Give A Smile Campaign

In March of 2020, the COVID-19 virus had reached Kenya and the government began to place restrictions to try and limit further spread of the virus in the community. Although news of the virus was readily available in major cities, more rural areas with little to no access to radio, internet, or television often were unaware of the potential of this virus and the necessary practices to reduce viral spread.

WOPLAH currently uses education to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in Mumias and saw an opportunity to use these existing relationships within the community to educate individuals on COVID-19. With most of our beneficiaries being HIV positive and immunocompromised, it has been essential to raise awareness regarding COVID-19 in the community and reduce the risk of transmission. In order to address this virus in Mumias, WOPLAH developed the Give A Smile Campaign in June, 2020. This campaign aims to raise awareness on COVID-19 as well as to improve sanitation and risk-reducing behavior within the community. Throughout the last two months, we have been fundraising in order to aid efforts in preventing the spread of COVID-19 in Mumias. Our fundraising goal was 100,000 KSH and we were able to surpass the goal to raise a total of 120,000 KSH. The Ambassadors of Hope, Colorado College students, and community members were the main donors to our campaign. This money will primarily be used to provide masks and other sanitation products to WOPLAH beneficiaries. We will continue to encourage individuals to engage in sanitation practices, social distancing, and mask usage. We will also continue our work to educate individuals on the impact of COVID-19 and the importance of reducing viral spread.

Additionally, a portion of the raised funds will be used to improve nutrition of beneficiaries through weekly purchasing of food stamps. Due to COVID-19 restrictions and curfews in the community, many of WOPLAH’s agricultural programs have been affected and reduced incomes have decreased accessibility to healthy food. We hope to lessen the burden of COVID-19 on accessibility to food and promote overall health throughout our community with funds from the Give a Smile Campaign.

We have been very excited to run this campaign and even surpass our fundraising goals to help WOPLAH beneficiaries! We are hopeful in our efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Mumias and maintain a healthy community. If you are interested in contributing funds to the Give a Smile campaign, please email woplahoh@gmail.com for more details!