COVID-19 Response Project
Second Interim Report May 10, 2020
This is the second interim progress report on the implementation of the Covid-19 Response project.
1. With the advent of the month of Ramadhan, and wide distribution of food and iftar parcels by a number of organizations, the pressure for food aid on the project has eased. It is expected that the demand would increase after Eid if conditions remain difficult as they are now.
2. With the rise in the number of infections everyday, government has taken very tough measures including imposing movement restrictions in two areas considered epicentres for Covid-19 spread, namely Old Town, Mombasa and Eastleigh, Nairobi.
3. The Bilal Kenya offices are located in Old Town, Mombasa and the lockdown has disrupted activities, dividing staff between those living in Old Town and unable to come out for the next two weeks and those living outside.
4. The demand for face masks continued since our first distribution as government became more strict on its usage and not enough were available at affordable prices. Government promised to distribute free masks but this hadn’t picked. We were able to source a cheaper supplier and purchase a further 5,000 masks that have been distributed.
5. We have so far distributed more than 15,000 cotton washable double and triple ply face masks. They have been issued to frontline workers in rural health institutions, transport workers, tuktuk and motorcycle taxi riders, old people, pregnant mothers and children as well as all those who received food aid from our Ramadhan Iftar hampers distribution.
6. Face masks were also shared with other NGO in areas Bilal Kenya does not cover like Chakama in Kilifi County covered by CHEPS, a health and development NGO and in Nairobi and northern and western parts of Kenya through our Nairobi based partners, Mahdi Muslim Community. Several local communities in Mombasa’s poverty settlements also received the masks.
7. The Covid-19 program is part of our humanitarian aid activities and does not discriminate its beneficiaries.
8. In addition to the bulk purchase of factory-made face masks, support to local village seamstresses to produce and distribute locally continues, ensuring the spread of the product as well as income to women seamstresses who have otherwise lost their income stream from stitching or repairing clothes and school uniforms.
9. Similarly, village level liquid soap making and distribution continues, providing free soap as well as some income to the women making them.
10. Innovation in the production of face masks, soap and home-use handwashing systems continue. A big advantage of this process is its potential sustainability as a good hygiene practice post-corona virus.
11. Our well-made handsfree handwashing tanks, made at our Al Ridha Islamic Centre in Mtongwe, Mombasa have been well received with a high demand. Sixty of them have been manufactured so far and dispatched to urban and rural areas. Recently the Chief of Shimoni area wrote to us requesting for more systems to be allocated to their area.
12. We received a request for assistance from Phanicey Foundation, a CBO operating in the Kibera slums of Nairobi. They had collected nearly 20 tons of food and health supplies for distribution in Kakamega County in Western Kenya. We paid for the transportation of the goods and a grateful Mr. Bright Kyadiva wrote:
“We transported food stuff and NFIs from Nairobi to Likuyani
through your support. Through your help we were able to start distribution at
Lupele Area in Likuyani, Kakamega county. These are flood victims despite
COVID-19. 150 victims of 37 households benefited from face masks, food stuffs,
clothing, soaps and water buckets that you supported to transport.”
13. Handwashing station delivered to communities have been placed in public places like government offices, medical clinics, police stations, bus stations and mosques. Bilal Centres negotiate with the management of the facility to ensure security of the equipment and to refill the 200 litres tanks regularly.
14. In many instances, individuals requested to be given handwashing station for their families’ use. As it was not feasible to meet personal demands, leaflets like the one below were distributed and young people taught how to build their own family handwashing station from materials already available at home and at no cost.
15. Several children took up the challenge and improvised on the proposed method, preferring liquid soap to bar soap. Now it is common to see DIY handwashing stations outside the toilets in many village homes. This will promote the habit of washing hands regularly and improve hygiene and save many children from diseases due to bad hygiene.
16. Similarly, explaining people how to put on a face mask and to regularly wash them has been a challenge. Lack of water remains the biggest hurdle in ensuring proper hygiene.
17. Post-Covid-19, the clear lesson is that substantial WASH programs will have to be initiated by Bilal Kenya and other NGOs working in rural areas and urban slums to ensure the prioritizing of hygiene. This will require a massive effort, in partnership between government, civil society organizations and external partners to achieve.
18. The fear of another epidemic is now clear in people’s minds. They can clearly visualize the impact of a health hazard arising from bad hygiene. In Africa, the physical distance regulation is a very trying obligation given the cultural norm of constant handshaking and hand holding practices.
19. Home visits and family teach-ins are becoming more popular in the communities as people feel distanced from places of worship and yearn to come for Friday prayers or Sunday Church services.
