Health Program - Preparing for COVID-19 in Tanzania

Now is the time to connect with our global community on our shared humanity. We have seen some amazing and inspiring stories about people reaching out to their communities and neighbors. It is our hope that when these trying times are behind us we will emerge as a more compassionate global community.

Asali has teamed up with our amazing partners at Simba's Community Center to help in the flight against COVID-19 in Tanzania. The Community Center will be closing its doors for the next 30 days in the effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our community. But our teachers and team are still working!

Of course, our immediate concern is the health and well-being of our community, so it's important we pay attention to the call from the health care professionals for social distancing. With that being said, our team has been working hard to develop creative ways to help the community of Majengo protect themselves against COVID-19.

Starting this week, the women from our sewing program will be making masks to hand out to the most vulnerable in our community and to our local hospital. We have already posted health advisories in Swahili and are planning to get more of those posted in public areas. Also, we will be providing hand washing stations and soap to those in need.

In addition, we expanded our healthcare program this year to cover 64 of the most vulnerable children in the community who will now be fully covered by health insurance. Health insurance for each child is roughly $25 USD for the year. However, most of our families are unable to afford this extra expense. Each child in the program received their insurance cards, and a home visit was conducted by the center’s social worker, Belinda. This program has doubled in size since its inception last year!

To our global community:  we are truly all in this together! There will be many opportunities for us to rebuild, reconnect, and support each other over the coming months, and we are confident that we will come out of this crisis stronger than ever! If you would like to help our efforts in Tanzania please donate at the donate link on the website. 

We are looking forward to celebrating with our community and the world when this is all behind us! Stay healthy!

The Asali Bees