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Fair Trade, Eco and Ethical

Update on East Africa

The Zuri Foundation and Shared Earth Fundraising update

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated or helped share our fundraising: campaign https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/HelpfightCOVID19inEastAfrica

The Zuri Foundation and Shared Earth have now raised over £2000, with an additional £1,000 promised by York Society of Friends (Quakers). This has helped many people in East Africa who are struggling to survive and stay safe during COVID-19 lockdowns.


In Uganda we have supported four food aid drops in two areas. Your donations provided food for 65 families over 2 months during May and June when restrictions had been in place sometime and food shortages had reached a critical point for many families. The families assisted were extremely vulnerable; single parent households, homeless, disabled and elderly.

In June donations helped provide new mattresses and bedding for a COVID 19 isolation centre. Isolation centres are feared in East Africa due to harsh conditions so helping to ensure that the small centre in Mirembe village was clean, secure and had necessary provision means those infected with COVID19 would get the care required and help halt community transmission. The centre is still in use.


In Kenya we focussed our efforts in two areas - the slums around Nairobi and Tabaka, a rural soapstone mining area in Western Kenya.

In Tabaka we provided the soapstone carving community we work with, with 200 x 3 ply cotton masks, washable. A days training on soap making was delivered to the group, meaning that they can make their own soap but also generate a small income, while most other income generating activities have halted. We set up three hand washing stations in the community. Placed strategically by community leaders, one outside the local shop, one in the workshop area and another near homes. This is an active on-going intervention and we will continue to fundraise and support this.

In Kenya we supported communities in Kibera and Mathare slum. Two jewellery workshops we work with received donations to ensure that all employees had food, masks and soap supplies. £1000 was sent to SHOFCO www.shofco.org. SHOFCO is an amazing charity based in the slums of Nairobi which has a huge network of volunteers and employees mobilised to protect slum communities against the spread of COVID-19.

SHOFCO are working around the clock to mobilize slum communities around the threat of COVID-19, and promote best practices that will prevent or contain spread of the virus in the 14 urban slums where they work across Kenya. Since their response began, they have had 12,923,631 uses of our hand washing stations and screened 351,054 slum dwellers for potential symptoms.

Their approach relies on two integrated parts: direct interventions and community-led mobilization through our SHOFCO Urban Network (SUN) organizing platform that has over 160,000 members. They have launched a multi-pronged prevention and preparedness campaign focused upon community health, WASH, and nutrition interventions over the next three months.


Your donations to The Zuri Foundation and Shared Earth campaign have saved lives and eased unbearable hardships for many people in East Africa. As the world has changed massively over the last four months and things set to remain very tough for the poorest people around the world, we are committed to continuing our efforts to help in East Africa by supporting this network of incredible organisations, small workshops and individuals who are doing all they can to assist the most vulnerable.


Thank you once again for all your help to make this possible!

Created On  23 Jul 2020 16:30 in Coronavirus  -  >>

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