Case study - Covid 19
Our Response
“They say Covid19 doesn’t discriminate... but from where we stand, those at the margins continue to be discriminated no matter what. This is why it is so important to think about hard to reach marginalised groups, like the elderly, former sex workers or street kids. No one is safe until we are all safe. ”
As the Covid19 pandemic swept across the globe, both first and second wave, it became clear very quickly that the most vulnerable in society found it the hardest to protect themselves, forced into impossible choices of survival.
The Mayamiko Trust team began an awareness and support programme targeted at supporting vulnerable groups. The programme included basic awareness messages in local language and accessible to children or those with low level of literacy, as well as a large scale distribution of masks to the surrounding communities made by the Mayamiko Trust team.
By partnering with local grassroots organisations such as Grace of God Orphanage, Eden Wellness and Ivy Cares we were able to reach those at the margins, including orphans, street children, rough sleepers, the elderly and former sex workers.
An additional donation was made to Plan International for immediate relief efforts in and around the refugee community in Malawi.
In total, over the first 3 months of the pandemic, Mayamiko Trust made and donated over 5,000 masks, and the effort is ongoing.
This has been possible thanks to donations from partners such as Nest, as well as the 'Buy One Give One' initiative launched through Mayamiko The Label.
Case study - Covid 19
Helping beyond Malawi
“Mayamiko Trust and The Marylebone Project may be 8,000 km apart in distance, but we are very much together in our approach for providing support, choices and futures for vulnerable women within society.”
Through the provision of educational content, in form of easy-to-share awareness flashcards in local languages and mask-making tutorials, Mayamiko Trust was able to reach far and wide, and support likeminded organisations from Kenya to the UK.
For example, the Marylebone Project is one of the largest women's hostels in the UK for women affected by homelessness. Early on in the pandemic, the project staff contacted Mayamiko Trust to use our mask tutorials so women in hostels may able to make their own masks and keep themselves safe.
Innov8 Africa is a Kenya based NGO that worked with the Red Cross to distribute over 1,000 sets of the Mayamiko Trust awareness flashcards, which they localised in Kiswahili, across 61 school districts in Kenya.
This relatively inexpensive initiative demonstrated the power of collaboration, and the potential of creating nimble and easily adaptable digital content.
“Your flashcards are a big hit! Now over 1000 sets passed out through our 61 CSO/NGO coalition. We laminated them and hooked each set together with a key ring... schools love them.”
