Youth in Action for Development on 30th July launched a community-based sensitization campaign against Covid-19 and distributed food and non-food items to Konjo Buima community, Malegohun chiefdom, Kenema district.
The campaign entails mainly a vivid explanation on how the rural dwellers can prevent themselves from Covid-19 and how to adopt such preventive practices into their everyday lives.
Launching the campaign and distribution, the Programme Coordinator, Simma Sheriff explained that the intervention was an offshoot of the just concluded community Market and Social Mobilization Centre construction project which aims to foster sociocultural cohesion and peaceful coexistence among young people and to facilitate income generation activities for women in Konjo Buima section with special focus on Ngiehun Konjo town.
With the help of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Fambul Tik e.V. which is based in Berlin, Germany, Sheriff said that while the initial objectives of the ongoing project remained unchanged, they had been able to expand its scope to encompass additional objectives that would enable them respond, in their own little way, to some of the life-threatening challenges posed by Covid-19. These include fostering resilience at household level to enable the beneficiaries resist and survive the socioeconomic and cultural shock of the virus, teaching them how to prevent themselves from or live with Covid-19 just as they did over the years with malaria and HIV/AIDS, since all efforts by global leaders to produce an effective vaccine or true cure for the virus had so far proved futile.
Speaking on behalf of the community, the Chiefdom Speaker, Charles Kaikumba thanked the staff and management of YAD for “such an historic gesture”, adding that it had arrived at the right time of the year when most pots and pockets were virtually empty. He then admonished the beneficiaries to embrace the handwashing and face-covering culture urged by Covid-19 since the virus had no known cure at the moment.
Representing the Kenema District Council, the Deputy Chairman of Kenema District Council, Councillor Yayah Kajue who doubled as the Ward Councillor for Malegohun chiefdom, expressed similar appreciative and joyous voice, adding that YAD was working to complement his own efforts, which is why he felt the urge to participate in all their activities in the chiefdom. “The District Council Chairman is unavoidably absent because he has to chair the council meeting today but I have come to represent him and the entire council at this very momentous program,” he said.
In a press release earlier published, the management of YAD explained that to make the campaign and distribution process simple and transparent, “we have grouped the beneficiaries into two categories based on the outcome of a household vulnerability assessment survey which we conducted in the targeted community a few weeks ago”:
Category one includes 174 registered members of the Konjo Youth Development Association (KYDA). They received a bag of rice each, hence their membership of the organization signifies their readiness to serve the Konjo community voluntarily. In other words, they are the primary beneficiaries of this project. This category includes some youth in Ngiehun, Yumbuma, Jenneh and Komende.
Category two comprises 1,845 persons living in 522 households. They received rice, oil, maggi, onions, salt, soap and masks which were thoroughly scooped by the distribution team. In this category, the larger the family the higher the ration.
The management of YAD however appealed to the Malegohun community for not being able to target them all due to funding limitations: “Unfortunately we do not have the resources to extend our support beyond the above defined groups and boundary. We also know that a meal for one person could leave two or more people starving, even if they share it equally. We therefore plead to the rest of Malegohun community who have not been fortunate to benefit from this support to remain hopeful and prayerful for us to have the courage and wisdom to mobilize more funds to target everyone in the chiefdom with future opportunities”.
In the same press release, the organization also reminded everyone of its apolitical status: “Please be reminded that YAD is a nongovernmental, nonreligious, non-political, nontribal and nonprofitmaking organization that works with and for the youth, women and children in diverse thematic areas that concretize peace, democracy and socioeconomic development in post-conflict Sierra Leone with special focus on Kenema district. To know more about YAD and its activities, please feel free to visit our homepage: www.yadsl.org and facebook: www.facebook.com/yad.sierraleone”.
The items distributed include 468 bags of rice, 25 bags of salt, 100 containers (Batta) of palm oil, 25 bags of onions, 2,000 bars of 72% soap, 2,000 local masks, 500 YAD-customized masks and 4 giant handwashing stations.
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