It has been a few moons since we started our two projects of "Masks for Everyone" and "Food for Everybody" to help out our local community and villages. It was a overwhelmingly huge amount of support and we, as well as the community are insanely appreciative and thankful for everyone who donated, thought about donating, told about someone who could donate or supported us in some other way! If you are not sure what we are talking about here, please make sure to read the two connected articles to be up to date.
We, as well as the communities highly appreciate and value who donated, thought about donating, shared the project or supported us in some other ways. It all came to us after seeing our beloved beach pearl seemingly abandoned, and when the president announced that the lock-down continues and masks will be mandatory, we knew that we had to do something!
We started talking to a local tailor to help us make 1000 masks that we then can distribute into the villages. Since the police do in fact stop and fine whoever is not wearing one as well as the fact that not every single one can afford a mask, it seemed as a plausible thing to start with.The masks are made of traditional sarongs, called capulana, layered into double to be extra protective.
They obviously are not an equivalent to real face masks but we have to make due and the most important thing that we manage to do, is to educate the children as we go.
Many don’t even know what is going on and why everyone is wearing a mask in the first place, so it becomes our job to pass on the knowledge of personal hygiene to reduce the widespread of the disease, especially in villages, where people have no choice but to leave to get food or make money to literally survive the day.
The second project goes pretty much hand in hand with hygiene; nutrition. Many are not only out of a job, but also bound to stay in their villages with no way of buying their necessities to feed their kids. We started visiting areas, deep into the bush, that are more likely to be in need. We talked to the cooks of the village and agreed on merging the villages that already live nearby to dine together 1-2 times a week and it was great.
25-30 children and their mothers joined us each time and while the chefs were cooking the meals, we could use the time to play with the children and bring a little joy in different ways. It could be bringing a ball to play football, setting up a slackline to play or simply getting to know a dog.
The meals were all up to the chefs, traditional with a little treat. We would agree on the shopping list, get everything local and be a company within the process as well!
It was a true blast and we are sure that everyone would’ve loved to be a part of it physically as well. But one thing is certain, without the big heart and caring nature of each and everyone of you, we would not have been able to bring so many smiles to so many faces. So a big, huge thank you to you!