A message from Kathrina Loeffler, Executive Director:
As COVID-19 continues its destructive path around the world, I wanted to connect with the CPAR community to send my care and concern for all of you. I hope you and your families and friends are finding your footing in this strange new world. Please remember to follow Public Health Canada to keep yourself and your loved ones healthy and slow the spread.
We at CPAR are continuing to fight – from our home offices and kitchen tables – to prevent this illness from overwhelming the communities in Ethiopia and Malawi where we do most of our work. Every day, I am grateful for the luxury of being able to self-isolate, to wash my hands in clean water, and to stay in virtual touch with family and friends. The contrast with some of the communities in Africa, where crowded living conditions and lack of access to clean water are the norm, couldn’t be starker.
The potential for devastation, after all the advances that we and many other organizations have made in those communities, horrifies and saddens me. Our field staff are working long hours to reach even more people with education about hand hygiene and sanitation. We continue our efforts to increase access to clean water. And, while we can no longer send Canadian health professionals to volunteer at Fitche Hospital in rural Ethiopia, we are mobilizing resources, in cooperation with local ministries of health, to develop distance learning solutions to help the staff stay healthy so they can care for their patients. They all require support and education to protect themselves from COVID-19, and the hospital is in desperate need of thermometers, masks, and sanitizers that we plan to source from local connections. Even more troubling is the fact that it does not have a single ventilator. That keeps me up at night.
If you are able to donate to help us give them a fighting chance, it would be sincerely appreciated. If that’s not possible, please accept my thanks for your support and your interest. I would ask that you include these vulnerable populations in your thoughts and prayers.
Please note that until 1 July 2020, all donations to CPAR will be channeled to our COVID-19 work in Malawi and Ethiopia. We will re-evaluate as we get closer to that date and determine if we can return to funding our other projects.
Thank you for being part of our global community and for your trust in the work we do. Stay safe, stay calm, and let’s carry on together. From a distance.
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