To ensure the sustainability of our interventions and the ownership by the community, we train volunteers to be at the front line when managing case or engaging the community. In the last few months, we have reduced the frequency of our trainings and the number of participants since it is now unsafe to meet with groups of people.
Everyone is uncertain on when the situation will improve. Our staff made sure that vulnerable people continue receiving services. In a situation like this, the most vulnerable people around our communities need us the most. We are determined to stretch our limits while also taking every due care for our staff so that they stay safe too.
This means the cost of carrying out our mission has doubled: In many cases, we bypass volunteers to reduce contacts between staff and beneficiaries which means that our staff has to make more visits. We train only a third of our usual groups which means we have to repeat the activity two times to reach the same number of people. Without our volunteers, we can nor reach out to as many people as we would wish.
In addition, cases of mental illness, gender-based violence and child abuse are on the increase due to COVID 19 and the measures put in place to contain it. This is putting an additional burden on a constrained work environment. In the midst of all these, we have prevailed: Not because we are strong but because we have strong friends who have stood with us and walked with us every step of the journey. Now more than ever, we believe that together we can make a difference.
There are many ways you can be part of us. Every donation is welcome, cash or in-kind. Together we can respond to COVID 19, as we have many other global crises.