Your Donations In Action! What a Hand Washing Station Means to a Village

By Adama Kone, Teacher Project Coordinator

The coronavirus is a disaster for the entire world, including Mali. Mali Rising is working hard to help students and students’ parents stay healthy in our partner villages. We are trying to make the villagers more aware of measures of prevention in order to be safe during the virus. We are also providing them tools like hand washing stations, educational flyers, and health lessons.

Recently I talked with a member of the school committee at Ross and Marilou Moser Middle School in Nieguekoro. His name is Modibo Doumbia. Mr. Doumbia is 43 years old and has 6 kids.

Modibo Doumbia shared with us what his village has been doing to prevent the virus. He told us they are very concerned about the coronavirus outbreak in Mali when we asked him about the village’s health.

I asked him a few questions:

Adama: What do you think about the Covid-19, Modibo?

Modibo:  We have heard about the COVID-19 killing many people in many other countries and many people believe it is true even though some still do not here in Nieguekoro. Most people in my village are very sad and worried about it too, especially because the number of infected people is incredibly increasing every day in Mali. Because of the virus here, many people in Nieguekoro have changed behaviors in terms of hygiene. They use soap and water very often now and encourage their children to do as well. I can tell you that I have been avoiding crowds and I have been using soap and water myself. I also encourage many other families to respect these measures in order that we are all stay safe during this virus. I truly believe that the virus is a reality and it is very deadly! I know that in Mali many people died from the COVID-19 too. Here in Nieguekoro some people think they should see those dead bodies, so they can believe it. But that is not possible because the virus is very contagious and very hard to be treated. So, I personally think the dead bodies need to be hidden which can really prevent it from spreading so bad.

Adama: How do you think you will use the Mali Rising Foundation hand washing stations?

Modibo: I am very happy to have the two hand washing stations from Mali Rising Foundation. They will be used in a proper way by the whole village and I am sure they will be helpful because there were none here before except those who have smaller ones in their families. I am very thankful to Mali Rising for this donation!

Adama: What do you think of school being cancelled during this outbreak of Covid-19?

The situation is pitiful because we do not know what to do about it! School is shut down and the children need help. The only thing we tell them is not to forget their textbooks and a few lessons they have seen before the outbreak. But the kids do not seem motivated anymore because they have not gone to school for longtime. At least we want them to stay safe over the outbreak of COVID-19. We hope this crisis will end soon and our children can go back to school and teachers as well.

Thank you to all our donors who sponsored hand washing stations and the Health Project! You make this work possible. You too can support this work!

Mr. Doumbia inspects one of the new hand washing stations donated by Mali Rising supporters.