20. Bilal Staff utilize a number of methods to keep in touch with the community and respond to their pastoral needs. These include:
- Personal visits to homes;
- Meeting individuals when they come to the Centre for assistance;
- Phone-Ins, whereby muballighs call families at pre-arranged times and hold a session with some teaching, Covid-19 safety awareness and Q&A. This is becoming successful in some communities as children re-link with their teachers and ask questions;
- Distribution of audio and video clips on social media platforms (facebook, twitter, utube, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc.)
21. These methods are being evaluated and reflection ongoing on how to expand culturally and technologically appropriate ways of connecting with children online to continue with their school education during a potentially long period of closure.
22. Discussion is also ongoing with local FM radio station to create and air educational content that complements what is already being aired by the Ministry of Education. The concern for educational needs of the children in the event of a long school closure period is worrying and Bilal Kenya has already launched a project on continuing education through homeschooling during Covid-19 closure.
23. Responding to Covid-19 requires good hygiene and availability of clean water. This is a challenge for most of the communities Bilal Kenya supports are in the semi-arid savannah of coastal Kenya.
24. The Jaffery Centre, Mackinnon Road (along Mombasa-Nairobi Highway) realized the potential danger of infections for the community that lies along a major transportation route to the coastal port of Mombasa from Nairobi. Its piped water became unreliable in supply and very costly. The community galvanized its resources and has nearly completed a hand dug well that will serve the community’s water, hygiene and sanitation needs.
25. We are hoping that the water, when tested at the government laboratories, does not turn out to be salty or chemically contaminated to require further processing.
26. The community now seeks support for installation of a solar pump, piping and reservoir tanks.
27. One of the early challenges facing Muslims when the pandemic became a serious threat was the possibility of being denied Islamic burial rites upon death from COVID-19 infection. Bilal Kenya, in launching this support project, integrated the concern for a decent Muslim burial and has subsequently purchased several sets of PPE suitable for handling a Covid-19 infected body. The project organized training for 20 shiekhs and sheikhas from Mombasa on the correct handling and burial (in accordance with Ayatullah Sistani) of infected bodies.
28. The training was conducted on 2nd May 2020 at the JIC Madrassa hall by the County Health officer, supported by the Medical Officer at the Jaffery Medical Clinic and the Mombasa Jamaat’s Ghusl Committee. Another training two week earlier was also conducted by the Sunni Cutchi community where some of our staff were invited. A video of the JIC training was made by the Bilal media team and will be shared with other Centre staff. Further supplementary training is also planned.
29. Meantime Bilal Kenya is investigating possibilities to bring staff from the Centres to Mombasa or alternatively a Mombasa team travelling to the Centres to train community-based staff and volunteers. If it does not work out then we would need to arrange for Kwale County health officials to conduct the training.
30. The PPE training was an eye opener for the Sheikhs and had somewhat shocked them at the detailed procedures required and the risks of mistake or negligence. They expressed deep gratitude for the opportunity to participate and sought more practical training.
31. The next training is planned at the graveyard so that a practical demonstration can be made of burial. Videos will be made for further training and sharing purposes.
32. The external perimeter wall of the Al Ridha Centre in Mtongwe has attracted the interest of youths in the area to paint COVID-19 care and management motifs. The youth are motivated by street art like the ‘Talking Walls’ project in Nairobi and elsewhere. Our staff are in discussion with them on their designs and we may support the local artists with paints, brushes and a small fee to sustain themselves.
33. Early this week we received a request from God’s Children’s Home, an orphanage in Matuga village outside Mombasa. The piped water connection had stopped supplying water and the lady running the orphanage was worried about hygiene for the 30 odd children under her care. She requested our support to fit 3 tanks to collect 4,000 litres of rainwater. It is currently the rainy season in Kenya and raining heavily. We have supported the project as an anti-Covid measure, and the orphanage should have its water storage facility by next week. The week before a group of friends supplied the orphanage with a television and children’s reading materials so they could continue learning from the online televised lessons from the Ministry of Education during the Covid-induced schools’ closure.
34. The focus at the moment is shifting to management of spread through restrictions to movement, compulsory facemask wearing, maintaining physical distance and continuing the closures of public places and facilitating access to clean water and food for those whose livelihoods are most affected.
35. Bilal Kenya, in addition to supporting the medical and food aid needs of Covid-19 affected people, is increasingly concerned about the loss of educational time for children who live in difficult environments and under difficult circumstances (clay houses, lack of water, electricity) and have no access to educational materials. If the closure takes much longer, the children’s disconnect with a structured learning environment will become very remote and lead to loss of motivation for school learning.
36. Bilal Kenya has therefore floated a supplementary proposal on continuing education in the home environment with support from Bilal Kenya teachers. The proposal initially focuses on the pre-primary children but should quickly open out to include children up to Class 4 in the 6-10 age bracket. We hope that we will find adequate support to take up this new COVID-19 inspired challenge.