hands, how to prevent so many ways our culture gives the opportunity to spread this disease, villagers are relieved.  

It was an eye opener to many, that the handle of the pump is a place where contagion can be transmitted.  Armed with that information, a disinfecting solution is to be placed at each pump daily, so everyone can wash their hands and wipe down the handle before and after they draw their water.  

Your facilitation to make these simple lessons get out to those in need, will make a big difference and save lives. 

Thank you so much

Rev Stephen Varfee

Program Coordinator

L-linc Program Coordinator

The COVID pandemic has shown that neighbours are not just those living beside us. We cannot disconnect ourselves from the plight of women and girls who can't socially distance as they draw water from crowded pumps; and we cannot ignore children who can’t frequently wash their hands because water takes so much time to fetch.

In early March, Lifewater Liberia Inc (L-Linc) proactively responded to the COVID-19 threat. This work continued in April with L-Linc hosting ter Liberia Inc (L-Linc) hosted two hygiene workshops per week. Workshops utilized participatory lessons and ensured that people observed 6 foot separations. Workshop participants were taught how to:

• Effectively wash their hands;
• Simply disinfect pump handles and buckets;
• Change traditional practices so that two-metre distances are maintained while waiting in line at pumps, while still allowing for rejuvinating converstaion and culturally important exchange of news;
• Monitor the health of family and neighbours so that people with possible COVID symptons can be quickly isolated from close contact with others.

In April, Canadian nurses who had been through SARS reached out to Lifewater with patterns for surgical masks. These patterns were given to Lifewater Liberia. Local tailors and seamstresses began sewing masks for the teams to distribute, and patterns to make more masks are being shared throughout program areas.

Less than a decade ago, Liberia was the epicenter of the worlds worst-ever Ebola outbreak. People have not forgot the seemingly unstoppable spread and the suffering and death that followed. Many Liberian people are scared with a ominous sense of Deja vu.

But with your help and support, they now have the capacity to understand COVID and have clear actions that will help prevent COVID from devastating their country. Thank-you!